Return Index

Return

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Socioeconomic context 

The nineties in Ecuador were noteworthy for the implementation of structural adjustment policies, political instability, and the weakening of the democratic institutional framework, which have led to a deterioration in living conditions and human rights.  The administrations during that period promoted policies for “modernizing” the State, which led to privatization, market liberalization, and lesser control over financial institutions.  Economic policy has fostered growing foreign debt service, with 30% to 40% of the budget being allocated for this expense during those years, while allocations for social spending have declined.[1]

Political instability is one of the characteristics of this period.  In less than five years, Ecuador had five Presidents, of whom two were forced to leave office.

Corruption has been a major phenomenon throughout the nineties in Ecuador.  In fact, according to Transparency International, Ecuador ranks second in terms of corruption in Latin America.  It has been asserted that the costs of corruption account for about 35% of the State’s General Budget per year, and in some cases it is jeopardizing development options for three generations of Ecuadorians, who will have to pay the consequences for this ill-gotten wealth, the breakdown of private financial institutions, oil business deals detrimental to national interests, the dismantling of public administration, among others.[2]

The last decade was characterized by increasing poverty and the growing accumulation of wealth in the hands of only a few, which has generated shameful social inequality.  Indeed, “...whereas in 1990 the poorest 20% of the population received 4.6% of income, in 2000 it took less than 2.5%; whereas the richest 20% saw its share of wealth grow from 52% to more than 61%.”[3] The growing severity of the recession that we have been living since 1999, the year in which the sharpest real drop of gross domestic product (7.3%)[4] was recorded, has increased poverty in Ecuador.  According to recent reports, 79%[5] of the population is subsisting below the poverty line.  It is important to emphasize that, in January 2000, Ecuador adopted the U.S. dollar as its only currency.  This relinquishment of its monetary sovereignty has led to permanent rises in the prices of market goods and services, but without any increase in salaries and wages.  In addition, despite initial promises, inflation continues to be a problem in the country, interest rates remain high, and there has been no upturn in production or the economy.

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN (Article 1)

·         In the Reporting Centers for Women and the Family, “97.1% of the reports pertain to violence against women.”[6]

·         There is an incidence of 56.86% in sexual crimes, the female population being the primary target for sexual abuse, accounting for 99.31%.[7]

Domestic violence. As violence is processed and penalized as an infringement, many women are obliged to sign “Mutual Respect Contracts” that violate their rights.  Furthermore, the Protection Measures provided for by the Law on the Violence against Women and the Family are generally issued without due consideration for time, which undermines their effectiveness.  Furthermore, these measures are not complied with, and since there are no effective mechanisms to penalize the attacker, the victim is left defenseless and impunity prevails.[8]

The Law on Violence against Women and the Family does not have any regulations.  This lessens the capacity of the Reporting Centers for Women to respond effectively, as the Centers do not have a consistent approach for processing reports, granting protection measures, and applying sanctions.[9]

The location of the Reporting Centers for Women and the Family prevents women living in rural zones from benefiting from any kind of defense,[10] especially in the provinces of the Amazon region and the Galápagos archipelago, because the majority of these centers can be found in the capitals of the provinces of the highlands and the coastal region.

Sexual violence outside the family. In Ecuador, there is a high rate of violence, affecting the personal safety and sexual freedom of persons, especially women.  The information gathered from places where reports are received is distressing:

-          "Ten sexual assaults are reported each day" at the Sexual Crimes Unit of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in the canton of Quito alone. 

Out of a total of 700 cases involving sexual crimes and assault and battery filed in the Criminal Courts of Quito between 1994 and 1996, in only 25 was a sentence passed, with similar proportions being recorded in both Guayaquil and Cuenca.[11]

Sexual harassment in educational establishments is also a major concern.  These cases never reach judicial institutions because educational authorities attribute themselves the duty of setting up ad-hoc entities to be in charge of “investigating” and resolving cases of sexual abuse, which should be reported as criminal offenses.  They resort to “counseling and talking” methods with the guilty parties.

Women’s Rights Defense Office of the National Police Force (Oficina de los Derechos de la Mujer—ODMU). The Women’s Rights Defense Office is located in only five of the country’s cantons, accounting for 2.3% of all national cantons.[12] The victims of domestic violence are not duly attended by the staff of the National Police Force, because of their lack of sensitivity and the absence of specialized police training for this matter.

