NATIONAL POLICE OF ECUADOR

GENERAL SUBCOMMAND OF THE NATIONAL POLICE

DEPARTMENT OF STRATEGIC COORDINATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

ADDRESSED TO POLICE PERSONNEL, DIRECTORS AND OPERATIONAL TECHNICIANS AT THE LEVEL

NATIONAL

HUMAN RIGHTS AND GENDER MODULE

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Unit I

1. The Historical Construction of Feminism

1.1. Learning Objective

Position women as subjects of rights and political actors who

they transform the systems of inequality and discrimination among women,
men and LGBTI people, in all dimensions. This journey allowed
build the rights of women and what is currently known as the
movements, which are the foundation of feminism.

Pre-modern Feminism.

This stage or historical moment has two important milestones, one in the
Sophistic illustration where a thought of equality among the
genders, the other, in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, where the confinement of is criticized

the women.

The Sophistic Enlightenment.

In Greece, being a woman was not something one could wish for: women possessed
a diminished statute, they were not recognized as citizens, they were not part of the

political community (polis), they had a similar discriminated status as slaves

and the foreigners (barbarians), which left them without rights, without voice, and without

representation in political life (Astelarra: 1992). Although, Plato talked about

an equality between men and women as objects of reason, the same
what was possible through education, in reality the reason of woman
was more linked to the reproduction of the species. This situation and reason
socially constructed, it marginalized her to private spaces. (Quevedo, 1988).

On the contrary, Ana De Miguel places a thought of equality among

the sexes in the Sophistic Enlightenment that will be overshadowed by thought
patriarchal of Aristophanes, Aristotle, and Plato. Many cultural processes of
construction of gender in antiquity, proposed a vision of the
women as subordinates, in a diminished condition, positioned in place
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inferior and imperfect in relation to man, women would be 'men'.

turned inside out1Thomas Laqueur explains:

For thousands of years it had been a common place that women had the
same genitals as men […]. Galen, who lived in the 2nd century A.D.
developed the most accepted and enduring model of structural identity,
although not spatial, of the male and female reproductive organs,
finally demonstrated that women were essentially men in the
what a lack of vital heat -of perfection- had translated into the
retention, in the interior, of the visible structures in man.” (Laqueur,
1994: 21 cited in Arboleda and Gutiérrez, 2013.
Modern Feminism.

Where four historical milestones are located, the Enlightenment with the emergence of

the modern theses of equality; the French Revolution where they are presented
the rights of women and citizenship; Marxism and Socialism where
the economic and political oppression of women is positioned; and Suffragism and
the civil and political rights of women (First Wave).

Women in the Enlightenment.

In France, women will achieve notable presence in the salons, where

some "starred in the literary and social movement known as
preciosity. The précieux revitalized the French language and imposed
new loving styles; they established their regulations in a field in
that women had rarely decided2Thanks to the salons, it claims
Oliva Blanco, in De Miguel, Chapter I, "the 'feminist quarrel' ceases to be
private domain of theologians and moralists and becomes a matter of opinion
public.

1Laqueur, Aristotle's
Master Piece, ed. Arno Press, footnote p.3. Cited in Arboleda & Gutiérrez, 'Levantado'
The Veil: Study on Harassment and Political Violence Against Women in Elected Public Authorities at the Local Level
Ecuador
2From Miguel, Chapter I, ibid.
 4

The French Revolution and Women.

Women had a remarkable participation in the Revolution.

French, but they were excluded by the king from the call to the States.
General. They then drafted their complaint notebooks categorizing
as "the third state of the third state" and showing "a clear
awareness...of their oppression" (From Miguel, Chapter II)

Among the women's clubs, the Société Républicaine stood out.

Revolution led by Claire Lecombe, Pauline León, and Théroigne de
Méricourt who joined the army. The women organized the march.
towards Versailles and the transfer of the king to Paris, "where it would be more difficult for him to evade"

the great problems of the people," three months after the takeover of the
Bastille. In 1791 Olympe de Gouges, a popular woman (De Gouges
also was a 'playwright and revolutionary activist') wrote the
Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen. One Year Later
(1792), Mary Wollstonecraft will write in England the Vindication of
women's rights.

The failure of the feminist movement in the Enlightenment and the Revolution

French is evident in the following facts: Women's clubs

were closed in 1793 by the Jacobins; in 1794 the
presence of women in political activity; many women who
they participated in political events, ended up in the guillotine or exile.
Women could not ascend to the grandstand, but they could go to the gallows. What was their

Lack? The revolutionary press of the time explains it very clearly:

they had transgressed the laws of nature abjuring their fate of
mothers and wives, wanting to be statesmen.

El Código Civil Napoleónico (1804) recogió los avances de la revolución,

but denied rights to women, and confined them to the home as a place
of female performance.
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.Suffragism and the Civil and Political Rights of Women (First Wave).

The suffragist movement developed mainly in

England and the United States throughout the 19th century and the early 20th century.
He focused on the struggle for equality, property rights,
equality of rights within marriage, the vote, and access to
parliament.

The fight for the right to vote united women from diverse affiliations.
policies and social classes giving the movement a pluri-ideological character
and interclassist.

Suffragism in the United States was born close to the movement

abolitionist, which made it possible to reflect on the similarities between the
sexual condition and slavery (Robotham, cited by De Miguel, op. cit.).

of suffragists, New York, 1912.

Emmeline Pankhurst founded the League in Favor of the Right to Vote in 1892

Women's vote and in 1903 the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU).
Pankhurst's activism practices led her to prison several times.
With other suffragists, she introduced the non-violent mode of struggle, for
for example the hunger strike, which would later be used by Mahatma Gandhi
in their struggle against English colonialism. (Roig, Monserrate, 1981).

After World War I, in 1918, the right to.

suffrage for women over 30 years old who own a house. In States
United, the Nineteenth Amendment of 1920 legalizes the right to vote for
women. In 1928, the voting age for English women was aligned with that of
Men. Most European states will take measures
similar ones except for France and Italy, which will adopt it only 20 years later

the right to female suffrage. (R. J. Evans, 1980)

The Critique of 'Enlightened' Equality

The claim for equality has been central in feminism and even today it makes
part of the core proposals for transformation that have reached
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important achievements such as suffrage, the authority over children, norms about
equal pay and access to social assets, among others.

However, the liberal or modern doctrine of equality that arises in the era of
The Enlightenment is regarded as insufficient from various determinations.
such as class, ethnicity, territories, national origin, and gender. The
the illustrated project of equality had man as a pattern of the human.
white, European, rational, middle class, that is to say it was based on the
androcentrism.

The illustrated project of equality, to which its contributions should be recognized in the

change of many inequalities, promoted civil and political rights that

especially benefited elite women who were able to take advantage of them,
including their access to higher levels of education or employment. According to various
authors, left the patriarchal contradictions, practices and untouched
thought, of the political, educational, economic, cultural systems and
relatives.

The idea of "politically correcting" the gender shortcomings of the notion of

equality arising from the Enlightenment will induce discourses of 'expansion of the

"democracy" with the inclusion of women, who prevail in politics

antidiscrimination measures of the 90s. However, some authors such as
Emmanuella Lombardo, they will question whether women should enter these.
spaces without being able to change the fact that men are the normative pattern, that is to say

from its approval with them.

Contemporary Feminism.

This historic moment is characterized by the following milestones, the 'liberation

female" where the right to sexuality is strongly positioned,
equality in the workplace, the reporting of sexual harassment, and black women
(Second Wave); gender and diversities: the critique of liberal feminism and the
intersections by class, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation (Third Wave); the
community feminism and the decolonization-depatriarchalization of the State
and of society (Transition).
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The Women's Liberation Movements (Second Wave).

