Gender Violence within the Inter American System of Human Rights Protection. The Resurgence of Gender Cultural Construct

Abstract

Within the Inter-American system of human rights protection, the concept of gender based violence is a permanent issue that requires multidimensional approaches of cultural nature. In the present paper we aim to demonstrate the manner in which the cultural factor influences and determines the etiology of violence directed against women. In our argument, we will take into account two concepts that determines the gender roles within the Inter-American System: marianismo (the expression of the feminine gender role) and machismo (the expression of the male gender role), advancing the work hypothesis according to which, the interrelationship between those two concepts determines social behavioural and mental conducts which designate an inferior position to women. In the same token, we will develop the hypothesis according to which, the cultural factor was recognized as a primary source of the gender based violence phenomenon at the legal level, in this sense being prescribed the legal approach advanced by the Belem do Para Convention which connects the cultural factor with gender and with the forms of violence that are addressed to women. From the methodological perspective, we will apply the deductive reasoning by first indicating the peculiarities of the two concepts that are auxiliary in constructing gender roles (marianismo and machismo) and secondly demonstrating, by means of the hermeneutical method, the manner in which, the interaction between the two concepts may generate the social and juridical reality of femicide – which is an extreme form of violence against women. The deductive method will also be implemented in order to ensure the structure of the paper; meanwhile, the hermeneutical method will be applied at a substantial level, facilitating the demonstration of the hypothesis and, overall, the entire argument.