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Chair of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality and Professor of Sociology at Harvard University
Jocelyn Viterna is Chair of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality and Professor of Sociology at Harvard University. Her research examines how social mobilization affects gender norms and practices in politics, in government institutions, in warfare, and in communities. Currently, Viterna is developing four research projects.
The first project documents how activism surrounding women’s sexual and reproductive rights in El Salvador has fundamentally transformed the Salvadoran judicial system, and more specifically, its processes for litigating gender. Building from this research, Viterna is developing and deploying training programs aimed at mitigating implicit bias and gender discrimination in Latin American courts.
The second project examines how Salvadoran ob-gyns care for pregnant women and fetuses while negotiating the nation’s absolute abortion ban, and how the ban affects pregnancy health.
The third project compares the discourse and tactics of 8 conservative and 8 progressive social movements in the U.S., investigating whether and how each camp strategically mobilizes notions of “gender.”
Finally, Viterna is developing a book manuscript that situates the Salvadoran case in a broader regional and transnational context to better understand how transnational activism shapes global trends in reproductive health and justice.
Viterna’s work has been published in the American Journal of Sociology, the American Sociological Review, Politics and Gender, and the Latin American Research Review, among other journals. Her book, Women in War: The Micro-processes of Mobilization in El Salvador (2013, Oxford University Press) won four distinguished book awards (the ESS Mirra Komarovsky award, the ASA Section on Sex and Gender award, the ASA Section on Political Sociology award, and the SSSP Global Division award) and one honorable mention (the ASA section on the Sociology of Development). It is currently being translated for publication in Spanish.
Teodora Vásquez is a Defender of the human rights of women and girls. She was sentenced to 30 years in prison after having a stillbirth in El Salvador. She was accused of inducing an abortion at nine months pregnant, in a country where abortion is totally prohibited. Despite spending more than 10 years in prison, Vásquez has transformed her pain and resentment into a story of activism and inspiration. In 2018, Vásquez was awarded the Swedish Per Anger Prize for her courageous struggle on behalf of women. Today, she is the founder and president of Mujeres Libres de El Salvador, an organization that empowers women and provides them with the information they need to protect themselves, as well as assistance with social reintegration upon their release from prison. Teodora Vasquez is a publicist by profession and community theater actress with a gender focus. Defender of the human rights of women and girls.
Teodora is also a protagonist of the documentary FLY SO FAR.
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Argentinian feminist lawyer and women’s rights activist, President, Mujeres X Mujeres
Dr. Deza is an Argentinian feminist lawyer and women’s rights activist and President of Mujeres X Mujeres, a non-governmental feminist organization committed to the defense of women’s human rights and the eradication of violence in all interpersonal relationships. For 5 years she was the Legal Coordinator of ‘Catholics for the Right to Decide’ in Argentina. Dr. Deza practices law in Tucumán, one of the most conservative provinces of Argentina. She has been representing women unjustly prosecuted for miscarriages and legal abortions and in 2016 she became known nationwide as the lawyer of Belen, a woman who was jailed after being accused of murder following a miscarriage. Belen’s case became a landmark in the battle for legal abortion, showing the grave misconduct of medical and legal officers. In 2017, Dr. Deza argued another important abortion case against several medical doctors who obstructed the right to legal abortion of a woman carrying an anencephalic foetus. Although Argentinian law allows such an abortion for medical reasons, it was arbitrarily denied. Due to Dr. Deza’s intervention, the woman was finally allowed to end her pregnancy and an investigation was conducted regarding the unlawful obstruction of her reproductive rights. Dr. Deza reached the federal Supreme Court in the quest for public accountability of medical practitioners and public officers who interfere with women’s rights. Despite great challenges and obstacles, she has helped many women in vulnerable situations, who did not have the means to pay for quality legal assistance. She is a leading voice in the current debate over legal abortion. Her work has advanced women’s rights and access to sexual and reproductive health care and has inspired future generations of lawyers.
Marta Alanís Founder, Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir, Argentina
Catholic and feminist. As a political and social activist, she has extensive experience in popular and gender education, and her entire life has participated in human rights and women’s organizations. In 1993 she founded Catholics for the Right to Decide Argentina along with other feminist leaders. She has been a founder, promoter and activist in the National Campaign for the Right to Legal, Safe and Free Abortion. She is recognized as a leader on an international level, and has consulted and participated in numerous research, communication productions and artistic projects.
Colombian Feminist Lawyer & Researcher
Ximena (she/her) co-leads the Regional Initiative on the Criminalization of Abortion in Latin America with Ríos-Rivers. Prior to this, she was the Women’s Rights Researcher for the Americas at Human Rights Watch. She also worked for Planned Parenthood Global as the Associate Director for Regional Advocacy Strategy where she managed the Latin American Regional Advocacy and Policy projects and was the region’s specialist on international jurisprudence on reproductive rights. She previously worked at the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), where she focused on litigation strategies to advance the recognition of sexual and reproductive rights of Latin American women and was the Americas associate at Human Rights Watch. She has specific knowledge of international human rights law, humanitarian law, and gender law. She is an expert in non-discrimination and gender equality, with strong experience in intersectionality and sexual and reproductive rights and health. Ximena grew up in Colombia and has experienced extensive travel and fieldwork through the Latin American and Caribbean region.