The second feminist wave, constituted by an intense mobilization of the

women, extends from the 1960s to the late 1970s. The
women introduce new topics such as sexuality, structures and
dynamics of families, the workplace, and the roles of men and
women.

For Virginia Vargas, 'the second wave feminist movements have

it has possibly been the most significant subversive phenomenon of the 20th century, due to

his profound questioning of unique and hegemonic thoughts

about human relationships and socio-political, economic contexts,
cultural and sexual in which they developed. The feminisms
Latin Americans have been an active and fundamental part of this process (...)
significantly developed (...) since the late 1970s
generalizing during the 80s, (…) Its emergence occurred alongside the
expansion of a large and heterogeneous popular movement of women
(…)". (Vargas, Virginia, 2004)

Black women gain prominence especially in the United States through

reflections on black nationalism, gay liberation, and feminism
from the second wave. Advocates of black feminism argue that the
Black women are positioned differently than women.
white people within power structures, therefore for them their
identity of black woman, indissolubly articulated, crosses and
They denounce the specificity of the intersection of race with gender, as
conditions of greater inequality and discrimination.

One of the theories that evolved from black feminism was the
womanismofAlice [Link] Davis, Bell Hooks, Kimberlé Williams
Crenshaw and Patricia Hill Collins have emerged as leaders and scholars.
of black feminism.
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The Movements of Southern Women and the Diverse (Third Wave).

The third wave since 1990 challenges the essentialist idea of 'Woman'.3
It introduces various currents in the global scenario: among them the eco
feminism, the relationships between gender and ethnicities, sexual diversities and
the queer theory. Some currents, especially in the North, propose in this
a decade of work based on the body and embracing sexuality in a way
assertive and in its diversity.

In Southern countries, movements that promote the approach are gaining strength.

intersectional, that is to say looking at the diversity of women with their differences

social, ethnic, political, nationality, religion, etc.

For Virginia Vargas, it will be starting from the year 2000 that Latin America will begin

a phase of renewed political engagement of the women's movement with the

visibility of popular, indigenous, Afro, and group actors

gender diversity. Economic and social rights (ESR), the
fights for issues such as access to land, water, and sovereignty
food-related, which have been worked on since the second half of the 1990s, will make

part of this transition, in which profound criticisms will emerge regarding the
neoliberal capitalism but also of a more structural nature, such as to the
links between production –reproduction (economic systems of
market and care economies), public–domestic spheres.

These displacements will open doors to new currents of feminism,

what will be seen next. Postcolonial feminism, community and the
decolonization depatriarchalization of the State and society
(Transition).

Postcolonial feminism constitutes a critique of ethnocentrism and racism.

from white-Western feminism, according to Karina Bidaseca 4who quotes the
words of Asunción Portolés, in the sense that this current questions

3
Essentialism had political effects of ignorance towards women from various cultures and continents.
Europeans or North Americans.
4Bindaseca Karina (2010), Disturbing the colonial text.
 9

the production of women as "one" ("the woman of the Third World") and of
she as a homogeneous group and as a "victim" of male violence,
colonial processes, Islamic fundamentalism, etc., "that operate from
mode of establishing a discursive colonization" (Chandra Mohanty, 1999,
cited by Bidaseca, op. cit.).

Postcolonial feminism introduces, according to Bidaseca, "new positions"

epistemological frameworks of border and cross-border thinking of subjects
que resisten y resignifican representaciones y prácticas sociales.

In Latin America, the processes of 'completing the unfinished modernity' and

the demands of transactional powers to include women in the
modernization will entail in the 90s the setup of scenarios of
recognition of women (...) without redistribution, either of power or of
resources" (Vargas, 2004). But also without recognizing the differences by
ethnicity, culture, class.

Therefore, in these scenarios, specific identities will emerge.

(black, indigenous, lesbian, young, workers, rural women), the
feminisms will expand "[...] in a broad, heterogeneous, polycentric,
multifaceted and polyphonic discursive field and area of action / action. It
they multiply the spaces where women who call themselves feminists act or
they can act, wrapped not only in classically political struggles, but
simultáneamente envueltas en disputas por sentidos, por significados, (…)
in essentially cultural battles." (Álvarez, Sonia (1998), cited in
Vargas, Virginia 2008).

Virginia Vargas identifies the 'most promising trends' of this

period that opens from the turn of the century and that we summarize from its
texto:

(...) the recognition of diversity not only in the lives of women

unless in its close relationship with multicultural characteristics and
plurietnicities of our societies. Characteristics that have been, by
centuries, tinged with inequality, and whose feminist commitment against them
 10

it is already unavoidable. As Leila González, a feminist, told me several years ago

Black Brazilian, feminisms have been racist perhaps not by action, but
yes by omission. This perspective on diversity and its permanent exclusion has
led also to the emergence of new actors and movements
social

An incursion into new themes and dimensions, especially in relation to

the macroeconomic dynamics that sustain poverty and inequality
and in accordance with democratic governance, seeking strategies
that empower women in those areas. This has meant reclaiming
the partially forgotten agenda, starting to close the gap between the
political dimension and the social dimension of women's citizenships. The
gender justice and social justice are starting to come together in strategies
feminists (...)

Recovery of cultural subversion and subjectivity as a strategy of

transformation of longer breath. Subversion that transgresses and modifies
traditional common values and meanings that question political culture
authoritarian in our societies and bringing new life to democracies.
This gaze towards the political and cultural has prompted new questions.
in the face of our historical struggles such as violence against women, which
today seems to find its clearest limit precisely in culture
authoritarian both from the State as well as from civil society itself. And
new strategic struggles towards the global, negotiating with the states
new regulations for disregarded rights in the fields
(...) nationals

In this context, more radical agendas for transformation emerge.

feminist, especially in countries like Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala with
important indigenous and Afro-descendant populations that host the
concept of coloniality in the current configuration of power, as a
framework of subordination and exclusion in democracies due to causes
ethnic. Latin American postcolonial feminism has in the theoretical
Bolivian Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui is one of her earliest promoters.
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In recent years, the current of feminism also appears

community. According to Julieta Paredes, a Bolivian leader, this stance ensures
that feminisms respond to different interests, among them, to those of
class and caste or lineage.

Community feminism starts from the community and from the peoples.
originaries seeking to transcend the patriarchal State with the Community of
Communities. It is an alternative, intercultural way to articulate the
feminism to transformation processes like those that exist in Bolivia.

Community feminism proposes decolonization and depatriarchalization.

of the State and of all the organisms of society, in the same
movement. With community feminism, Paredes states, "we have
sexed the community, the concept chacha-warmi which is the
complementarity for the Aymara, we have taken it and we are
spinning on her axis so that she is no longer "woman beneath the
man, woman "their complement", but woman and man, side by side
another, that's why we talk about "warmi-chacha". It is also a proposal of
political and symbolic representation of two equal members of the
community.

A community revolution is what we are doing, the Community of

Communities. We are dismantling the patriarchal junction, which when
the Republic makes indigenous men complicit with colonialist men
against women. We talk about Feminism because Gender is only a
relational category of complaint that has been misused. We, feminists
community organizations, we are among the social organizations that demand a
Community State.

Relationship between Feminism and Gender.

According to various authors, there is a field under debate among the theories
feminists and gender studies. Let's look at some of their connections and
differences.
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Gender

According to Marta Lamas, even though it appears as an explanation in 1949

in the second sex by Simone de Beauvoir, the term gender, only

it begins to circulate in the social sciences and in feminist discourse, with
a specific meaning of its own and as a specific sense (different from the
traditional characterization of the term that referred to type or
species), starting from the 1970s (...).