Executive branch. Gender training for those who administer justice is not part of a sustained State process.  Because of this, out of the total number of public employees, as estimated from the Living Conditions Survey of 1998, 1% has been trained.[13]

WEAKENING OF PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS INVOLVED IN THE EFFECTIVE PROTECTION OF WOMEN AGAINST ALL ACTS OF DISCRIMINATION (Article 2)

National Women’s Council (CONAMU)

The National Women’s Council was established as a technical institution attached to the Office of the President of the Republic.  Its main function is the formulation of public policies with a gender approach that can guarantee and promote the viability of the fundamental rights and liberties of women.  Nevertheless, the absence of a law and the limited amount of resources provided by the State,[14] which reflects the little importance given to the task, has prevented a gender approach from being incorporated into public policies.  During 1997-2001, of the total budget used by this institution, 26.70% came from public revenues, whereas the rest came from international cooperation funding.  CONAMU’s institutional framework was severely undermined in 2002, when an Executive Decree issued by President Gustavo Noboa reformed the mechanism to appoint the Council’s Executive Board, excluding the participation of representatives of the women’s movement as candidates for membership on this Board.

Adjunct Office of the Ombudsman for the Rights of Women and Children, at present the Department of the Human Rights Ombudsman

This institution was established in 1998 as a specialized body in charge of guaranteeing and defending the fundamental rights of women, children, and adolescents.  Nevertheless, in 2000, it was dissolved and demoted in terms of hierarchical importance to become yet another National Department.

Constitutional Court

The Constitutional Court is the highest-ranking institution for monitoring the Constitution.  It cannot be viewed as a technical organization because its members are appointed on the basis of a list of candidates submitted by political parties and elected by Congress.  All Court members are men, and they have no sensitivity or perspective about gender issues, and this is apparent in their rulings.

NATIONAL CRIMINAL STATUTES THAT PROVIDE FOR OR LEAD TO DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN (Article 2)

The Criminal Code provides conditions for the acquittal of persons whose crimes against other persons use the sanctity of marriage and decency as justification.  Fundamental legal assets such as the right to life are subject to preservation of “family honor.”  Voluntary abortion is penalized, and it is categorized as a crime against life.  The penalty that is envisaged for abortion, however, is diminished if it takes place to hide one’s shame.  The same type of legislative approach is applicable to infanticide, where the benefit is even extended to maternal grandparents.  The criminal category of “rape by consent” has not been removed, and it is subject to the application of a sanction, where the marriage between the victim and the rapist is annulled.  Furthermore, to define the legal category of rape, one of the constituent elements that have been kept for this crime is the “modesty” of the woman.  The definition of rape excludes other violent sexual acts of bodily invasion not involving penetration,[15] albeit with an identical impact on the victim.

ADOPTION OF LEGISLATIVE MEASURES TO ELIMINATE DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN (Article 3)

 The enactment of laws aimed at protecting the rights of women does not mean that adequate measures have been established to ensure their applicability and enforceability by the State.  During 1990–1998, the Free Maternity Act, the Law on Violence against Women and the Family, and the Act for the Protection of Working Women were passed, but their application has been difficult and incomplete.  The Free Maternity Act has come up against severe constraints in terms of compliance because of the lack of State allocations for this purpose and the decentralization of these resources.  Moreover, the Act for the Protection of Working Women has no mechanisms for ensuring compliance, and therefore it cannot be enforced either by the State as an employer or as guarantor.  The Law on Violence against Women and the Family has the constraints indicated above.

National Congress has postponed processing bills involving situations that mainly affect women,[16] while giving preference to others, which has led to a devaluation of these issues and favored discrimination against women.  When congressmen “argue” for or against proposals aimed at contributing to the elimination of discriminatory conditions, they resort to moralistic approaches.[17]  The reports drawn up in Congress by the members of the Women’s Committee are subject to the criteria of other Permanent Committees, which means that this Committee “needs” assistance and/or the validation of others, to the detriment of its functions and attributions.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION MEASURES (Article 4)

Item 7 of the report submitted by the Ecuadorian State, in respect to paragraph 521 of the Observations of the Committee to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination against Women, addressed to Ecuador,[18] regarding the absence of affirmative action measures, points out that “... over the last few years, laws like the Law on Violence against Women and the Family and the Free Maternity Act have been passed...”.

