Women represent only 33% of the world’s drug users and just 8% of those incarcerated for drug-related offenses. Given these relatively low percentages, why is it still essential to apply a gender perspective?
Those of us working in the public sector know that many projects include gender equity—at least on paper. Sometimes, we even describe it in sophisticated terms, calling it a “cross-cutting approach.”
At FIIAPP, the Spanish Cooperation agency that leads the COPOLAD III Programme, we take feminism seriously. From the outset, we made a clear decision to integrate a gender perspective—not only as a transversal principle but also through concrete actions that actively promote equality. And what happened when we put on our “violet glasses”? Many things changed.
Disaggregating data to better understand the reality
Drug data are usually not disaggregated. This creates a distorted version of the drug problem among women.
In these four years, we have worked on the construction of scientific evidence together with the National Drug Observatories of Latin America and the Caribbean, with the inclusion of the gender approach in eight of them. To this end, we created working groups, held trainings and meetings, listened to many women, exchanged good practices and also developed a guide to incorporate the gender approach in drug research systems. The data and percentages began to change and so did the way we approached these problems.
From data to resources
For example, we found that while 45% of those who used amphetamine-type stimulants in the past year were women, only 27% accessed treatment. Why are women accessing treatment services less? What barriers are we failing to address? A gender-sensitive approach helps us ask these questions and identify solutions.
We also learned that rates of gender-based violence among women who use drugs are significantly higher than among non-users: 75% reported experiencing physical violence, and 45% sexual violence. These findings must inform the design of care services, shelters, and even the gender composition of staff who provide support.
Capacity building has been a constant throughout these years of activity and exchange between drug administrations. The European Guide on Health and Social Responses to Drug Use Problems has been adapted to Latin America and the Caribbean. The community sphere has been key, with training on the ECO2 Community Treatment model and the guide of good practices for community intervention, which includes a gender perspective.
We have also identified the urgent need to link treatment with socioeconomic reintegration. Tailored mechanisms and tools for the social inclusion of women and diverse populations are essential—and much work remains in this area.
COPOLAD III has also addressed the stigmatization faced by women who use drugs. Together with CONASAMA in Mexico, publishing a Guide to address drug use in populations of sexual diversity, and an associated toolbox for social and health care centers (in Spanish) with CONASAMA.
The region with the most women in prison in the world
Gender perspectives are equally critical in the field of security. Globally, 92% of people in prison are men. But in Latin America, the majority of women incarcerated are there for drug-related offenses, making it the region with the highest proportion of women in prison for these crimes worldwide. Alarmingly, female incarceration rates in the region have increased by 60% over the last century.
COPOLAD III has worked with regional justice and security institutions to develop standards, protocols, and guidelines that address the specific vulnerabilities of women, who are often the weakest link in the drug trafficking chain.
An example of this is the collaboration with the Ibero-American Association of Public Prosecutors (AIAMP), which in Europe corresponds to the public prosecutors’ offices, to incorporate the gender approach in the development of guidelines in the comprehensive approach to drug trafficking investigations involving women victims of trafficking. This work is being implemented in some countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, where it has identified needs in this field.
With the Inter-American Association of Public Defender’s Offices (AIDEF) (also known as public defenders), we have developed a regional protocol for specialized defense for women in conflict with the law for committing drug offenses, which has already been adopted in some countries, such as Paraguay. Costa Rica, with the support of COPOLAD III, has a protocol for Integral Attention to Women in Conflict with the Criminal Law.
We have also promoted a practical guide for the inclusion of gender in alternative development (AD) projects, since many rural women are in a situation of inequality in the drug market value chain.
Looking ahead
For too long, drug policies failed to take into account half of the world’s population. By putting on our “gender glasses,” we see reality more clearly and can design more effective, inclusive solutions.
Thank you to everyone on both sides of the Atlantic who is supporting this ongoing process.
Happy International Women’s Day – March 8!
Authors: Mercedes Alonso and Arantxa Freire, COPOLAD III Program specialists.
