This chapter deals with the problem of gender violence, especially in Chilean Aymara women. The aim of the study is to make a diagnosis of the indices and forms of domestic violence against women on the basis of gender in a sample of Aymara women from the urban area in the Arica and Parinacota Region (Chile). The chapter assumes the definition of intrafamiliar violence, according to the formulation adopted by Chilean legislation, as a complex and multi-determined phenomenon, which happens in the context of a culture and certain social relationships that support and make it possible. In this sense, it is one of the most dramatic manifestations of discrimination experienced by women because of their sexual condition. It is conceptualized as any form of physical, psychological-emotional, sexual, and/or economic abuse, which happens within the couple relationship, regardless of the legality of the bond. The chapter deals with the description of conditions and ways of life of the Aymara ethnic group, from socio-demographic, economic, and public health indicators that may be related to these women's perceptions concerning their situation in view of the intrafamiliar violence phenomenon. The research is a quantitative and qualitative multimethod design. The qualitative side of this study consists of group discussions in which the object of the research is analyzed through an outline ad hoc. The quantitative side of the research consists of the application of two standardized scales of domestic violence (WASTT and ISA).
TopBackground
The 15th Arica and Parinacota Region is one of the Chile’s 15 first order administrative divisions. It is situated at the northern extreme of Chile. It borders on the Republic of Peru to the north, I Tarapacá Region to the south, the Republic of Bolivia to the East and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It has an area of 16.800 km2 and an estimated population of 189,600 inhabitants in 2006. The Region comprises the provinces of Arica and Parinacota and the capital is Arica City. The Arica and Parinacota Region emerged after being separated from the old Tarapacá Region, when Law 20,175 came into force on 8 October 2007.
From an ethnic point of view, it is possible to find a great wealth and diversity in this Region in which there is a strong presence of the native Aymara ethnic group, and, to a lesser extent, the Quechua. It also appreciates the presence of the Mapuche ethnic group and African descendants. The Aymara ethnic group has a population of 1,237,658 in Bolivia (census 1992), 296,465 in Peru (census 1993), and 48,501 in Chile (census 2002). 89.3 percent of the Aymara people, who inhabits in Chile, lives in this Region or in the Tarapacá Region. Aymara population of the XV Region amounts to 23,889 people, 17,945 are 18 years of age or older, 4,488 live in a rural area, and 13,012 are urban Aymara people who live in Arica City.
The bi-bordering condition of the Region has meant that 53.6 percent of the foreign residents are Bolivian and 32.1 percent are Peruvian. These percentages do not take into account the illegal immigration because it is estimated that there are about 20,000 people who do illegal jobs between the Arica and Parinacota Region, and the Antofagasta Region. These people represent a floating population that is not figured by census and other population counts (Pulido, 2007). The inland frontiers of the region, especially in the province of Parinacota, are not well defined with a great number of borders crossing which are not enabled and are crossed without control or register. This phenomenon, which is due to the geographical conditions and ethnic-cultural similarity of its inhabitants, adopts a natural and necessary character in the social productive organization of the area (see Table 1).