The nature of these laws does not effectively correspond to affirmative actions; the first provides provisions that sanction violence against women; the second defines, as a public health action coming under the responsibility of the State, the right to free and quality health care during pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum, access to sexual and reproductive health programs, and the right to free health care for newborns and children under five years of age.

To the confusion of the implications stemming from these provisions should be added lack of enforcement, violation and inobservance of affirmative action measures contained in two laws:  the Law for the Protection of Working Women[19] and the Law for Reforming Elections, Provincial Structure, and Decentralization Laws.[20]

ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATORY SOCIOCULTURAL PATTERNS (Article 5)

The sexual stereotype that women are the only ones responsible for reproduction has not diminished, and a large part of the population, both women and men, does not have enough knowledge about the use of contraceptives.  Among the reasons for not using contraceptives, there is the opposition of the spouse/partner and “religious reasons.”

The National Sexual Education and Love Plan (Plan Nacional de Educación Sexual y el Amor—PLANESA) has been relegated to a government entity without the necessary scope of action.  The Plan’s contents include no gender approach and do not objectively tackle the latest advances in topics such as pregnancy, abortion, and sexual options.  This National Plan requires a non-moralistic treatment, one that is more in line with the integral protection of sexual and reproductive rights.  Likewise, it is important to point out that the Free Maternity Act does not include a gender-sensitive vision and does not contribute to viewing women as the subject of rights, but rather relegates them to their roles as mothers and therefore to their importance for maternal and child health.

In the media, especially the press and television, there is increasing news on the crimes page about abortion, domestic violence, women-hating, and homophobia.  Nor has there been any gender-sensitive public opinion to counter this trend.  Although it appears in the Equal Opportunity Plan for 1996-2000, CONAMU has not developed any type of mechanism that would enable any follow-up or monitoring of advertisement and media that disparage the image of women and foster a culture of disrespect and violence.

There is no political will to ensure that a gender approach will cut across the curriculum structure of basic education.  The authorities of the Ministry of Education and the School Textbook Committee (Comité de Textos Escolares)[21] have not fulfilled their duty to watch over the incorporation of a gender approach and the elimination of sexist stereotypes in school textbooks.  The resistance of various “traditional” boys schools in Quito to coeducational learning establishments and their misogynist and marginalizing stances are living proof of the many efforts that have yet to be made in the field of education.

TRAFFICKING OF WOMEN AND THE EXPLOITATION OF PROSTITUTION (Article 6)

Congress has not enacted any reforms to the Criminal Code to adjust it to the mandate of the Constitution, which guarantees State protection to children and adolescents against child trafficking, pornography, prostitution, and sexual exploitation.  In fact, none of these activities have been categorized explicitly as criminal offenses.

Pimping in Ecuador is not penalized when the pimps administer a brothel that is set up in conformity with the regulations that local governments and the Ministry of Health have issued for that purpose.[22] Criminal law increases the penalties for pimps when they “promote or facilitate” prostitution of a child under 14 years of age.  Under the same consideration, making profits from the prostitution of minors is penalized.  The age group ranging from 14 to 18 years old remains unprotected.

As for the trafficking of minors and women in particular, the State has not adjusted its domestic legislation in line with international instruments that have been ratified by Ecuador in this matter.  The actions of taking, carrying, buying, selling, transferring, accommodating or receiving persons to oblige them or subject them to forced labor or practices analogous to slavery are not categorized as criminal offenses.  The Criminal Code envisages sanctions for those who “promote and facilitate the entry into or departure from the country or the transfer inside the territory of the republic of persons so they can carry out prostitution activities.”  Thus, victims of other types of trafficking,[23] such as those that remain hidden such as arranged marriages, are unprotected.

As for the production of child pornography, not only is it not viewed as a crime, but also the Ecuadorian State has not acted with due diligence against cases of child pornography production.  Neither in the period covered by the Official Report or afterwards has the National Police Force or the Attorney General’s Office investigated reports of the discovery of prostitution rings in the country. 