(...)only in the late eighties and early nineties the

the concept gains consistency and begins to have an impact in America
Latin. So feminist intellectuals manage to establish themselves in academia.
and public policies the so-called gender perspective. In 1955 John
Money proposed the term gender role to describe the set of
behaviors attributed to men and women, but it has been Robert
Stoller who established the conceptual difference between sex more clearly
and gender.

Feminism was born with this name in France and the United States towards the end of

of the 19th century, starting from movements in favor of women during the period of
The Enlightenment. In the 20th century, it shifts towards a "critique of the whole of

social structures" (Beltrán, Álvarez & Sánchez: 2008) (Elena Beltran,

2008) constituting a critical theoretical corpus that integrates diverse
currents, "so it is more accurate to speak of feminisms than of
feminism in singular.” Feminist theory has been introducing into the
Academia conceptual ruptures and new areas of study while its
influence in legislation is revealed in new normative corpora in several
countries.

For its part, gender, as noted by Susana Gamba, is the analytical category
what are the most significant theoretical contributions of feminism
"contemporary", by laying the groundwork for the explanation of inequalities between

men and women.

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[Link] and Gender5:

Although there are divergences in its conceptualization, in general the

gender category is a definition of a historical and social nature regarding
of the roles, identities, and values that are attributed to men and women
(to the masculine and the feminine), internalized through the processes of
socialization.

Below are some of their main

characteristics and dimensions:

It is a social and historical construction (so it can vary from one

society to another and from one era to another);

It is a social relationship (because it discovers the norms that determine

the relationships between women and men);

It is a relationship of power (because it refers us to the qualitative character

of those relationships of subordination and hegemony);

It is an asymmetric relationship (that)…allows for different possibilities.

(male domination, female domination, egalitarian relationships)

(but) in general these are configured as relationships of domination
masculine and feminine subordination;

It is comprehensive (because it does not only refer to relationships between

not only the sexes, but also refers to other processes that occur in a
society: Institutions, symbols, identities, economic systems and
políticos, etc.);

It is transversal (because they are not isolated, but rather cross throughout the

social framework, interacting with other factors such as age, status

civil, education, ethnicity, social class, etc.

5Gamba, Susana, op. cit.

 14

It is a proposal for inclusion (because the issues that are

they arise from gender relations, can only find resolution in
including changes in women and men

It is a quest for equity that will only be possible if women

they conquer the exercise of power in its broad sense (as the power to create,
to be able to know, to be able to lead, to be able to enjoy, to be able to choose, to be chosen

etcetera)." (Gamba, 2008).

As a relational category, the gender perspective chooses to look at

the reality from the construction of gender identity and its
power relations. It argues that the issue of genders is not a topic
to add as if it were another chapter in the history of culture,
but the relationships of inequality between genders have their effects
in the production and reproduction of discrimination, acquiring
concrete expressions in all areas of culture, work,
family, politics, organizations, art, businesses, health, the
science, sexuality, history.

The gender perspective is not dependent on whether women adopt it nor is it

exclusively aimed at them. It is a matter of conception
of the world and of life, the defining factor is the understanding of the problem.
that it encompasses and its vital commitment.

The gender perspective, in reference to the adopted theoretical frameworks

for research, training or policy or program development,
it implies

Acknowledge that the power relations that occur between genders are in
general favorable to males as a social group (even when in their
there are differences between hegemonic and subordinate masculinity
discriminatory against women (even though the discrimination is different)
among diverse women)
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That such relationships have been socially and historically constituted and are
constitutive of people;

That they run through the entire social framework and are articulated with others
social relationships, such as those of class, ethnicity, age, sexual preference and

religion.

On the other hand, there is a certain consensus that it is necessary to establish

distinctions between sex and gender to view them from their articulations and their
tensions.

Sex corresponds to a biological fact, a product of differentiation.

sexual of the human species, which involves a complex process with different
levels, which do not always coincide with each other, and which are referred to by the

biology and medicine as chromosomal, gonadal, hormonal sex,

anatomical and physiological.

In short, Susana Gamba states that to the social significance that is made
It is referred to as gender based on biological characteristics. 'Therefore, the
anatomical and physiological differences between men and women that arise
from this process, they can and must be distinguished from the powers that the

society establishes for each sex individually

constituted.” (Gamba, 2008)

However, contemporary theoretical contributions propose to conceive

to the gender beyond the bipolarity of man-woman and situate it in the relationship
wider social scope between the feminine and the masculine, which encompasses men

and women, as well as LGBTI people. This social relationship reveals the
power relationships between the dominant masculine and the dominated feminine
beyond whether that role is performed by a man or a woman.

Current scientific development has revealed that gender identity, if

well means socially, has an intimate relationship with the genetic basis
specifically with the epigenetics with which it interacts6Because sex

6In this regard, the National Geographic documentary (2017), 'Gender Identity: Neither Pink Nor Blue,' is recommended.
 16

and gender materialize in a body, and construct identity, it is there where

the joints and tensions that define beings are produced
humans, as beings in constant construction. It is there where we
they blur the hegemonic binary definitions of what is assumed as
the duty to be of the feminine and the masculine. However, everything that is not
adjust these parameters, they are discriminated against, excluded or live in inequality.

Power Relations, Relations of Domination.

For all feminist authors, gender is above all, a mechanism.

domination social that has infringed upon the rights and integrity of the
women, in practically all dimensions and social spheres.

Catherine MacKinnon7who "tries to understand the difference of sexes

as forms of power and power in its sexualized forms," it indicates that the
The state has historically been the structural expression of domination.
male.

Gender is a social system that divides power. Therefore, it is a system

political (…) over time women have been economically
exploited, relegated to domestic slavery, forced into motherhood,
sexually objectified, physically violated, used in shows
denigrated, deprived of voice and authentic culture and the right to vote,
excluded from public life.” (Mackinnon, 1989)

The author argues that politics has perhaps been the most refined form of
create the inequality of women and their conversion into objects, to
depriving her of voice and (re)presentation, of speech and of decisions, in the
market (the forum) and in the political structures. Throughout millennia, the State,
MacKinnon says, 'participates in the sexual politics of male dominance'
applying their epistemology through the law.8

7
MacKinnon, Catharine (1989), Towards a Feminist Theory of the State, Feminisms Collection, Cátedra Editions,
University of Valencia, Women's Institute, Madrid, p. 12.
8
 17

For MacKinnon, when the veil has been lifted, when the relationships
between the sexes, power relations have been discovered, it becomes impossible
to see simply unintentional, well-intentioned or innocent actions by
the ones that every day women are told what is expected of them and when
they have gone too far

In this vision, the political exceeds the arenas or the institutions.

policies and crosses all social dimensions. "If it is defined, it affirms
MacKinnon, politics like Harold Lasswell, that requires the political act
as carried out with the perspectives of power, and like Robert Dahl,
which defines a political system as any persistent pattern of relationships
humans that implies, to a significant degree, power, norms or authority,
and like Kate Millet, who defines political relationships as relationships
structured power, the relationship between women and men is
politics.

