Victorio Dariquebe Gerewa displays his bow and arrow at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. PHOTO:
Ben de la Cruz/NPR

Girls and women in the Peruvian Andes are also asking to learn — but for a different reason. They want to be able to hunt for meat and fish so they don’t have to rely on the men to bring home food.

“The world is modernizing, and women are starting to want to use the bow,” says Sergio Pacheco, a skilled archer who’s part of the tiny Wachiperi community — population estimates range from 90 to 140 — in a remote region of Southeast Peru. “They say, ‘We are just women in the family, so what happens when our father dies? We need to learn this to be able to take care of our families.'”

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