Q’eqchi’ Women’s Lives, Healthcare and Cultural Loss

Abstract

Q’eqchi’ Maya women face considerable barriers to education, employment, and other opportunities to improve their livelihoods in Belize. In addition, due to a combination of sociocultural factors, women’s traditional knowledge in the Q’eqchi’ communities is disappearing at a faster rate than other areas of traditional knowledge. A retired midwife explained that women’s knowledge and knowledge of treatments for women’s health are the first to be lost. According to her, in the past there were more women healers and they specialized in women’s reproductive health. Men’s knowledge is also becoming fragmented, but less so, partially because many of their networks have stayed farther-reaching since they have not been tied to domestic obligations to the same extent as women. The knowledge of Q’eqchi’ ethnomedical treatments is highly gendered, with women knowing how to use different medicinal plant species than men. This highlights the need for the documentation and revitalization of women’s traditional knowledge.KeywordsQ’eqchi’ Maya women’s healthChoices in reproductive healthcare among Maya womenGender differences in healing and plant use in Q’eqchi’ Maya medicineHerbalists in Q’eqchi’ Maya cultureMidwifery in Q’eqchi’ Maya medicineTransmission of medicinal plant knowledge in Q’eqchi’ Maya culture