For so long, indigenous people have been struggling as they strive to preserve their ancestral lands, protect their native language, and promote their dying culture. With the widespread liberalization around the globe, the norms and indigenous people are threatened to be displaced, making them more susceptible to insecurity and discrimination. Along with this hostile condition, ethnic people, specifically women may seem to drown in the world where men seem to dominate in every career aspect.
The indigenous justice systems vary from one region to another but there are things that are akin among them. Lack of government support and funding, and the inequality and gender-biased workspaces are some of these. There are some cases where women hold a special role in their ethnic tribes. Indigenous women have long proved that they are at par or arguably even better than men in mediating disputes.
In many Southeast Asian countries, indigenous people are excluded from law-making processes and the formal justice system. There are few institutions of formal legal services that enable indigenous people to file a case before a court. In case it is difficult for them to access the formal justice system, they have to rely on informal justice systems. However, indigenous justice systems are male-dominated in most cases and have no room for women to join. If indigenous women have no necessary safeguards, they remain highly vulnerable and cannot receive justice. This vulnerability is rooted in the fact that the collective rights of indigenous peoples and their limited representation, especially of women in the political arena are not recognized. Moreover, in this case, the states fail to perform their duty for their citizens to raise awareness on the subject of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Meanwhile, in Latin America, political decision-making is still dominated by men but slowly, the presence of indigenous women is now being embraced. Also, in indigenous dispute settlement mechanisms, the participation of women has been expanded (e.g. Quechua women in Peru, Nasa women in Colombia, and Mayan women in Guatemala) but they are still an absolute minority among men. Gender bias indeed remains in indigenous dispute settlement, it focuses more on dialogue, listening to complainants and a broad range of parties involved in disputes, and seeks conciliated solutions. In their provisions, indigenous women do not need to encounter the discrimination, racism, and inefficiency that they tend to experience in the state justice system. This is a significant benefit for them. However, in the case of sexual and non-sexual violence, the great majority of women lack adequate access to the indigenous system due to the patriarchal nature of the justice system, and their economic dependency, and the social sanction against victims. Women leaders are prone to consider violence cases more seriously.
However, in Africa, a wide variety of ethnic groups and their traditional conflict resolution mechanisms can be observed. For example, in Ethiopia holding multiple ethnic groups and tribes, generally, women rarely become mediators even though they join the systems as plaintiffs or defendants. On the other hand, in Ambo Woreda of West Shewa Zone in Ethiopia, women can intervene and request reconciliation through their institution called siqqe. Further, in the early stage of conflicts, women can play the role of peace envoys for their district. Marriage is also another form of participation of women in dispute settlement that can be seen in several groups. In the Issa and Gurgura clans of Somali in eastern Ethiopia, marriage is a tool to bond two groups of people. For example, beautiful women marry into enemy tribes to heal the wounds of conflict and give birth to boys to make up for those lost in the conflict.
The overwhelming majority of decision-makers in indigenous dispute settlement mechanisms are men and the lower participation of women is the world phenomenon. Especially, women mediators seldom exist. Indigenous dispute settlement mechanisms can provide protection and access to justice, but a lack of women mediators seems to make women disadvantaged in some cases.
31 October 2021