2024-08-04 07:37:30
Violence against women in politics still marks a gap in Ecuador.
No debate or arguments, just Attack on women because of their gender. This is one of the defined panoramas of violence against women in politics, heading towards the 2025 elections in Ecuador.
According to the electoral calendar, the registration of candidatures It will be from September 13 to October 2, 2024. Currently, there is only one candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, Andrea Gonzalezfor him Patriotic Society Party.
Paola Paboncurrent prefect of Pichinchais another of the names that sounds, in this case, for the Citizen revolution. Even so, male candidates are favored by at least six additional candidates. The candidates for the National Assembly.
Regulations on parity and violence against women continue
The Constitution of the Republic from Ecuadorin article 61, establishes the rights to elect and be elected. It includes that it must be in a system that guarantees participation, with criteria of equity and gender parity.
Article 99 of the Organic Law on Elections and Political Organizations of the Republic of Ecuador, Code of Democracydefines that the lists will be formed equally with a sequence of woman-man or man-woman until the total number of main and alternate candidates is complete.
The Citizen Participation Corporation monitored violence against women politicians and those holding important positions. This process took place from December 1, 2019 to April 30, 2024.
Violence manifests itself in various forms
Ruth Hidalgo, Director of Citizen Participationrealized that the political violence It constitutes one of the most serious elements that discourages women’s political participation.
Monitoring was carried out with accounts of the red social X of 36 women with public representation, such as officials, journalists and members of civil society.
Since December 2022, 69 accounts have been evaluated women with public visibility.
At that time, they counted 20 748 postscon 1,200 expressions with discriminatory content and 3,343 sentences along the same lines.
Hidalgo He recalled that whether political parties and movements like it or not, the rule establishes that 50% of the top candidates must be women.
However, there is another dimension. The violenceespecially on networks like X, causes a lack of interest or a lack of willingness to participate. This is because, in addition, there are cases in which they even receive threats against their families.
Other axes of violence against women in politics
Daniela Chaconexecutive director of the Tandem Foundation and former deputy mayor of Quitoexplained that parity is the only tool that has worked to incorporate the women in politicsIn Ecuador, this began to be considered in the 1990s.
Although, he said, political parties have found a way to avoid compliance, they are required by law. However, there is progress. For example, in 2019, 18 female mayors and in 2023, there were 42.
Although the presence of men continues to prevail, Ecuador addition 221 cantonsrepresents progress. But, of course, it is also an indicator of the vision beyond organizations: citizenship.
Daniela Chacon She pointed to the damaging discourse that “women don’t vote for women or that society is not ready for female leaders.” She dismissed this position, since once women are on the ballot, they are elected.
Barriers to women politicians persist
Although the demand for parity Through regulations, the panorama has changed, the barriers to entry for the policy have not yet been completely demolished.
Chacón added that the representation of indigenous and Afro women is still low. An example of this is that they were less than 10% of candidates in the 2023 sectional elections. Poverty and lack of access to education are other elements for this group.
A new barrier for women is staying in political races. Figures for 2023 showed that the The average age of entry into the sectional contests was 38 years..
Of that group, almost a 80% were entering for the first time And when they arrive, they are often excluded and seen as a “threat to power.”
But this increase in women in politics has also come with violence. Violence is a barrier to entry, but even more so to survival. “We will have to see how many will seek re-election and continue their careers,” Chacón added.
Expressions of violence on social media
In the monitoring of Citizen Participation, phrases and expressions were found used against women on the social network X, where anonymity prevailed: corrupt, old, prostitute, bitch, murderer, black, slut, rat, you disgust, bullet and lead, among others.
In turn, it was identified that emoticons and multimedia content are used among the expressions and phrases of political violence.
A total of 1,388 violent multimedia contents were recorded, including emoticons, memes and videos.
The report on Political Violence in the Early Elections 2023, presented in February 2024, included phrases such as: “The feminist vote is not influential at all. Start by throwing out the kitchen trash.”
He added: “Tell me, you low-level dancer, what quality do you have to go to the Assembly? Many of us will vote null.”
Source: EL COMERCIO