Browsing by Author "Volotinen, Mikaela"

This thesis investigates work against gender violence in two Bolivian women’s rights Non-Governmental Organizations. Its purpose is to contribute to the literature on gender violence work, to understand factors that influence the work and show examples to fight the problem. The study participates in feminist anthropological research on gender, violence and patriarchy. It uses anthropological literature of violence, gender and gender violence work and utilizes especially the thoughts of Sally Engel Merry, Karin Friederic and Mark Goodale in their understandings on how human rights are adapted to the local reality and pre-existing subjectivities. The research was conducted during one year in Chuquisaca Bolivia, starting in September 2021. The research data was collected in two NGOs specialized in work against gender violence located in Sucre. The main research methods were participant observation of the workplaces and semi-structured interviews with the professionals of gender violence work. The field material was processed using content analysis. All the data was coded and organized into thematic wholes. The thesis focuses on the topics that appeared most frequently in the data. The study found three main research conclusions: First being that the help the NGOs offer cannot compass all aspects of gender violence because of the complexity of the issue. For that reason, in their work the NGOs are focused on fighting against patriarchy and empowering women. The second conclusion is that the help offered to the clients is hierarchical, which contrasts with the ideology of the NGOs as they are officially against patriarchal and colonial hierarchical structures of power. The third conclusion is that while the official help given to the victims is hierarchical, women’s collectives formed after the clientele process can offer a more egalitarian help, where the support comes from working together to empower other women. The study demonstrates the extreme difficulty of planning and executing programs to prevent gender violence and help victims/survivors, due to the complexity of the problem.