Gender inequality in Honduras has seen improvements in some areas regarding gender inequality, while others have regressed towards further inequality since in 1980s. Comparing numbers from the 2011 and 2019 United Nations Human Development Reports helps to understand how gender inequality has been trending in Honduras. In the 2011 Human Development Report rankings for the Gender Inequality Index, Honduras ranked 121st out of 187 countries. In the 2019 Human Development Report Honduras dropped to 132nd out of 189 countries in the rankings. As the country's overall ranking dropped, it indicates that progress towards gender equality is not being made on the same level as other countries around the world.
Many of the inequalities stem from longstanding cultural norms and traditions that have been in place for hundreds of years. Dating back to the Spanish colonial influence on the agricultural society of pre-16th century Mesoamerica.
Traditional gender roles in Honduras
Traditional gender roles have men dominating the public sphere and women occupying the domestic sphere: it is very taboo for women to participate in what are believed to be traditionally male positions in society. Although, there are women who occupy these traditionally male dominated position, the representation is extremely low. Men are expected to be the main provider of the family and head of the household. Traditional gender roles can give men power to make important decisions over women such as when they may procreate, how many children women may have, what chores need to be done to maintain the household, if they may receive education, and whether or not they may participate in the workforce.
Gender roles in which men occupy more space and hold more power, is taught at a very young age. As children, boys are free to run around unclothed, play without supervision, are less often disciplined for unfavorable behaviors, and enjoy greater freedom overall. While girls are to be well groomed and dressed with care, are watched over carefully, are expected to act in a helpful and quiet manner, and enjoy very little freedom.
Honduran men are expected to father many children, and there is little social stigma attached to men's premarital and extramarital sexual relationships. However, when marrying a woman, men expect their bride to be a virgin. As seen in various news reports, women who do not conform to what is socially deemed as appropriate behavior are often subjected to violence. In 2018 Honduras had 388 cases of femicide (according to Merriam Webster Dictionary femicide is a gender-based murder of a woman or girl by a man) - an average of 32 women killed per month.
According to UNAH Violence Observatory statistics, killings of women decreased from 9.1 deaths per 100,000 in 2016 to 8.2 per 100,000 in 2018, and to 7.9 per 100,000 as of June. Women in domestic situations were the most vulnerable group, accounting for approximately 40 percent of these deaths.
Gender Inequality Index (GII) Each year the United Nations releases a Human Development Report and in this report they measure various dimensions of society. One of those dimensions is gender inequality where levels of disadvantage between genders is demonstrated. This index shows disadvantages among genders in three key elements: reproductive health, empowerment, and labor market. Countries are given a rank based on their gender inequality index value. The value is measured from 0 to 1. 0 represents men and women prospering equally and 1 being the opposite, in which one gender prospers as poorly as possible compared to the other.
In the 2011 UN Human Development Report Honduras was ranked 121st out of 187 countries and given an index value of 0.511 However, in the 2019 report that ranking dropped to 132nd out of 189 countries, but the opposite trend for the index value, which improved to 0.479. These statistics can give a general idea of how a country fares on gender inequality overall and if improvements are being made, relative to all 187 countries in the report.
As the index value moved closer to 0 by 0.032, this indicates that the country is indeed making improvements, although small, toward gender equality. However, the drop in ranking shows that Honduras is not making strides towards gender equality on the same scale as other countries that moved ahead.
Reproductive health Reproductive health is usually gauged in terms of the maternal mortality rate, which is the number of mothers per 100,000 who die from pregnancy-related causes. In 2019, Honduras had a rate of 129 deaths/100,000 live births. Many of these deaths come as a result of lack of adequate healthcare and illegally performed abortions which leave the women at great risk for infection. Another indicator is the adolescent birth rate. This is the number of live births per 1,000 adolescent mothers (ages 15–19). In 2019, Honduras had a rate of 72.9%. This high statistic stems from the machismo culture in which premarital sexual experience are highly sought after by men, lack of sexual education and contraceptives, and a weak healthcare system.
Women who have children as adolescents put their children in a situation where they are much more likely to be raised in poverty, due to the fact that the secondary education dropout rate is significantly higher among adolescents who have children. The UN Human Development Report also shows that as of 2011 only 65 percent of women ages 15–49 use any form of contraception and only 67% of women have a skilled professionals present for the birth of their child (this data was not included in the 2019 report). 50% of young, sexually active, never-married women use contraceptives, while 56% of their married counterparts use contraceptives.