PARTICIPATION IN POLITICAL AND PUBLIC LIFE (Article 7)

In candidacies for popular election. There is a small proportion of female candidacies and elected women, which is not in line with the percentage of the Ecuador’s female population, nor with the population of female voters.  Prevailing inequalities in participation and power have been a historical constant for Ecuadorian women.  The participation of women has been affected by the repeated issuance of unconstitutional instruments dictated by the Supreme Electoral Court, which has violated the principles of alternability and sequentiality guaranteeing that women will be placed on lists of candidates for those offices for which they are eligible.[24] As a result, the number of women candidates and elected women has been low.

In the executive branch.  Sexist stereotypes that continue to prevail in Ecuador have prevented any woman from being elected to the office of the President of the Republic.  In 1996, a woman held, for the first and only time in the country’s history, the office of Vice-President of the Republic, but she was unable to take over the office of President Abdalá Bucaram when he was ousted, because of a political agreement in Congress that argued there was a constitutional flaw regarding presidential succession.

In ministries and other decision and policy-making offices. Women are not appointed to public decision-making offices in the same proportion as men.  During this period, women who have held offices at the rank of minister have accounted for only 21% of the total, as Under-Secretaries for 3.85%, at the head of Ministerial Departments for 14.85%.[25] As for supervisory positions, women have held only 7%.

In the legislative branch. There is no equality in the participation of men and women in executive and decision-making jobs.  To date there has been no woman chairing the legislative branch of government, only two women vice-presidents.  The percentage of women who have been elected as congresswomen amounted to 4.94% in the period 1994/98; 3.70% in 1996/98; and 13.22% in 1998/2000.

In the judicial branch. The Law for the Protection of Working Women, issued in 1997, provided that Superior Courts of Justice should be comprised of at least 20% women as superior judges and the same percentage as judges, notary publics, registrars or other court clerkships.  Although this percentage is not adequate to achieve full equality in exercising judicial power, in the case of the judicial branch no policy has been drawn up to enforce the application of this statute, thus keeping women in the same situation as before, without promoting her participation in an egalitarian way, and without even reaching the percentage provided for by the Law for the Protection of Working Women.

PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN FOREIGN SERVICE (ARTICLE 8)

The Ecuadorian State has not taken suitable measures to guarantee the participation of women as the country’s diplomatic representatives.  In this field, gender stereotypes have been kept, and they are evident in that men hold the highest-ranking jobs, reproducing the roles of a patriarchal society.  The number of women who have made inroads in the diplomatic service, through the respective academy, shows that there are no strategies by the State to reduce cultural, traditional, and family difficulties that hamper the participation of women in diplomatic positions.

EDUCATION (Article 10)

From 1995 to 1999, average spending in education accounted for 2.6% of gross domestic product, which has led to structural problems in the entire education sector, mainly as a result of low coverage, deterioration in the quality of education, and low salaries for teachers.

National illiteracy percentages in 1995 amounted to 12% and 8% for women and men, respectively.  This trend remained unchanged until 1998.  In 2001, total illiteracy in the country amounted to 8.4%.

A process referred to as the Reform of Education started up in 1994.  It proposed a reform of the curriculum for basic education.  It did not incorporate, among its tenets or in its guidelines, the principles of equality or nondiscrimination, as well as respect for, and the guarantee, of human rights as provided for by the Constitution.

In 1998, National Congress passed the Law on Education in Sexuality and Love, whose considering clauses expressly mention compliance with the “...right to protect the family as the fundamental core of society, guaranteeing the moral, cultural, and economic conditions to promote the achievement of its goals and protecting marriage, motherhood, and family property.”[26]

One of the causes for school dropouts is adolescent pregnancy.  According to the last population census, 25% of adolescent mothers stopped studying, and those who wish to continue studying have to put up with all kinds of pressure and retaliation, including being expelled from their learning establishments. 

School textbooks used in Ecuador’s educational system, as well as teaching practices, tend to reproduce and consolidate gender stereotypes that make women the only ones responsible for reproductive tasks, whereas men are associated to public activities, performing different roles on the job market and in activities involving economic and political power.[27]

Men and women continue to choose academic studies for their professional development that are in line with the roles that have been traditionally assigned to them, respectively.  Women opt for careers such as nursing or teaching, which are poorly paid and are considered to be typically feminine, whereas men tend to choose technical careers.

Between 1995 and 1999, the country lost a one-million-dollar allocation for the Project for Equal Opportunity in Professional Training.  This project was part of a regional project benefiting from support of CINTERFOR-ILO and funding from IDB and which has been successfully implemented in various countries of the region.

