Sabrina Karim - U.S. Student to Peru
Home Institution: Georgetown University
Host Institution: Grupo de Analisis para el Desarollo (GRADE)
Field of Study: Gender Studies
Grant Dates: 2010 - 2011
After spending a year researching the relationship between gender and corruption in Peru’s National Police Transit Unit, U.S. Fulbright grantee Sabrina Karim recently had her work published in Americas Quarterly, along with the publication Revista Ideele. A report of her findings was also presented to Susana Villarán, the mayor of Lima. To read the article from Americas Quarterly, click here. To learn more about Sabrina’s experience, read on below.
When people think of Latin America and gender relations, they may automatically associate the region with “machismo culture.” In Peru, however, the role of women in society is changing rapidly. Women are advancing their economic rights by pursuing jobs that have traditionally been considered masculine; they are small business owners, policewomen, and work in the mass transit business.
In 2010, I had the opportunity to see this shift in action by researching women working in the Peruvian National Police, and by organizing a women’s cooperative called Mujeres Unidas in one of Peru’s poorest communities, Villa Maria del Triunfo, where I also lived during my time there.
Peru was the first country in South America to feminize the Transit Unit of the Peruvian National Police (PNP). The assumption behind this transformation was that women are less corrupt than men. It followed, then, that the government could reduce corruption in their National Police force by hiring more women.
Thanks to the support of my host institution, el Grupo de Analisis para el Desarollo (GRADE), I was given permission from the Peruvian National Police to interview and survey the female Transit Officers in an attempt to learn more about this transformation. How did the women perceive themselves and their role as transit officers? Did they believe that the hiring of women had an impact on corruption? Was there empirical evidence that it had?
The resulting study relates to my broader interest in gender and security, a topic that I plan to pursue during my doctorate studies at Emory University. The Fulbright experience enabled me to develop this interest into a full-fledged academic study, which will serve as the basis for my doctoral dissertation.
In addition to my academic research, my Fulbright grant in Peru opened the door to many other expereriences, including tutoring children in my community in English serving as an election monitor for Transparency International, and giving talks on the American political system at Youth Conferences in Ayacucho.
To the U.S.-Peru Fulbright Program