For MacKinnon, various theories, including Marxism, do not

they develop appropriate political consequences regarding the subordination of the

women in the modern state, as a continuation of a state order

patriarchal political that transcends the modes of production and the formations
economic-social, because the economic emphasis overlooks a
fine consideration of power: "(...) men receive many advantages from
the roles of women, including being served and taken into account, being
supported and maintained, having their children well taken care of and their needs covered

sexual needs, and freeing oneself from the need to perform secondary tasks
that they consider too low for them, unless there is no other
work (or a woman) by hand. But the great advantage that they achieve
men are the process, the value, the mechanism by which their own interest is
respects, perpetuates and sustains: power. Power in its social masculine form.

In a similar vein, for Fraser, the forms of masculine dominance

The patriarchal ones are not a persistence of pre-modern forms of
inequality. They are "fully modern even in the way that
gender issues are separated / made invisible in the economy, work
 18

remunerated, the state and domestic reproduction.

gender critique, the State even in its post-capitalist versions, could
validate the normatively ensured consensus regarding the
male dominance and female subordination. (Fraser, 1994)

Masculinities and Gender.

"The studies of masculinities arise in the Anglo-Saxon academia."

during the seventies. Gender studies constitute the basis
to conduct research on masculinities and men
within the social sciences. The dissemination of studies on
masculinities emerged from the eighties, particularly in America
Latinas began to insert themselves since the mid-nineties.

During the 20th century, academic feminist debates went through

a series of discussions and theoretical developments about the ways in which
they conceived the relationships between women and men. In the mid-decade
from the seventies of the twentieth century, several intellectuals and academics from the United States

United coming from social sciences like anthropology and

Sociology proposed the concept of 'gender' to explain the character
cultural of the social construction of the sexes and refuting determinism
biological that had understood the relations of the sexes between men and
women as a natural issue.

Entering the 1980s, the studies of Joan Scott

they will uncover some elements to broaden the understanding of the term
gender. For Scott, 'gender is a constitutive element of relationships'
social based on the differences that distinguish sex and gender is
a primary form of significant power relations" (Scott, 1996,
According to this definition, gender equates to a concept
broad which implies not only the opposing relationships between the sexes of

men and women and the social duality of masculine/feminine, but a

set of power relations that can manifest between people
of the same sex or of the opposite sex.
 19

Alongside gender studies, a new movement emerges in academia

North American what became known as Men's studies, whose
The particularity consists in sidelining man as a representative.
general of humanity and adopt the study of masculinity and the
experiences of men as specific to each social formation
historical-cultural" (Martini, 2002)

Studies on masculinities must be understood from

a broad perspective that generates an understanding of its construction and
configuration detached from essentialist ideas that consider 'the
"masculine" as an intrinsic aspect of males and given
naturally. Ideas about masculinity vary
constantly from one social context to another, each culture assigns
certain knowledge and meanings to masculinity, therefore, it is not a
monolithic concept and without history.

The process of constructing masculinities occurs "from the

daily interaction with others." (Reyes, 2004) Each individual builds
in a specific socio-cultural context a particular way of
masculinity cannot be considered as a natural essence
incorporated into the individual not as something "immutable, but as a product
social that changes throughout history." (Guasch, 2006, p 22)

Históricamente ha sido posible identificar el privilegio que se le otorga a

certain forms of masculinity to the detriment of the feminine and
other non-dominant masculinities. Nevertheless, it is a priority to reflect
about masculinities beyond a basic idea of binary opposition
male/female, but rather from a fluid perspective where it
masculine crosses the bodies of men and women, and is configured in
function of other categories such as class, race, and sexuality.

Regarding the theorization of masculinities, we find several

Anglo-Saxon and European authors who have studied them since
various approaches both sociological and anthropological. Robert W.
 20

Connell was one of the pioneers in introducing the topic of social construction.
of masculinity from a social theoretical basis of gender studies.
This author shows us that masculinity is not a fixed fact in all.
societies. He questions the consideration of masculinity as a
subject of opposition with femininity and exclusively of the
men, since defining it this way dismisses situations in which the
that women can be masculine and some men can be feminine.
(Connell, 1997, p 109-111)

Another author considered a classic within these studies is Mathew.

Gutmann (2000) who conducted a study in Mexico City that provides
tell how masculinity is not a monolithic or ahistorical concept and
demonstrates how this can vary in certain cultures and contexts
historical. The author shows the ways in which gender relations between
men and women are constructed differently in varied ways
social groups.

For his part, Michael Kimmel undertakes an approach to the study of the
masculinity from a sociological and psychoanalytic perspective to go
revealing some implicit aspects in the way men go
deploying tests throughout his life to sustain his masculinity. It is
It is interesting to note that this author coincides with Gutmann in understanding the

masculinity 'as a set of always changing meanings, that

we build through our relationships with ourselves, with the
others and with our world." (Kimmel, 1997) It is also coincident the
the fact that the author looks at masculinities as a matter of
power relations involving different subjects
regardless of their sex.

Regarding the anthropological perspective, the work of David Gilmore (1994)

explore the construction of masculinity from a cultural perspective.
Through a journey exploring the different ways of conceiving masculinity in
various cultures, the author questions some misconceptions regarding
 21

understanding of the masculine and feminine that have been disseminated as

universal.

According to these contributions, we can understand that there is not just one

masculinity but several, for this reason we talk about masculinities. In

in this sense, there are hegemonic masculinities that are constructed from
certain values that have been culturally assigned to men such as,
physical skill, a specific posture, appearance, moderation, exercise
of control, service, and dedication to a higher cause, moral value and
aggression (Toro, 2002)

Hegemonic masculinity prioritizes certain values that

historically they have been accepted as honor, bravery, heroism
and the discipline. Under these parameters, it could be said that what has been
socially constructed is a 'normative model of masculinity'
(Guasch, 2003, p114) to measure all those men who do not reach
that symbolic and representative ideal.

Those who do not meet these requirements are excluded. In addition to

these predominant values, hegemonic masculinity has its
foundation in what Butler (2002, 2006) calls the heterosexual matrix.
Within that matrix, normalizing practices based on the
binary model of sex and gender. Other aspects are also configured.
totalizers based on categories of class, race, and sexuality; namely,
white, western, heterosexual, Christian, and procreator.

Another type of masculinity is the subordinated, that is to say those

deployed by men who do not fit within the ideal set for the
hegemonic masculinity.

In this category of masculinity would be the emotional men and not

aggressive, weak men and those with some type of disability and the
gay men who engage in sexual practices with other men. In this
group, the masculinity that receives the most subordination and contempt is the
 22

manifested by gay men as their erotic practices subvert

the dominant sexual and gender order.

The various ways in which masculinities are constructed and manifested,

they help us understand the need to promote changes in these
inequality relationships that decrease the quality of life of beings
humans. In Latin America, various research has been generated
from the academy about masculinities, among which we can
cite those made by Mara Viveros Vigoya from Colombia, Norma Fuller from
Peru, José Ramírez from Mexico, Xavier Andrade from Ecuador and José Olavarría
from Chile among others. Each of these authors explains and
they coincide just like Anglo-Saxon authors, in the differentiated character
of masculinity in the Latin American context.

The theorization of masculinity studies from academia has

due to transcending the realm of public policies. In this regard, it is
It is important to note that the implementation of gender policies aimed at the
men, they are recent experiences in countries like Mexico, Brazil, Chile and
Argentina. Health programs regarding parenthood
responsible, sexual and reproductive health aimed at men, reduction of
violence in men is a reference for transforming models
dominant forms of masculinity. For the states, it poses a challenge.
construction of public policies on masculinities aimed at reduction
of gender gaps, as well as towards the transformation of patterns
socio-cultural factors that fully involve men in the
reduction of violence against women and their peers. The work with the
men in these aspects is essential for achieving the transformation
of inequality, as public policies with a gender focus
they still have this task pending. (Sancho, Fernando, 2010).
 23

[Link] gender

Learning Objective

• Recognizing strategies of Education in Human Rights for the

identification of elements of your identity related to the construction of
sex, gender, and sexual orientation and their relationship with the construction of the system
sex/gender.

