ABSTRACT

This chapter reviews how other authors have portrayed women's socioeconomic, familial and marital situation in Guatemala and how the civil war impacted on women's their lives. It aims tp facilitate an understanding of women's living conditions in Guatemala that ultimately promote their immigration to the United States. Guatemalan people are subdivided in two ethnic categories, Indians and Ladinos, Indians claim indigenous, non-European ancestry while Ladinos claim Spanish, Western ancestry. The general economic situation in Guatemala declined during the eighties. The service of Mayan men in the civil patrols even affected Mayan areas that were traditionally in a better economic situation, such as the tourist town of Panajachel and the area around Totonicapan. Guatemalan women identified gender roles as the cause of marital problems and marital disruption. Gender roles in Latin America have been characterized in the sense of the machismo-marianismo opposition.