women's rights

Since 1990, WCCN’s women’s empowerment initiatives have worked to help Nicaraguan women overcome social and economic marginalization. Poor rural women are often the ones who face the greatest obstacles in their struggles. WCCN partners with Nicaraguan women’s organizations committed to empowering women and giving them a voice.

This video tells the story of the difference these organizations are making, and how WCCN supports their work.

Join WCCN in welcoming Nicaraguan women's rights activists Violeta Delgado and Yamileth Mejía to Madison as they tour the United States in an effort to mobilize support against and raise awareness about the politically motivated case that may soon send them to court.

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Turning Back the Clock

Do women’s rights have a place in the new Sandinista era?

By Carlos Arenas
WCCN’s Executive Director

WCCN is proud to commemorate 15 years working in microfinance and is no less proud of its work with the Nicaraguan women’s movement during the last 16 years. In fact, the Women’s Empowerment Project (WEP), is WCCN’s longest-running program. It was initiated in May 1990 following a delegation to Nicaragua focusing on the work of “Casas de la Mujer” (Women’s Centers). In this article I would like to provide an overview of what we have accomplished over the years and elaborate on where WEP is currently headed.

By Marc Becker
Truman State University Professor and WCCN Study Tour Participant

I have become interested in two themes related to constructions of gender in Latin America. One is more academic and concerns the meanings of “feminism” in a Latin American context. The other is related more to political strategies, specifically the relationship between social movements and electoral politics. The WCCN Women’s Empowerment Project study tour to Nicaragua helped me rethink both of these themes, challenging my assumptions and coming to deeper understandings of how gender works not only in Latin America but throughout the Americas.

By Alisha Steele
WCCN Outreach Coordinator

Again this year WCCN and Women for Peace hosted a celebration of International Women’s Day in Madison, WI. This year the main speaker was Malalai Joya, a legislator from Afghanistan who spoke on “Afghan Women’s Resistance to War and
Fundamentalism”. The event included performances by local artists Katrina Flores and Tracie Gilbert, as well as music and dancing by the Omulu Capoeira Group.

Malalai Joya was invited by WCCN and Women for Peace to come speak in Madison WI for International Women's Day on March 8th. Our only concern was whether or not she would be able to get a visa to travel here. Well, we got the good news that she has gotten her visa! It is exciting to have Malalai as a speaker for this event. If you want to see why this is exciting - take a look at this recent BBC article on Malalai; http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4606174.stm

For more information about the event, go to WCCN's Upcoming Events.

Compiled by Amanda Mehl, this directory lists 20 national and grassroots women's organizations in Nicaragua, with contact information and brief overviews on the histories, goals, current projects, and future plans of each organization.

This paper by Katy Skarlatos looks at the microfinance industry and its relationship to women’s empowerment and propose ways that microfinance programs can be reformed to have the greatest impact on women’s empowerment strategies. It analyzes existing institutions and market failures that sustain the practice of restricted credit access, examines the role of women in the Nicaraguan economy, recognizes some of the existing arguments against microfinance as a tool for empowerment, and concludes with specific recommendations as well as national regulatory limitations for creating microfinancial institutions that empower women to redefine their status in the home, community, and national economy.

Forty-five publications listed, in both English and Spanish.

Written by Sofia Montenegro and Elvira Cuadra and translated into English by Donna Vukelich, this study discusses the experience of the Xochilt Acalt Women’s Center in Malpaisillo, Nicaragua during a 10-year period. The Women's Center works to end discrimination against women through consciousness-raising, while also addressing issues such as economic inequality, access to property and land, sexual division of labor, and access to productive resources.