• Recognize the need to create material gender equality to combat

discrimination based on sex identity, gender, and sexual orientation.

• Recognize the importance of incorporating the gender perspective in the struggle

continue for the exercise of human rights in a dignified, free, and equal manner.

Evolution of Women's Human Rights

TheCommission on the Legal and Social Status of Womenmet for the first time in
Lake Success, New York, in February 1947, shortly after the creation of the
United Nations. At that time, the 15 governmental representatives who
The commission was made up of women. From its inception, the commission had support.
from a United Nations agency that would later become the Division
for the Advancement of Women, dependent on the United Nations Secretariat.
The Commission on the Legal and Social Status of Women forged a close relationship with the
non-governmental organizations; those recognized as consultative entities
by the Economic and Social Council were invited to participate in the sessions of the
Commission as observers.

Between 1947 and 1962, the Commission focused on establishing standards and formulating conventions.
international initiatives that will change discriminatory laws and raise awareness
worldwide on women's issues. In her contributions to the drafting of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Commission successfully defended the need
to remove the references to 'men' as a synonym for humanity, and succeeded
incorporate a new and more inclusive language.

Since the codification of women's legal rights must be supported by data

and analysis, the Commission began an assessment of the legal and social condition of women at
global scale. Extensive research was conducted as a result of which a
detailed country-by-country overview of the political and legal situation of women, which
Over time, it would serve as the basis for the drafting of rights instruments.
humans.

The Commission developed the first international conventions on rights of the

woman, like theConvention on the Political Rights of Womenfrom 1953, which was the
first instrument of international law to recognize and protect rights
women's politicians; she was also responsible for drafting the first agreements
international agreements on women's rights in marriage, namely, theConvention
about the Nationality of Married Womenfrom 1957 and theConvention on the
 24

consent for marriage, the minimum age to marry and the

registration of marriagesfrom 1962. In addition, he contributed to the work of the offices of the
United Nations, like theAgreement on equal remuneration between workers
of male work and female labor for a job of equal valueof the
International Labour Organization (1951), which enshrined the principle of equal pay
for work as well.

In 1963, efforts to consolidate the standards related to women's rights

led the United Nations General Assembly to request the Commission to
to elaborate a Declaration on the elimination of discrimination against women, which
the Assembly ultimately approved in 1967. This declaration was followed in 1979 by the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW), a legally binding instrument whose drafting was also carried out by
position of the Commission. In 1999, theOptional Protocol of the Conventionintroduced the
right to file a lawsuit for women victims of discrimination.

As the evidence began to accumulate in the 1960s

they showed that women were disproportionately affected by poverty,
the Commission focused its work on the needs of women in the spheres of
community and rural development, agricultural work, family planning, and advancements
scientific and technological. The Commission encouraged the United Nations system to expand
your technical assistance to accelerate women's progress, especially in countries
in development.

In 1972, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of its creation, the Commission recommended that
1975 fuera declarado Año Internacional de la Mujer, una idea que contó con la adhesión
of the General Assembly and whose objective was to draw attention to equality between
women and men and about the contribution of the former to development and peace. That year
was marked by the celebration of theFirst World Conference on Womenen
Mexico City, followed in the period 1976-1985 by the United Nations Decade
United for Women: Equality, Development, and Peace. Subsequently, more were held.
world conferences inCopenhagen(1980) andNairobi(1985). Several were also created
new United Nations offices dedicated to women, in particular the Fund for
United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the International Institute of
Research and Training for the Promotion of Women (INSTRAW).

In 1987, in the context of the follow-up to the Third World Conference on Women
held in Nairobi, the Commission took the lead in coordination work and
promotion of the work of the United Nations system in economic affairs
social efforts for the empowerment of women. Their efforts succeeded in elevating the
gender issues to the category of cross-cutting themes, ceasing to be matters
independent. During that same period, the Commission contributed to the fact that, for the first time,
the issue of violence against women will be at the forefront of the debates
international. Those efforts crystallized in theStatement on the elimination of the
violence against women, approved by the General Assembly on December 20, 1993.
In 1994, the Human Rights Commission appointed a Special Rapporteur on the
 25

violence against women, its causes and consequences, with the mandate to investigate and
inform about all aspects of violence against women.

The Commission served as a preparatory body for theFourth World Conference on

the Womanfrom 1995, in which theBeijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
After the Conference, the General Assembly mandated the Commission to carry out
a central role in the supervision of the implementation of the Declaration and Platform of
Action from Beijing and to advise the Economic and Social Council accordingly. As
the Platform for Action requested, a new United Nations office was created for
promotion of gender equality: the Office of the Special Advisor on Issues of
Gender and Women's Advancement.

In 2011, the four sections of the United Nations system mentioned in

this page—the Division for the Advancement of Women, the International Institute of
Research and Training for the Promotion of Women, the Office of the Advisor
Special in Gender Issues and Women's Advancement and the Development Fund of the
United Nations for Women - merged, becoming UN Women, which today
It is the Secretariat of the Commission on the Status of Women.9.

Identity

Our individual identity is made up of multiple characteristics, including the

physical aspects, tastes, needs, interests, experiences, and behaviors. The
The particular way in which these aspects are integrated in each person makes them unique beings.
(subjects), and the way they are perceived concerning those characteristics is part of
of self-assessment (self-esteem).
Identity is also shaped by social identity, that is, the characteristics
that are shared with other people such as nationality, profession, ethnicity, the
religious beliefs, language, gender, sexual orientation, etc.; as well as by the
influence of the valuation that each social group gives to these characteristics.
In this way, being indigenous in a predominantly mestizo society, which gives greater
valuing the characteristics associated with the mestizo almost always means facing
disadvantages (in treatment, access to opportunities and services, etc.). In this way
one lives the belonging to other categories such as sex, gender, nationality or the
immigration status, according to the evaluations assigned to each of these categories in the
context in which they find themselves.

From birth, some of the characteristics that have the most influence on the form
to constitute themselves as subjects, it is the self-evaluation and the social valuation that is obtained,
are sex and gender (DPE, 2015h, 2.1 Gender identities). (Ombudsman,
2016: 39).

9[Link]
 26

Sex and gender identities.

From another perspective, it can be inferred that identity corresponds to internal experience.
the individual of the gender, as each person feels it deeply, which could
to correspond or not, with the sex assigned at birth.
Gender identity refers to the innate, deeply experienced sense of gender.
internal and individual of a person, which may or may not correspond with the physiology of the
person or their sex at birth.
It includes both the personal feeling of the body, which may imply, if it so decides,
modification of appearance or physical function by surgical, medical, or other means, thus
like other expressions of gender, which include clothing, the way of speaking and the
gestures. (UNFPA and Promundo, 2010 cited in National Council for Gender Equality
2017th:62)
Gender identity is based on mandates, ideas, beliefs, roles, characteristics
that from childhood and throughout life one receives about the expected role of women and
men, that is to say, the way sex is constructed and the way society
imposes a sexual orientation (heterosexuality). These mandates represent what
it is expected of each person, according to the sex assigned to them at birth, but not always
respond to the needs, tastes or interests. (Pueblo, 2017).
Defining Elements of Sex-Generic Identities:

Gender Identity is related to.

The way each person experiences their relationship with their own body and the
relationships that it establishes from that with the environment.