Job market (Article 11)

The participation of women on the job market in the nineties has increased considerably.  Nevertheless, it continues to be much smaller than that of men, not only in the city but also in the rural sector.

Companies that strive to fill their vacancies publish ads in the press, requesting a specific profile, preferably young women.  In the banking sector, for example, women over 35 years of age, indigenous or black women are not hired for direct customer service.

Women are mainly employed, in numbers that are considerably higher than those for men, in the commerce, hotel and restaurant sector and in the personal and social services sector.  As a result of the economic crisis, the share of women in the informal sector has been growing and is larger than that of men.

Over the last few years of the decade, unemployment among women has risen by a higher percentage than that for men, from 13% in 1997 to 20% in 1999.

The percentage of women who should be hired in the private sector has not yet been defined, although the Law for Protecting Working Women has provided for this percentage since its enactment in 1997.[28]

Women receive lower pay than men in the different job categories, not only in the public sector but also in the private sector.  In the period 1990-1998, women’s income has amounted to 82.5% of the income received by men.  In other words, there is a salary gap of close to 17.5%.

We express special concern for women who work in households as domestic help because the conditions under which they are hired are far below the standards for workers in general.  In addition, there is the possibility of hiring minors to carry out these chores, without the authorization of their parents, which means that they are at special risk.

We also report that there is much pressure being applied on working women to avoid pregnancy, especially in the financial and banking sector and in the flower-growing industry.  In the former, there is the increasingly widespread practice of having women sign letters of resignation in advance to be used in case they become pregnant.  In the flower-growing sector, women are usually forbidden to become pregnant while they have a contract.  As for teachers, in many cases women teachers are forced to cover the cost of their substitutes when they are on maternity leave.

HEALTH (Article 12)

The magnitude of abortion in the country and its impact on the morbidity and mortality of women are unknown.  Although abortion is the third cause of maternal mortality,[29] the Ministry of Public Health has not conducted any type of research or study providing an account of the reality.  The Ecuadorian State, when penalizing abortion and inhibiting provision of this reproductive health service, is denying women access to medical care, and those women who do come to health units with abortions under way are given poor and punitive health care.[30]

Maternal mortality rate is very high, and rural women are especially vulnerable.  The first cause of death among adolescent women is related to complications with pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum.[31]

The Free Maternity Act,[32] as well as the Reform to that Act[33], has not been effective in reducing the above-mentioned indices.  The enforcement of these regulations encountered difficulties.  In the former, the resources taken by the Ministry of Health were aimed at objectives that were different from those stipulated by the Act.  In the latter, there have been no political will and resources, especially in respect to the decentralization of the health system, which means that local services do not have the facilities or enough medicine to meet demand.  Less than 15% of the care envisaged in the Free Maternity Act does not involve any cost.[34]  Hospitals and health centers charge women users for services as provided for by the Act, or they require them to buy the supplies that are needed for their care.

In 1998, the Ministry of Public Health stated that domestic violence is a public health problem.[35] Nevertheless, no effective measures have been established for dealing with it in the health sector.  Domestic violence is not recorded in the clinical records of patients nor is it part of national health statistics, and there is no study or research by the Ministry of Public Health to determine the impact of domestic violence on the morbidity and mortality of women or on its cost for health services.

In Ecuador, six out of ten pregnant women suffer from anemia.[36] For 2000, malnutrition was deemed to be the seventh cause of morality among women.[37]

HIV/AIDS cases are under-recorded, but some studies report that there is trend pointing to increasing numbers of women affected by the disease.[38] One of the major difficulties that have to be dealt with is the high cost of treatment.  The only persons who benefit from full services and care for HIV/AIDS are those belonging to the Armed Forces and the Police Force, who have their own health insurance and hospitals.[39]

Cancer of the cervix is the main cause of disease and death due to cancer among women.  The timely administration of the Pap smear or TDC would contribute to the timely detection of cervical cancer and higher success rates in its treatment.  Nevertheless, it is not a widespread practice in the country.  The considerable rise in the costs of medicine, which prevents women for starting or completing treatment, has also contributed to the severity of the situation.

