El Salvador

El Salvador, the smallest country in Central America, is on the Pacific coast, with the Gulf of Fonseca to its southeast. El Salvador borders Guatemala and Honduras, and its geographic limits have not been officially established. With an area of approximately 32,000 square miles and a population of about 7 million, El Salvador is the most densely populated nation in Central America. The Spanish legacy of colonialism includes Catholicism and a patriarchal system, and were significant forces in shaping the gender inequalities in El Salvador. Women continue to be disadvantaged relative to men with respect to employment and leadership roles.

The mother-child relationship is central to family functioning and the actualization of respeto (respect), the high regard granted to a person because of age or position. Mothers are equated with self-denial and abnegation. When exhausted, they may become upset or nervous, or they may quietly suffer, but they are not expected to take time off or to demand cooperation from family members. In return for their sacrifice and dedication, mothers usually receive great respect and obedience from their children. Within the larger community, mothers are accorded higher status than unmarried women and childless women.

Female purity is reinforced as an ideal from childhood onward. Girls and young women usually have strict curfews. They are discouraged from going away to college and are generally constrained from exploring their sexuality before or outside marriage. For the most part, women are taught to repress their sexuality and to rely on men to teach them about sex in the context of marriage. They are encouraged to emulate the Virgin Mary in terms of purity and sacrifice. Women are viewed as the nurturers of the family and are expected to subjugate their own goals for the well-being of their families.

Birth control and abortion are still illegal in El Salvador. It is difficult to estimate childbirth rates, mortality rates, and the number of women living in poverty, as no census information is available after 1992. The results of the latest (2006) census are being contested and have not been publicized.