I completed my final project with Roshni and Morgan.  We focused on gender equality in Nicaragua by looking at the areas of education, healthcare, economic opportunities, political representation, and legal rights.  We found again and again that Nicaragua is praised for “closing the gender gap,” yet we debated whether this is really the case or not.

Main points from our presentation:

Healthcare – The overall health of women is greatly affected by maternity, which creates  disparities between the general health of men and women in Nicaragua.  That being said, access to healthcare is pretty much equal between the sexes.

Economic opportunity – It appears on the surface that Nicaragua offers equal economic opportunity, but this seems doubtful given the underlying social norms that keep women at home.

Education – In terms of gender equality, more Nicaraguan women than men obtain an education. However, the absolute percentages of education attainment for females and males in Nicaragua is low.

Political representation – Women are more represented in politics in Nicaragua than in most “developed” countries.  But representation does not mean political power.

Legal rights – Family values prioritized women’s rights.

In conclusion, we found that in regards to gender,  many aspects of life in Nicaragua are superficially equal (in fact women may have more opportunity in terms of things like education).  Yet, given the machismo of the country, perfect equality seems unlikely.  Morgan and I hope to have the opportunity to talk to people while down in Nicaragua about their experience with gender-based issues.  We want to gain a sense of the discrimination each gender faces and how the people have dealt with these issues.  It will be important to keep our questions open-ended to allow for interpretation and room for elaboration.  I am excited to learn more about these issues firsthand in order to gain a more comprehensive view.