Breaking barriers? A study of individual and societal influences on engagement with women's police stations in Guatemala

Abstract

The utilization of women's police stations is increasing in practice across the Global South, and more recently, in Guatemala. While women's police stations (WPS's) provide essential services by offering resources for women experiencing violence, more research is needed to understand how these stations operate in different country contexts. This work must consider the individual and societal correlations that may impact who comes to these stations. This study examines the characteristics of individuals who have utilized these WPS's, including ethnicity, age, marital status, and educational attainment. It also considers government-mandated stay-at-home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as broader societal levels of trust in police and their correlation to why individuals may or may not utilize these stations. Results show that societal trust in police has a positive and significant impact on the rate of cases seen by WPS's in Guatemala. Mayans were not significantly more or less likely to come to the WPS's, even when considering interactive effects between trust in police and Mayan ethnicity. Areas for future research and exploration are discussed.