Islands Of Central America – Where Men Have The Right To Live Like Women

Men have the right to become a omeggid, meaning that they can live and work like women.
Guna Yala Islands - where men have the right to live like women
Located in the tranquil waters of the Caribbean Sea, the Guna Yala (Panama) archipelago has a white sandy coast, covered with palm trees and green coconuts, according to the BBC.
Since ancient times, this land has had a progressive viewpoint: accepting transgender people. While in many places, people often show sympathy or discriminatory attitudes, people here do not discriminate against such people. They consider it a normal thing in human life such as hunger, food, thirst, drinking or sadness

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Guna Yala is an archipelago located off the coast of Panama. Photo: BBC.
"Mom taught me how to make these beautiful traditional molas embroidery," Lisa said while demonstrating her skilled sewing “Some figures represent birds and animals, but some are very powerful.



They will protect you from evil spirits, ”she smiled.
Like many women on the island, Lisa is sitting in a canoe selling beautiful handicrafts for tourism. Except for one thing, Lisa was born as a boy. Guna exists a matriarchal system where the woman is the distributor of food, the owner of the property or the person with primary responsibility. Here, men can choose to become a omeggid, meaning "like a woman", so that they can function and work like other women.
The third gender is considered completely normal on this archipelago. If a boy begins to show femininity, his family accepts and allows him to grow up like that A omeggid will learn skills that are tied to women.



In fact, most of the omeggids living on the island are masters of the making of the most complex molas.
Diego Madi Dias, a research anthropologist at the University of Sao Paulo, has lived with the Guna people for more than two years. He witnessed first-hand how a woman greatly influenced Guna's men.
“The Guna people taught me that children should have self-control, when their egos come from the heart, or from within, and begin to manifest early outward. So if a boy starts to lean towards the other sex, he is not prevented from living as he is, ”he said.
Nandin Solis Garcia was born and raised in Guna Yala, is a transgender health teacher and LGBT advocate. She said that maturing with other genders is not difficult because these people always receive the support of family, friends and community. Most transgender people are male-to-female, while female-to-male is very rare, but later on they are equally accepted.



"Since ancient times in history, transgender people have always been at Guna," she said.
Third gender people on Guna Island were not discriminated against. Photo: BBC.
On Crab Island, one of Guna Yala's largest communities, women are everywhere. They wear beautiful traditional embroidered clothes, sell handicrafts or food. In contrast to many other Central American countries like Guatemala or Nicaragua, Guna women seem more open-minded and easy to talk to.
According to David, an island tour guide, women in Guna Yala have a higher status. A traditional wedding here has the ritual of kidnapping the groom, not the bride, or the man who will come to the bride's house after marriage.



The woman will decide if a husband can share wealth such as fish, coconut or banana with his parents or siblings.
Even holidays are held to honor women. The three most important celebrations in the Guna Yala Islands are the birth of a little girl, puberty and marriage. On those occasions, the community will gather to drink chicha - a very heavy local beer. During the puberty celebration, the girl will have a gold ring on her nose.
"Gold is considered precious, so women wear gold to show their worth," said an elderly Guna woman, pointing to the gold ring on her nose.
Lisa was born as a boy but gradually has a female tendency as she grows up. Photo: BBC.




Here, although men will traditionally be fishermen, hunters, farmers or cooks, women's work is still seen as more important. As tourist arrivals increase, Guna people may earn additional income from other sources. Guna women can sell handmade embroidered sweaters or winis - colorful bracelets made of glass beads - for between $ 30 and $ 50. Meanwhile, a man makes only 20 USD a day cleaning the bottom of a sailboat.
“I wouldn't say Guna adopts a matriarchy, since women rarely work as politicians or leaders, even though their decisions are very important. In addition, Guna had no hierarchical distinction in terms of value of work. Fishing, hunting or cooking, taking care of children are all equally valued, ”Dias said.
However, sometimes omeggids do not have a clear role in Guna society as women do.



"As Guna's people interact more and more," Garcia said.

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