Only 31% of women of child-bearing age use some contraceptive method.  Neither the percentage of men or the type of contraceptive methods they use are recorded.  The use of condoms is viewed as a female contraceptive method.  In the case of surgical sterilization of women, health staff continue to request the authorization of the husband or partner so as to perform the surgery according to the Code of Medical Ethics.  The State, especially the Ministry of Public Health, has not taken effective measures to eliminate this practice and institutional custom, which is an obstacle preventing women from gaining access to medical care and has severe consequences for their reproductive health, such as unwanted pregnancies and high-risk pregnancies in adult women that have borne many children.  It should also be indicated that the information and education on sexual and reproductive health still comes with many prejudices, which hampers access of adolescents to contraceptive methods.  According to the International Foundation for Adolescents (FIPA), Ecuador is noteworthy for having the highest rate of adolescent pregnancy in Latin America, after the Dominican Republic, with close to 350,000 adolescent mothers in the country, which is a distressing figure.

DISCRIMINATION IN ACCESS TO RESOURCES AND LEISURE AND SPORTS (Article 13)

Social security. In Ecuador, the coverage of the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute is very low not only for women but also for men.  Nevertheless, women have less access to social security benefits from the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute (IESS).

One of the causes for this disparity is probably the fact that women are for the most part involved in informal sector activities or work part-time, whereas men work mostly in the formal sector.

Access to credit.  According to the SIISE[40] (Simujeres), in the country’s financial system,[41] of all beneficiaries, women account for only 38% of access to credit.  Nevertheless, inequalities are actually sharper when we observe that, out of the total amount of credits, only 19% are awarded to women, whereas 81% are granted to men.  As a result, amounts received on average are almost three times less for women, compared to those for men.

Land ownership. As indicated in the document on the Index of Fulfilled Pledges,[42] there is no information on women landowners in the country.  Nevertheless, using the estimates from measuring instruments such as the Living Conditions Survey, it was possible to obtain an indicator on land access, on the basis of which it was possible to establish that, between 1995 and 1998, there was a decline in the proportion of households headed by women who have access to land as owners.

Access to housing. As for access to housing, it is important to point out that the housing deficit is high for the entire population, with women as heads of households being the most severely affected.  According to the Living Conditions Survey of 1995, 50.6% of the population in the coastal region did not have a home or needed improvements to live in acceptable conditions.  In the sierra, the deficit amounted to 51.4% and in the Amazon Region 66.6%, with the national average amounting to 51.5%.  If we examine the situation based on rigorous criteria, the deficit for quality housing is alarming, with a national average amounting to 77.7%.

These data have turned out to be a concern, from the perspective of women, who in 1994 accounted for 51.2% of the total population, with a rising trend.

RURAL WOMEN (Article 14)

In Ecuador, the high level of rural organization is noteworthy.  Nevertheless, women account for less than 1% of elected leaders,[43] which confirms the existence of traditionally masculine leadership although over the last few years, the participation of women has been higher.  Although some indigenous organizations such as ECUARRUNARI,[44] CONFENAIE,[45] and FENOCIN[46] have promoted the establishment of indigenous women’s organizations, their participation has not lead to any automatic questioning of the role of women in their communities.  It is important to mention that, regarding fundamental issues such as gender violence, some sectors of the indigenous movement refuse to admit that it is a problem in their communities; rather they explain that it is part of indigenous culture.

It should be mentioned that, at the end of the nineties, organizations of non-indigenous campesino and Afro-Ecuadorian women were founded.  These organizations are not autonomous and their agendas do not incorporate gender claims; therefore, they do not manage to articulate women’s movement in Ecuador.

The State does not have a sustained policy with a gender perspective aimed at improving the quality of living of rural women.  Relatively successful although isolated experiences[47] have not had any continuity because of the lack of political will and a steady decline of resources to promote social policies, because of external debt service payments.

EQUAL TREATMENT OF MEN AND WOMEN BEFORE THE LAW (Article 15) and CIVIL PROVISIONS THAT DISCRIMINATE OR FOSTER DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN (Article 16)

The Civil Code determines that the terms referring to the male sex include the entire human species,[48] which means that Ecuador’s entire legislation is male-centered.

