Gender Violence in Honduras: Inequality, Impunity and Cycles of Abuse

By: Attorney Andrea Alemán - Master in International Migration and Ethnic Relations. Gender-based violence is one of the most serious and persistent problems in Honduras. This phenomenon manifests itself in various ways, including but not limited to: femicide, discrimination, human trafficking, and different types of domestic, psychological, financial, and sexual violence (Gonnella-Platts & Villatoro, 2021). Although gender-based violence can affect both men and women, its impact is disproportionately greater on the 50.1% of the female population in the country, especially women and girls aged 15 to 29 (ibid:3; Swiss, 2022). These manifestations of violence reflect structural inequalities that perpetuate cycles of abuse, discrimination, and impunity. Furthermore, the country's social, economic, and cultural dynamics contribute to women's vulnerability, limiting their access to justice and dignified living conditions. Despite international and local efforts to eradicate gender-based violence, women in Honduras continue to face serious barriers to living in a safe and violence-free environment.

Despite women comprising 51.7% of Honduras's 10.5 million people, the country ranks second globally in violence against women, with a violent female death reported every 18 hours (Matheu, 2020; ASJ, 2020; Gonella-Platts & Villatoro, 2021). Furthermore, reflecting the high rate of impunity, only 15 legal convictions have been obtained since femicide was criminalized in 2013, out of more than 7,000 reported cases (Ávila, Bobadilla, et al., 2022). This highlights the lack of accountability for perpetrators and an underlying societal message that such violence is tolerated by the state and will go unpunished (ibid).

Furthermore, international reports on the country show that, within the context of a patriarchal society and an agriculture-based economy, the dynamics of gender power relations have limited employment opportunities for women and hindered their economic independence (TWBIH, 2023; Lomot, 2013; Ziff, 2019). As a result, Honduras has a gender gap of 27.8% and a female unemployment rate of 54.1%, forcing most women to depend on men to maintain minimum living standards in their already impoverished context (Matheu, 2020; Ziff, 2019). This, in turn, leads to greater victimization, since, in their attempt to find job opportunities, women move to major cities, where they are lured under false promises of work and then become victims of human trafficking or are subjected to sexual abuse by gang members (Lomot, 2013; Surupa, 2021).

Unfortunately, sexual violence also spreads silently within Honduran homes, encompassing everything from child abuse to rape by men or individuals known to the victim (ONV, 2021). According to the National Violence Observatory (ONV), 79% of women who were victims of sexual crimes reported that their assailant was someone they knew (ibid). To make matters worse, women have few options for dealing with the consequences of their sexual assaults, as Honduras is one of the five countries in the Americas that has an absolute ban on abortion, and only recently, in March 2023, was emergency contraception (the morning-after pill) legalized (Ziff, 2019; Suazo, 2023). These systemic restrictions on bodily autonomy are evidenced in the Human Rights Watch (HRW, 2022) report on the adolescent birth rate in Honduras, which reveals that between 2004 and 2020, the birth rate among girls aged 15 to 19 was 89 per 1,000. In comparison, the regional average is 61 and the global average is 41 per 1,000 (HRW, 2022). Therefore, in this context of gender-based violence, Honduran women are continually forced to face three options: report the abuse and face disbelief, stay and risk further violence, or flee (Gonnella-Platts & Villatoro, 2021).

This is why gender-based violence in Honduras not only reflects the vulnerability of women, but also highlights the ineffectiveness of institutional mechanisms to protect them and guarantee their access to a life free from violence. Impunity, the lack of justice, and profound economic and social inequalities reinforce the persistence of these problems. Women in Honduras are trapped in a cycle of violence where, lacking the necessary conditions to report abuse and obtain justice, many choose silence, submission, or flight. This not only affects their physical and emotional well-being, but also limits their potential to contribute to the country's social and economic development. It is urgent that effective policies be implemented that promote gender equality, justice for victims, and the creation of real opportunities for women, in order to break this cycle of violence and offer a fairer and safer future for the next generations.