Empowering Indigenous Women in Guatemala: Inside Trama Textiles

Updated March 23, 2026

Guatemala is a country of extraordinary beauty, and extraordinary inequality. For women, and especially for indigenous women, the statistics paint a sobering picture. These are not abstract numbers. They describe the daily reality faced by millions of women across the country.

But within that reality, something remarkable is happening. In communities across the Guatemalan highlands, indigenous women are organising, weaving, and building economic independence on their own terms. Nowhere is this more visible than at Trama Textiles, a fairtrade cooperative based in Quetzaltenango, run entirely by indigenous women, and dedicated not just to producing beautiful traditional textiles, but to transforming the lives of the women who make them.

Women's Rights in Guatemala: The Numbers

Not the newsfeed nor the national statistics from Guatemala are very encouraging when it comes to women’s situation. According to the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), in 2024 there were 1.9 cases of femicide per 100,000 women in Guatemala. Femicide is the gender-based killing of women, generally comminited by men. The greatest incidents of violence perpetrated against women between the ages of 30 and 44. The rates of adolescent fertility has decreased since 2010, but remained high with 68 our of every 1,000 girls aged 15-19 giving birth in 2023 (World Bank Group). Furthermore, following the election in 2024, only 20% of the seats in congress are filled by women (World Bank Group).

The Extra Barriers Facing Indigenous Women

For indigenous women, the hurdle to self-sufficiency is higher due to several factors. Partly because a large share of the indigenous population live in the countryside, where non-agricultural work is limited. Additionally, a large share only speak their Mayan dialect and no Spanish – the official language of the country. Moreover, there are structural, legal and institutionalized forms of discrimination based on racism targeting indigenous women, leaving them vulnerable and many times unable to make a living for themselves and their families. Out of the 32 women serving on Guatemalan congress from 2024 - 2027, only one of them is indigenous (UN Women). The high levels of gang-related violence in the country is affecting indigenous women and children living in the countryside the most, and due to the highly corrupted judicial system, any prospects of legal justice for indigenous women are slim to none (ICNL).

Amparo de Leon, President of Trama Textiles

Despite these very gloomy numbers, and rather pessimistic outlook, we can see a lot of hard work carried out on grass root level fighting for human rights and the empowerment of women. Especially in rural areas where indigenous people are concentrated. Although we were unable to find any statistics, just by googling “NGOs working with women’s issues in Guatemala” will give you an idea of what is bubbling beneath the surface. Around Guatemala, there are plenty of women’s cooperatives and NGOs working for the cause, see e.g., Asociación de Mujeres del Altiplano, Primeros Pasos, Fundaeco, UPAVIM among many others.

How Trama Textiles Is Changing the Story

This is why we are very grateful for being part of the volunteer team for Trama Textiles. To get to see close up an organization where indigenous women work hard empowering themselves and each other. As you already might know, Trama is run 100% by indigenous women. How many organizations do you know run by females only?  

At Trama, every decision made from business expansion to choosing the size of a pillowcase, is made by women. The board of directors are women only. Every single product made and sold for the cooperative is made by women. The cooperative was founded by – guess who? – women! It was formed in the late 80’s as a consequence of the civil war wiping out a large part of the male population, leaving many women without a male head to provide for the family. The founders of Trama used their amazing backstrap loom weaving skills to produce traditional textiles to sell to a broader mass. In this way, they managed to make a living for themselves and their families. And what better way than to do it side by side with other strong women working hard to put food on the table for their families? 

Although the business idea of Trama is to produce and sell traditional textiles, the core of the cooperative is improving the livelihoods of the women. This is why the cooperative has established the Almaya Fund to provide our weavers with the resources to support their families education.

We might be biased, but we just cannot get over how inspiring organizations like Trama are when it comes to empowering women. Explore the fairtrade products these revolutionary women produce.