The Civil Code establishes that “prostitutes” cannot be witnesses for a marriage.[49]  As for the Civil Procedures Code, it determines that “prostitutes” cannot be witnesses in legal proceedings because of lack of integrity.[50]

To claim certain rights before the Law, civil legislation refers to a woman’s sexual conduct. The Civil Code[51] determines that, in the case of a paternity suit, without detriment to other evidence, the request will be turned down when it is proved that the mother has displayed “evident bad conduct” or may have had sexual relations with other individuals during the legal period of conception.  In addition, a paternity suit involves a process that usually takes years to complete.[52]  The plaintiff has to provide conclusive proof of both the cohabitation and responsibility of the defendant.  The paternity of the defendant has to be proven, although no statute requires it, by DNA paternity testing, whose cost in our society prevents most women from resorting to this option.  The Supreme Court has issued a legal ruling indicating that a DNA test is the only conclusive evidence for proving paternity.[53]

Widows, divorcees, or women whose marriage has been annulled cannot marry unless a certain amount of time has elapsed and unless it has been scientifically proven that they are not pregnant.

Marriage is defined restrictively, as a contract between a man and woman to live together, procreate, and help each other.  This legal framework is for stable, monogamous marriages between a man and a woman, thus excluding other types of unions or family structures, such as those for lesbians, which limits access to benefits, such as social security and the adoption of children.  The Law governing common law marriages does not envisage any mechanism to effectively guarantee legal security for women over assets that might belong to them as a result of a partnership of assets, nor is there any legislation on the presumption of paternity established in the Political Constitution of the Republic regarding the sons and/or daughters born from this type of relationship.

Furthermore, it is important to mention that high legal fees for civil proceedings, except for food allowances, restrict women’s access to the administration of justice.

Issues of concern

Pregnant women in police detention

The Criminal Code forbids the detention of pregnant women.  On the other hand, the Criminal Procedures Code obliges judges to replace preventive imprisonment by house arrest in the case of pregnant women.  Despite this regulatory framework, the detention of pregnant women and keeping them in conditions almost of abduction in police stations has become a systematic practice.  The worst cases are drug-related.  Although the Constitutional Court has issued writs of habeas corpus, the National Police Force ignores its resolutions, keeping pregnant women in jail in their stations for many months before and after delivery, in order to avoid compliance with the house arrest ordered by the judges.

Emigrating women

Throughout the nineties and especially since 1998, there has been a drastic rise in migration abroad, along with a trend toward matching numbers of men and women leaving the country to look for work, thus breaking away from the traditional pattern of male migration.  Female migration is growing increasingly, especially to Spain and Italy, which after the United States are the two most important destinations for Ecuadorian migration.  Migrant women take up employment niches that are highly vulnerable and with little potential for social mobility, such as household work and the sexual industry.  This reality is rendered invisible because of the few policies that the State has started to draw up to defend the rights of migrants abroad and whose attention focuses on the prototypical male migrant worker.

Sexual abuse and rape are oftentimes part of the story of violations of the rights of migrant women in their journey to the United States.  The impact of migration on women who stay in the country is not the focus of any kind of policy in the country.  In addition to the emotional problems affecting their spouses, sons, and daughters, who record high levels of depression, there are social problems that are not being addressed by the State:  overworked girls, young women, and elderly women who are in charge of taking care of minors; women as heads of households living very difficult economic situations; sexual control and stigma as a result of the establishment of atypical families; domestic violence on the part of the husband’s relatives. 

Displaced and refugee women

The implementation of the so-called Plan Colombia has triggered the forced displacement of people inside and outside Ecuador, which is causing a humanitarian crisis in the border provinces of both Colombia and Ecuador, especially the zones of Sucumbíos, where there are clashes and armed raids.  The destruction of subsistence crops and the death of farm animals, as well as a rise in respiratory, digestive tract, and skin diseases, have been reported as a result of the fumigation of coca plantations on the Colombian side of the border.  According to UNHCR, the displacement of women accounts for 75%[54] of all cases in the world.  They are exposed to specific violations of their rights: trafficking, rape, forced labor.  We are especially concerned about the women of the Kichua and Shuar indigenous communities.  The conflict in Colombia has also unleashed a massive entry of Colombian citizens looking for refuge, of whom 39% are women,[55] suffering various forms of gender violence because of their particular vulnerability and because they also have trouble obtaining jobs under favorable conditions, mainly working in the informal sector, as domestic help and prostitutes.[56]