It does not refer solely to biological sex or genetics, but also to the self
identification.
It may or may not correspond to an assigned sex and may or may not fit the mold.
pre-established for "men" and for "women".
Sex.

Set of biological, genetic, chromosomal, and hormonal characteristics present

specifically in each individual, as well as the senses and meanings that are individual
and socially these characteristics are given (Ombudsman of Ecuador, 2015).
Currently, it is debated that this is only given by natural elements, so
it starts to be considered as another social construct to govern the materialization
of the bodies.
Gender.

Social and cultural construction of sexual differences.

System that produces and reproduces ideas and practices about the existence of only two sexes.
 27

Social and analytical category

Diverse gender identities and expressions refer to internal experiences and
individuals of the gender, as each person deeply feels them,
corresponding or not to the sex assigned at birth, including the
personal experience of the body (which could involve freely chosen modification
of appearance or bodily function) and other expressions of gender, including the
clothing, the way of speaking and manners.
Sexual Orientation.

It is independent of the assigned biological sex or gender identity.

The ability each person has to feel a deep emotional and affectionate attraction.
and sexual by people of a different gender than their own, of their same gender or of more than
a genre.
Asexual: No attraction.
Heterosexual: Attraction to the opposite sex.

Bisexual: Attraction to both sexes.

Homosexual or lesbian: Attraction to the same sex.

Deconstruction of the Binary Sex/Gender System.

What is the Sex-Gender System?

Since the 1970s, Gayle Rubin and other feminist theorists developed the concept of
sex/gender system that gave rise to the binary system of feminine-masculine or woman-
man. Societies have placed a lot of weight on biological characteristics; it is
to say, society can create an imaginary about how sex should relate to
the gender, but people are the ones who should decide about their gender identity and their
sexual orientation. Biological characteristics, gender identity, or any other
Axis of difference can never be a reason to justify exclusion and discrimination.
of others. (Pueblo, 2017)

Is your sex your gender?

In this way, behaviors considered characteristic of femininity and
male, and the relationships between both; characterized by the subordination of a
gender over the other, resulting in the supremacy of the masculine over the feminine.

This is called gender roles, which can be defined as the ideas and practices that
they are instilled through education, the media, or institutions
social (the family, the church, the law), about what some societies consider what
masculine and feminine.
 28

This sex-gender system based on biological sex creates a masculine world and
female with fixed characteristics that determine gender roles with spaces and
predetermined symbolisms that overlook other types of gender identities and
other sexual orientations.

Gender Roles: Naturalization and Socialization.

Estas frases tienen un origen de larga data y han sido transmitidas por siglos a través de
different means: texts, science, religion, school, media,
upbringing in the family.

All of this is what we call: the process of socialization, that is, the way in which
aprendemos los modelos culturales y las normas de la sociedad en la que hemos crecido
that many times they appeal to valuing some identities over others.

The socialization of gender promoted based on the work of Simone de Beauvoir, is

refers to the process by which women acquire feminine characteristics and
female behaviors, building, in this way, a feminine world.

Between phrases and games: How is the difference between men and women constructed?

These phrases have a long-standing origin and have been passed down for centuries through
different media: texts, science, religion, school, the media,
parenting in the family.

To all this, it is what we call: the process of socialization, that is, the way in which
we learn the cultural models and the norms of the society in which we have grown up
that very often appeal to valuing some identities over others.

The socialization of gender has been promoted based on the work of Simone de Beauvoir, it
refers to the process by which women acquire feminine characteristics and
female behaviors, thus building a female world.

Through play, the elements and people that make up the environment are recognized and
learn to be and feel part of that environment, as it is a means through which one practices
routines, sequences of behaviors and appropriation of social norms.

Thus, from childhood, they are prepared with games and toys to begin acquiring the
appropriate characteristics to fulfill the roles that society expects according to
whether considered a woman or a man, it must be fulfilled.

Gender roles are socially assigned based on ideas and prejudices that are
reproduced and internalized in individual and collective consciousness; it is based on that
there are specific activities that must be carried out by women and activities that
men must deploy. Usually this division implies that women have
in their possession the reproductive roles and men, the productive roles. In fact, this
leads women to work as secretaries, kindergarten teachers, nurses; no
however, men pursue careers as doctors, lawyers, engineers, politicians;
 29

occupations that have more power in the labor field, as well as better
remunerations.
Therefore, women are currently forced to develop beyond work
reproductive activities at home, productive activities that generate income for their livelihood
and that of his family.

According to the Time Use Survey (EUT 2012), women work 17 hours and 42 minutes more on...
the week that men at the national level. As far as work is concerned,
remunerated the EUT 2012 shows that women dedicate 31:49 hours to this type of
work and men 9.09 hours a week. They do almost unpaid work
four times more than men.

System of Subordination and Power.

What is Power?
Power implies the possibility, skill, or ability to make decisions and undertake actions.
actions; strength or physical power. The exercise of power is an important aspect of the
relationships; the more power a person has, the more options open up for them
people; those who have less power have fewer options and, therefore, are more
vulnerable to abuse.
When women's movements, feminist groups, and organizations for the
development helps people acquire individual or collective "power", right?
they necessarily understand power in its traditional sense of domination or 'power'
about. Instead, they have agreed that the empowerment process includes various types
of power. These four dimensions are called: power with, inner power, power to and
power over.
Power with: The social or political power that highlights the notion of an end or
common understanding, as well as the ability to meet to negotiate and defend a
common goal (individual and collective rights, political advocacy, etc.).
Collectively, people feel they have power when they come together and unite.
in search of a common goal, or when they share the same vision.
Inner power: This notion of power refers to self-awareness, self-esteem, identity.
and self-affirmation (knowing how to be). It refers to how people, through
self-analysis and inner power can exert influence in their lives and produce
changes.
Power to: A power that includes the ability to make decisions, have authority, and
find solutions to problems, and can be creative and enabling. Therefore,
the notion refers both to intellectual abilities (theoretical knowledge and
practical) such as economic means, that is to say the ability to access means of
production, control them and benefit (notion of goods).
Power over: This power implies a mutually exclusive relationship of domination or
subordination. It assumes that power exists only in a limited quantity. This power is exercised
sobre una persona o, dicho de forma menos negativa, permite que "alguien reciba
 30

orientation." It generates resistance, either passive or active. (UN, Now is the time
foreword by the executive director of UN Women, 2017-2018.

Gender Gaps and Inequalities.

What are Gender Gaps?
They refer to the differences exhibited by men and women regarding
opportunities, access, control, and use of resources that ensure
well-being and human development.
Likewise, it relates to the different positions of men and women, and the
unequal access to power and to resources and services such as:
• Access to paid work
• Education
• Health
• Land tenure
• Credit, technical assistance
• Housing
• Information
• Knowledge

Showing a close relationship between social vulnerability and gender. These

gender gaps highlight the following:
• They describe the situation and relative position of women in relation to the
men.
• They make visible and measure gender inequality.
• They indicate the changes and trends of evolution in the situation and position of
women in relation to men.

Manifestations of Gender Inequalities.

Heteronormativity.

The message we are taught about the binary system, that is, that there are only two sexes.
And two opposite genders are added another: that of complementarity through which
conveys the belief that these two sexes and genders exist with the sole purpose of
mutually complement each other and procreate. This idea is the basis for the construction of
a heteronormative society, which is based on the heterosexual structure.
2. The Patriarchy.