This low rate of contraception use has not equated to a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS. Only 0.2 percent of women and 0.3 percent of men are infected. Having fewer women than men infected with AIDS is usually a trend found in more developed countries. Although, according to Sister Namibia, "the sale of young girls and women into prostitution slavery plays a major role in the transmission of AIDS among heterosexual couples." This practice is leading to an increase in cases of AIDS. Only 33% of girls ages 15–19 reported having a complete understanding of HIV/AIDS. The percentage of girls with completed knowledge on HIV/AIDS is higher in urban areas than rural areas (42% vs 23%) and even higher for women in wealthy households versus the poorest (48% vs 12%).
The final contributing factor to reproductive health is the number of children women have; total fertility rate. The most recent statistics from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), states that the total fertility rate in Honduras is 2.33 children born/woman (2024 est.). However, almost 45% of recent births by mothers under 20 was reported to be unplanned, in that they wanted to wait until a later time or did not want it at all.
Reproductive and sexual rights Nearly 50% of young women between the ages of 18 and 24 reported becoming sexually active, poorer women at higher rates. Access to birth control is typically more available to married women between the ages of 18 and 24 and to women who live in urban rather than rural areas. In regards to women's understanding of safe sex practices in Honduras, nine in ten women ages 15–19 report knowing where to get a condom. Inequalities in availability are present when some women may not be able to afford condoms or do not have the freedom to purchase them because of their partner or parents control on their sexual health. The highest formal awareness is among the wealthiest of teens, and the least amount of awareness is among the poorest.
Abortion has been illegal in Honduras since it was banned in 1997. Additionally, the Honduran Supreme Court banned the use of emergency contraceptives in 2012, making the unlawful administering or receiving of it punishable in the same way as abortion. Teenagers must also have parental consent in order to be tested for HIV/AID.
The government made an effort to increase the number of schools that provide sexual education beginning in 2010 by signing the Ministerial Declaration of Preventing through Education. Although, according to data collected by The International Federation of Planned Parenthood, since signing this declaration Honduras has only progress by 51% in their efforts of "prevention through education." They were not far off the percentage of regional aggregate progress which was 58%.
Empowerment The UN Human Development Index includes two measures as indicators of empowerment. These indicators are the percentage of parliament seats held by women compared to men, and the percentage of women (over 25) with a least some secondary education compared to men. In 2019, women were reported to hold 21.1% of seats in parliament, which was a 3.1% increase from 2011. Regarding percentages for each gender with some secondary education, in 2011 women trailed men with 31.9% compared to their 36.6%. But in 2019 women surpassed men with 34.2% of women over 25 having some secondary education, while men had 32.6%. These statistics suggest that women not only have more opportunities to obtain secondary education, but also have the ability to take advantage of those opportunities.
A common form of empowerment is through political channels. Despite the fact that women today have equal political rights, they remain severely under-represented in politics. One reason for this is women's constant fight for survival keeping them out of organized labor parties where their grievances could potentially be heard. If people want their plight to be recognized, they typically need an organized movement to get the governments attention. Another reason being that those holding political power currently, majority men, are not willing the back women in their political pursuits and/or are not ready to change the political power structure in the country. There is not a lack of participation or interest by women in politics, however their likelihood of being elected into office is very slim.
Perhaps the most telling statistic on empowerment, the question "who is the decision maker" was posed to families in Honduras and 91.3% of those people answered the man was the primary decision maker vs. 8.7% female. This response suggests that the root of the gender inequality issue in Honduras is the idea of patriarchy being the only way to operate and that women should always be the followers and caregivers, but not the decision makers. This insight into the culture of Honduras may be the key to development. Countries cannot simply stop in their tracks and change. It is only through the merging of old and new in the most seamless way that true and lasting change can be achieved.
Economic activity Economic activity in the GII is based on only one statistic: the proportion of females compared to males in the labor force. As of 2023, women made 40.1% of the labor force in Honduras. Many women work in low-skilled jobs, often in bad conditions. Honduran women have a much lower participation in the workforce than other Latin American women, due to Honduras being more conservative than other countries in the region. The labour opportunities in rural areas are very limited for women, owing to a combination of lack of jobs and social views which dictate that women belong in the home.
In the 2008 Global Gender Gap Index, Honduras was ranked 21st out of 74 countries on their general index value. Pulled from the same data but for the economic participation, in the opportunity sub-index they were ranked 47th. That is a change of 26 spots when talking about general-well being versus economic inclusion. This is yet another indicator that gender inequality is lower in economic dimensions of society.