Peruana Warmikusi

Nowadays, women are the keepers of traditional knowledge. Awajún people of northern Peru, renowned as skilled warriors and for their women’s knowledge of plants as medicines and food. But, as is often the case, this traditional knowledge eroded as the modern world encroached. When Conservation International (CI) began working with the Awajún community in the village of Shampuyacu in 2012 — near northern Peru’s  Alto Mayo Protected Forest  — the women saw an opportunity to bring back what had been lost. They wanted a forest of their own where they could cultivate and harvest their traditional plants. They identified a patch of forest that suited their purposes, and they went to their community’s general assembly to ask for it. But would their request be granted? Though women are often involved in making decisions with their families, it is the men who vote on final community decisions including those on land use in the general assembly. We can see that the roles and responsibil...

  My Culture Taught Me to be a Homemaker. Thanks, but I Want More By: Aleichia Williams  ꒰ Whether by culture or custom, Latin America has always been a cradle of oppression of women. In Peru, 8 out of 10 men believe that women should only stay at home to do housework and take care of the children. It is mainly in the Andean areas of Peru, where 90% of the inhabitants believe that girls should stay at home, help take care of the brothers and devote themselves to the farms, so they believe that sending them to study is unnecessary, these customs remain today and continue to violate the rights of girls and limit their abilities in different areas. This blog in particular, highlights the customs that are systematically assigned to women, and how this is part of the oppression towards them, being the cradle of machismo, our own homes. ꒱ ✧ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/my-culture-taught-me-to-b_b_8173924 ✧