It is a concept that designates a hierarchical social structure, based on a set of

ideas, prejudices, symbols, customs, and even laws regarding women; for the
that the masculine gender dominates, limits, and oppresses the feminine.
 31

3. Androcentrism.

Man is the model of humanity, making the male perspective the

representative of all humanity, as a totally objective, universal and
impartial.
This vision invisibilizes the contributions and inputs of women to society,
overlooking female experience and becoming a social system that focuses on
male needs and the authority that has greatly influenced the fields of
law and the construction of knowledge.
Feminisms and Masculinities.

Feminism is the Antonym of Machismo.

Feminism:
Theory and political practice that critiques gender inequalities and subordination of the
woman facing the patriarchy, promoting different ways of life, struggles, and ideologies.
Machismo:

Set of laws, norms, attitudes, and socio-cultural traits of man, whose purpose
explicit or implicit, has been and is to produce, maintain, and perpetuate oppression and submission
of the woman at all levels: sexual, procreative, labor and emotional.
Feminist Ideology.
Distinct masculinities.

The construction of masculine identities is based on 'naturalistic' ideas about

what it means to be a 'true' man as an innate and unchangeable part of
man.

These ideas around masculinity imply that a man should behave a certain way.
in such a way that on some occasions they put both their life and that of others at risk
people.

Studies on masculinities are focused on the construction of identities.

masculine in relation to their bodies, behaviors and the 'masculine', pointing to the
deconstruction and denaturalization of hegemonic masculinities.

Liberating masculinities.
 32

Children also play with babies.

Sexual diversities.

What is understood by sexual diversity.

Part of the idea that people have sexual, gender, and erotic existences.
various, which are part of a human reality that is necessary to recognize and
respect.

LGBTI people constitute one of the human groups most prone to experiencing some
type of violence or invisibility, as there are false beliefs regarding their
identity.

Forms of violence that LGBTQ people suffer.

Homophobia:

Fear and rejection of homosexuality or of people with orientation or preference

homosexual, or those who appear to be one. It is expressed in rejection, discrimination, ridicule and
other forms of violence.
Biphobia:

Fear and rejection of bisexuality or people with a bisexual orientation or preference.

It is expressed in discrimination, ridicule, and other forms of violence.
Lesbophobia:

Fear and rejection of lesbianism or lesbian women, or those who appear to be so. They
expresses in discrimination, ridicule, and other forms of violence.
Transphobia:

Fear and rejection of transsexuality, transgender identity, or cross-dressing or people.

transsexuals, transgender individuals or transvestites; it is expressed in discrimination, mockery and other forms
of violence. (Ombudsman, 2017).
Equality and Non-Discrimination

Basic theoretical elements.

Equality is a human right under constant construction, which has been expanded and
specified according to power relations, in the different historical moments that has
 33

vivid and lives humanity. From the doctrine of human rights, it is defined by
the equivalence of the condition of humanity that people have. Equality does not
it means homogeneity or uniformity, it implies a positive assessment of differences
existing between people. The non-acceptance of these differences causes wide
sectors of the population are left out of the civilizational model being lived. Therefore,
thus, we seek to build equality on a paradigm based on recognition of
human beings in their diversity.

Respect identity differences, cultural perspectives, worldviews, and territorial realities.

Regardless of sex, age, belonging to a community or nationality, condition of

disability or human mobility situation.

Equality as a principle can be understood from the legal principle, the principle
political and the ethical principle. In any case, it is a reference of a general and superior type.

As a doctrinal and normative principle, it appeared for the first time in a text.
legal in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of North America on the 4th of
July 1776. Subsequently, it is found as one of the fundamental principles.
supported by the French Revolution, but with a sexist character and
exclusive, situation denounced by Olimpia de Gouges in her 'Declaration of the'
Rights of Women and Citizens.

In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, Article 1 states equality.

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights."
dignity and rights and, being endowed as they are with reason and conscience, must behave
"fraternally with one another". From this date on, they have been included in the
majority of the Constitutions, as a principle or value that defines, among others, the State
of Law and since then, all the Pacts and Conventions on Human Rights have
has been considered as a cornerstone.

From that primordial legal sense, the right to equality is the essential basis of
concept of citizenship, in which the equality of rights defines the dimension
the policy of the person, especially in their relations with the State. As a right, the
equality can be defined as a capacity that all people possess
formally established, that is to say guaranteed and backed by the State in its framework
legal, and assigns to individuals the legal basis for demanding citizen treatment
equivalent in its action against public authorities, in the instruments and in all the
instances of public action. In this way, equality is the primary right of the
citizenship.

Since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all International Conferences on

the Woman who has convened the United Nations has given her own
definitions of what they understand by equality.

Equality in Law is a principle and as such it has various functions such as

question, change or preserve social realities, and also justify existence
 34

of certain rules. The principle of equality is presented to us from this perspective

as a historical and relational category, that is, the conceptions of equality
they are changing and not static.

This relational condition is the path that has made it possible to understand the role that
historically, women and men have played a role in the construction of the order
gender.

As a dynamic relational concept, equality expresses the relationship that exists between two
objects, or people or conditions and determines why they can or cannot be considered
as equals and tacitly, implies who or what would represent that which is
unequal. This is the basis of women's struggle to achieve equality in
relationships between women and men.

Since the last decades, both at the level of formal power and social organizations
they consider it important to define equality as a principled reference and to
the pair that can provide conceptual categories of concrete application in decision-making
political character that guides the actions of public authorities.

Equality as a Political Principle

The principle of equality is the political principle from which, directly or indirectly, can
deriving all other political principles and values. It is identified as the
universalism of fundamental rights whether they are political or civil rights,
of freedom or social; it is the constitutive principle of forms and, at the same time, of substance
of democracy; it constitutes the foundation of the dignity of individuals simply by being
"persons"; it is the main guarantee of multiculturalism and the secular nature of law and
public institutions; represent the foundation and condition of peace; is based on
of popular sovereignty; it is the underlying principle of all the various conditions of the
justice is even an indispensable factor for balanced economic development and
ecologically sustainable; it is ultimately the budget of solidarity and that is why the term
of mediation between the three classic words of the French Revolution.

The complexity of the principle of equality is due to its multifaceted, dynamic character.
same because its construction is the result of multiple theoretical, doctrinal elements
and historicals.

Human equivalence or equal human value, equality of rights, non-discrimination

discrimination, the acceptance of diversity and autonomy or freedom, are senses that
they are included in the principle of equality and have a synergistic effect. They are also
presents other dimensions of the meaning of the principle of equality: The principle of
equity and equality of rights or de jure and equality of fact or de facto.

With the incorporation of the gender approach to the principle of equality and with the contribution of
various disciplines made equality a focal point in their debate agendas.
feminist thought advanced with proposals that raised depth
 35

numerous problems and questions for legal and administrative sciences, as well as
to the practices themselves related to them. In this debate, it gained significant ground.
the insertion of the perspective of the theory and doctrine of rights is important
humans, especially since the World Conference on Human Rights held
in Vienna in 1993, where the following central ideas were established:

The human rights of women and girls are an inalienable and indivisible part
of universal rights.
2. The equality of women and their human rights are criteria that must
integrate into all activities of the United Nations System, as well as in
the case of regional systems.
3. All bodies established under treaties must include them. The States
They must provide information about de jure and de facto situations and must be considered.
sexual assaults for gender reasons.

From this moment on, the principle of equality has been linked to rights.
in public policies of equality and their meaning is expressed in terms of that
equality is primarily, equality of rights.

The most common implication of the meaning of equality of rights, as

the legal-political dimension of equality is "equality in the Law" and also the
"Equality before the law," which considers the prohibition of any privilege both in the
text as in the approach in its application.

