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LAS DIGNAS Origin
LAS DIGNAS is a feminist organization that was officially founded in June 1990 in El Salvador. The name LAS DIGNAS stands for La Asociación de Mujeres por la Dignidad y la Vida, or Women's Association for Dignity and Life. The name is meaningful because it means women began to prioritize their political needs after the government repeatedly failed to address gender inequality and gender violence in El Salvador during the Salvadoran civil war and post-war. Morena Herrera, one of the founding members, calls the name “a collective demand for and an affirmation of autonomy. ” The organization was created by the Resistencia Nacional, or National Resistance, a branch of the FMLN. By 1993 the DIGNAS had become an independent non-governmental organization and it has remained that way till the present day. LAS DIGNAS remains the oldest feminist organization still active in El Salvador.

LAS DIGNAS was formed because of women’s critical reflection of their roles in the war and the discrimination they faced. Although many women had actively participated and contributed in the FMLN guerilla camps, women’s issues were still seen as secondary and marginal in comparison to the necessity for economic reform. Indeed, when the Chapultepec Peace Accords were signed in 1992 they did not mention any women's issues. According to Morena Herrera, there was no critical reflection by the guerilla’s masculine leadership on how gender marked different experiences in the war.

LAS DIGNAS's work covers a range of women's issues. Some of the most important include combatting gender violence, domestic violence, and feminicide in El Salvador. It holds workshops to educate women about their legal rights, gender violence, and their sexual and reproductive rights. DIGNAS also holds workshops and does public service announcements and campaigns against sexual violence. Furthermore, LAS DIGNAS also supports changing the Salvadoran abortion laws in support of women's reproductive rights and bodily autonomy.