Although women represent almost half of the population of Peru, they do not have equal access to resources or power. Traditional assumptions and misconceptions often obstruct access by women to influential roles in both the public and private sectors. Due to Peruvian society's prejudice and discrimination, women historically have suffered disproportionately from the country's pervasive poverty and unemployment. Although human rights issues affect many sectors of the population, there are some violations which are gender - based, or affect women to a greater extent due to prevailing patriarchal systems.

Illiteracy affects 12.8% of the population. However, female illiteracy constitutes 73% of this total and is concentrated in rural areas of extreme poverty and among women who do not speak Spanish. The average number of children born per woman in Peru is 3.5 compared with 3.1 for Latin America in general and 2 for the U.S. The rate is 6.2 children for Peruvian women who have little or no education, and 7 children for those who live in rural areas. This compares with a rate of 1.7 children for women who have at least a university or college education and 2.8 for urban residents of all educational levels.

The reduction of poverty, social and political inequality, access to education and unequal income distribution must be addressed in order to ameliorate the situation of women in Peru today; only with the equality of women in public and private life will women be able to enjoy their full human rights.

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A CLADEM report released in 1999 found that forced sterilisations were being performed by Peruvian health staff who, were given financial incentives to fulfil quotas for the operations. The report alleges that as part of a wider population control campaign to lower the birth rate to 2.5 children per woman, the Peruvian government "established targets at national level for the use of surgical methods of birth control".

This was finally recognised by the government in July 2002 when they released a report stating that over 200,000 people in rural Peru were pressured into being sterilised during the government of former president Alberto Fujimori. The figures show that between 1996 and 2000, 215,227 women, and 16,547 men - mostly from poor indigenous communities - underwent sterilisation operations. Then health minister Fernando Carbone said the government gave misleading information, bribed people with offers of food and threatened to fine men and women if they had more children. Carbone has called for a thorough investigation and promised punishment for those responsible. The report found that there was inadequate evaluation before surgery and little after-care. Procedures were negligent and less than half were carried out with a proper anaesthetist.

Sterilisation of women is no longer being carried out in a systematic way. However there are concerns about the way in which sterilisations are carried out in some places. In some cases sterilisations are granted to women under 25 and some women are not given the lawful 72 hours between being offered and informed about the sterilisation and the operation. Many are not fully informed about the operation, and many have suffered due to a lack of aftercare. There are still cases of women being sterilised without their consent

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In 1993 a law was passed protecting women from domestic violence. Despite this there continue to be problems applying the laws in practice. Figures vary on the numbers of women affected. In August 2002 the official newspaper El Peruano reported that more than half (51%) of women in greater Lima have suffered sexual or physical abuse from their partners. In Cusco the figure is even higher: more than two thirds (68.9%) have been abused. There are reports of police refusing to take formal complaints of domestic violence when there are no external signs of abuse. There are cases where police fail to follow up on complaints they receive, meaning that no protection is provided to the victim. There is a lack of training on the implementation of laws on domestic violence. Few cases of domestic violence go to court and in a high percentage of cases the charges are dropped.

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Women and some minorities actively participate in government and politics, although they are under represented. A nationwide drive was conducted to replace the citizenship papers and voter registration cards lost by women who were displaced by the internal conflict and who returned to their original communities in time for the 1998 municipal elections, as well as for the 2000 national elections. For the first time in the country's electoral history, the October municipal elections were held under the new law that mandated that all party candidate lists for congressional and municipal elections include at least 25 percent women and at least 25 percent men. In conjunction with the municipal election campaign, four women's organizations undertook nationwide programs to identify female candidates and promote women's lobbies, increase the number of female voters, prepare a women's political agenda, and train women who were elected to office.

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