International Women's Day

As you may or may not be aware, Sunday was International Women's Day. I have no idea if this is celebrated in the U.S. but here in Nicaragua it was recognized in the schools and gave me yet another opportunity to see machismo rear its ugly head.

Machismo refers to the macho attitude of many men in Latin America which obviously can lead to gender inequality in these countries. Machismo can be anything from the large amount of catcalls I get whenever I walk down the street to women doing all the cooking, cleaning, and housework to just the general way that a lot of men walk around like they own the place and many women are simply trying to find and keep a man who may or may not actually do anything at all. Initially I was impressed to see how many women worked outside the home and/or were attending university, but more and more I realize that that's not necessarily the majority and for many women here their lives revolve around traditional female roles, whether or not that's what they want to be doing.

Friday we had a little lunch at school to welcome the new principal and also to celebrate International Women's Day a little early in the small town where I started teaching this year. In general I consider the counterpart at this school (his name's Axel- I need to do a post on the names I encounter here) to be somewhat more intelligent than the average Nicaraguan male. However, on this particular day we got into a discussion about what women can and can't do. When asked what men can do that women can't, Axel's two examples were driving a car and managing a company.

I told him that in the States everyone drives and tried to explain that it's not that women can't manage companies, it's that here in Nicaragua they haven't been given the opportunities men have to attend university and learn the skills they need and that in other countries plenty of women manage companies. He didn't say much to that but I'm hoping that maybe he thought a little bit about what I said, especially because he's a teacher and I would hope he encourages the female students as much as the males. When Axel asked me when International Men's Day is I told him "everyday is Men's Day in Nicaragua."