Article source: "Violences faites aux femmes : un #MeToo tardif en Guyane", Emile Boutelier, 08/01/2023
For the International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women, on 25 November, there was only a small turnout of about 100 demonstrators in the city of Cayenne. This illustrates the lack of awareness in French Guiana about the scale of the problem. However, according to the French ministry of the interior, the overseas territory has the highest rate of domestic violence in France. In 2021, almost 13 women for every 1000 inhabitants between the ages of 15 and 64 were registered as domestic violence victims, five more than the national average.
“There were more than 1000 domestic violence cases opened in 2021, an average of three cases per day,” says Audrey Buguellou, member of l’Arbre Fromager, one of the rare local charities dedicated to helping women. “We still struggle to raise awareness locally about these issues.” Despite the impact of domestic violence, feminist charities are mostly made up of people from mainland France. “Only 5-10% of charity members are locals,” says Romane, the president of the LGBT charity Kaz Avenir.
Local Reluctance
This lack of activism seems to stem from several problems. “Gender roles that are influenced by a history of slavery force women to be strong and stoic, which is incompatible with the idea of seeing themselves as victims,” explains Lise Gillot, a PhD student in sociology and member of the NousToutes973 feminist collective. Socio-economic conditions also make it harder to promote the political importance of this issue - 60% of the population lives below the poverty line and the colonial past can cause conflicts when it pits loyalty to feminist causes against those related to the aftermath of colonialism. “Many Creole women are de facto feminists, but they refuse to use the term because it’s seen to be a white-woman’s ideology,” explains Lise Gillot. The influence of religion and the small size of the territory (which increases the social cost of protesting) only add to this general reluctance. As a result, the recent increases in feminist activism triggered by the #MeToo movement have gained little momentum in French Guiana.
Activism on the Rise
“The lack of visibility should not be confused with a lack of involvement,” says Mylène Danglades, a sociologist from the University of French Guiana, “Feminist activism has been on the rise since the nineties, but only as part of other larger movements.” This view is supported by the growing number of participants in protests and the growing number of feminist slogans in Creole written on the walls in Cayenne.
“What we’re witnessing is a new collective awareness here in French Guiana, which can be seen through the increase in the number of participants on marches against femicides,” says Mylène Danglades. And not without reason: a month after the demonstration on 25 November, a woman in her thirties was killed by her ex-partner. If the authorities confirm this to be a femicide, it will be the seventh in French Guiana in the past three years.
Translated by Olivia Pritchard, Zénaïde Essammah and Maria Bou Gharios.
Editing by Sam Trainor.