Dismantling the Nicaraguan Violence Against Women Law in a Context of Pluralism

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Abstract

Nicaragua’s democracy has increasingly been characterized as one in “crisis,” “falling apart,” and in a freefall of “unchecked demise.” (Morris 2018, Raderstorf and Binetti 2018, Stuenkel and Feldman 2017). Protests against the government countered with deadly repression were taken by many as the final evidence that president Ortega had regressed to an authoritarian and desperate grip on power. This increasing consolidation of power and human rights crisis had earlier casualties as well, not the least of which was the dismantling of the 2012 law on violence against women. Led by the Ortega administration, this legal reversal now puts women at increased risk of violence, and men (including Ortega himself) at increased enjoyment of impunity throughout Nicaragua. What caused the reversal of the violence against women law in Nicaragua? More generally, what are the risks to such laws in other political contexts?

Although there has been a global diffusion of progressive policies addressing women’s issues, these are often created in a pluralistic context of political rivals and are vulnerable to setbacks. Creating legislation is a process often met with challenges and sometimes reversals. Nicaragua passed the 2012 “Law 779,” the Comprehensive Law on Violence against Women, which was arguably the most wide-ranging and progressive law on violence against women in Latin America. However, the progressive elements of this law were dismantled by this increasingly authoritarian government in the subsequent two years.

While much scholarly literature focuses on progressive policy advances, setbacks and reversals receive less attention. Through an in-depth case study of the 779 Law in Nicaragua, I confirm major findings in existing scholarship by providing additional evidence that democratic inclusion, transnational advocacy network pressure, and vulnerability to external influence make progressive policy reforms more likely. Additionally, I move beyond current scholarship by demonstrating that progressive policies are also vulnerable to reversal when progressive networks are excluded from policymaking and when the government is less vulnerable to international pressure – both of which vary depending on the stage of the policy process and consolidation of authoritarian rule.

Violence against women is a widespread human rights violation and the aggression that women suffer has profound consequences for their well-being (Nussbaum 2005, Weldon 2002). Vulnerability to violence and exclusion from protection are exacerbated and distinctive when victims are from marginalized groups, such as women who are poor and/or indigenous. Violence against women is widespread in Latin America, with persistent patterns of sexualized torture and violent killings of women (e.g., Alcalde 2010; de Alba and Guzmán 2010; Fregoso and Bejarano 2010; Sagot and Carcedo 2010; Wilson 2014). This oppression and suffering undermines women’s capacity to participate in the workforce and fulfill their human capabilities (Nussbaum 2005 and 2011). Recent studies indicate that domestic violence is widespread in Nicaragua, where non-governmental organizations estimate that up to 60% of women have been physically abused at least once by a partner (Echandi 2009). Other reports indicate that 48% of women have been verbally abused by partners (Romero 2009), and that one third of women living with a man have been subjected to abuse during their lifetime (CENIDH May 2010, 164).

Progressive policy initiatives such as the 779 Law in Nicaragua have diffused worldwide in order to improve prevention, protection, and prosecution in cases of violence against women. It is widely recognized that there is resistance to implementing laws on violence against women (Bevacqua and Baker 2004; Franceschet 2010; Lazarus-Black 2003; Merry 2003) However, there is little scholarship examining how these progressive laws are vulnerable to reform and even reversal. One aim of this paper is to fill this conspicuous gap in the literature relevant for addressing violence against women in plural societies.

Author

• Shannon Drysdale Walsh, University of Minnesota Duluth