In addition to the concept of equal rights as equality in law and equality

Before the law, it is possible to admit other non-excluding meanings that could be
conceptual elements that can be added to the sense of equality, above all
regarding equality before the law in public policies, such as the
following:

• Being equal before the law means being treated as a respected member.
responsible and participatory member of society.
• To possess or enjoy equal citizenship.
• It is assumed to receive equal protection under the law.
• It is to receive equal treatment and respect under the Law
• Being subjects and objects of Equal Human Valuation (the equivalence to which we...
we referred to earlier.
 36

Unit II

2. Gender Violence

2.1. Learning Objective

Raise awareness about the defense of women's rights and the eradication of
gender violence, as a public security problem.

Theoretical and Conceptual Framework of Gender Violence10.

Gender-based violence, the conceptual framework of which is outlined below, addresses
to explain the origin of this type of practices and to clarify definitions; for only from that
This way it will be possible to understand the complexity of the problem and formulate proposals.

aimed at eradicating the violence that is inflicted against women due to their condition
such as those related to the feminine or feminized, as in the case of trans individuals.

The concept of gender began to circulate in the 1970s and was proposed by the
American anthropologist Gayle Rubin (1976), who resorted to this category to
explain how society builds the subordination of women, and question the
essentialist positions that explained the disadvantages of women from the
determinations and biological differences.

Based on the postulates of this author, it explains how sexual differences go

resulting in real inequality and generating asymmetrical power relations between
men and women. Hence it is asserted that male domination, discrimination
Towards women and the attacks on their rights do not obey the characteristics
biological of some and others, but rather they are the result of socialization processes and
the social and cultural constructions of gender identities.

10Gender violence against women in Ecuador. 2014. National Council for Equality
of Gender.
 37

But looking at reality from a gender perspective does not only mean
consider the differences attributed to men and women, but rather demands to take into account
the "variety of forms of interpretation, symbolization and organization of differences"
sexual in social relationships" (Lamas, 1999); but above all, look at what
conditions (social/cultural) "transforms the human being of the female sex into
sujeto subordinado” (Florinda Riquer Fernandez, 2008). En otras palabras, el género no
it only questions the existence of a feminine and masculine essence, but also the organization
social of the relationships between sexes and the naturalization of the inequalities that are
they establish among themselves.

Although the term gender is incorporated in the academic field as

also in the everyday speeches of politicians, officials, technicians, journalists and by
society in general, the meanings and uses that have been made of this concept are
multiple and diverse, which has given rise to a series of confusions. For example, it
has understood gender as synonymous with sexual difference, leaving aside the
central argument that refers to how the social inequality of women is based on
those differences and in the establishment of power relationships that place them in a role
subordinate in relation to men, and in a disadvantaged situation in society.

Other uses that have been given to the concept of gender are studied by Joan Scott (1997),
who finds that the dominant trend has been to use gender descriptively.
by focusing on the binary differences between man-woman, masculine-feminine; and,
alert about incorrect interpretations that have led to equating it with "woman" or
they have suggested that gender studies include men. Therefore, I consider
that its analytical potential should be resumed to explain social and power relationships
that are established in the different areas of social and human activity, as long as the
Gender content is present in myths and cultural symbols, in norms.
and doctrines, in institutions and social organizations, and in identity references
individual and collective.

From this reflection, Scott argues that gender is defined by an integral connection.
between two propositions: to be "a constitutive element of social relations based on
 38

in the differences that distinguish the sexes" and being "a primary form of relationships
significant powers
distributes power (Scott, 1997: 21).

Assuming that 'power is a social and historical construct, it is a category

relational and dialectical that people do not possess, but rather exercise while interacting.
with others and with their environment” (Camacho, 2014) we affirm that from the constructions

gender social structures have distributed power unevenly, granting greater authority
and hierarchy to men, placing women in a subordinate position. It is
It is necessary to specify that power can be used for many purposes and that it is not always

it is a synonym of domination; however, when it is used to impose or subdue

to another to women or people who define or identify as feminine, in the case
Gender violence is about an abusive use of power.

From this point of view, following Foucault (1978), we assert that power is not something
what is possessed is not held, but exercised, which implies a relational character and an imbalance.

Thus, power is the result of an incessant game of social relations.

asymmetrical, which can occur in any area. This understanding is key to
explain the causes of the different types of violence inflicted on women throughout
of his life, both in the family sphere and in personal relationships as well as in the field
public.
As the Mexican anthropologist Marcela Lagarde argues, that unequal power is what
sustains violence against women. Ideological and legal prohibitions do not
they prevent violence from being a characteristic of the relationships between men and women, and

of the institutions in which they occur: marriage, parenthood, and the family, but
also of the relationships governed by the contract, of social organizations and
policies.
Even more, violence against women occurs without any social relationship intervening.
previously, except for generic belonging.
 39

In this way, violence against women is a presumption of the gender relationship.

patriarchal prior to the relationships established by individuals; the forms it takes
are related to the context in which the violence occurs (Lagarde, 2005: 258).

The generic nature of this practice is also acknowledged in the "Introduction" of the
United Nations Declaration on Violence against Women, adopted in December
from 1993, which states that: “[…] violence against women constitutes a
manifestation of historically unequal power relations between man and the
woman, that have led to the domination of women and discrimination against them
by man and hindered the full advancement of women, and that violence against
the woman is one of the fundamental social mechanisms by which one is forced to
"woman in a situation of subordination to man" (UN, BELÉM DO PARÁ,
1993).

In summary, the asymmetric distribution of power that persists in society, the role
subordination, the discrimination and exclusion of women constitute the cause and the
the foundation of gender-based violence against them, as well as explaining its reproduction
and persistence.

Therefore, it is necessary to question the widespread use of the terms of violence.

domestic or intrafamily violence, instead of calling it violence against the
women; for such denominations refer to the field in which the different arise
types of violence that can occur among members of a family unit,
hiding the specific violence that women experience in that environment, within the framework of

structural forms and unequal power relations.

On the other hand, the use of the term domestic violence in the regulations, in the
public policies and services have made it so that as Ana Carcedo points out -self
have generically neutral legislations that not only make the causes of
the violence against women, but have allowed that "over time, increasingly
aggressors [use these instruments against women who are abused
(CEFEMINA, 2010).
 40

To have accuracy of judgment and political clarity, what corresponds is to talk about
violence against women in the family, in the workplace, in politics, in the
community, in the teacher, in the ecclesiastical, and in all those in which it is manifested
Hence, the category that will be used for this study is violence of
gender against women, as it refers to the aggression they suffer
the female population emanates from a patriarchal society that discriminates against and subordinates them,

what has made the risk factor be being a woman.

According to the basic statements of the Belem do Para Convention11,

incorporated in its preamble, violence apart from being an offense against dignity
human trafficking is one of the most serious forms of discrimination that women suffer, as it

apart from the direct damage it causes to rights, personal integrity, and health,
puts at risk the enjoyment of other rights and related freedoms, which define the
concept of dignified life.

The violence exerted against women not only hinders the full exercise and enjoyment of
his rights, but it is a very effective way to perpetuate unequal relationships
of power between women and men.

The Belém do Pará Convention in its article 1 states "must be understood as

violence against women any action or behavior, based on their gender, that causes
death, harm or physical, sexual or psychological suffering to women, both in the field
public as in the private” (UN, BELÉM DO PARÁ, 1993)

General Recommendation No. 35 of the Convention on the Elimination of all

forms of discrimination against women, establishes in numeral 9: "The concept of
"violence against women," as defined in general recommendation No. 19 and in
other instruments and international documents, emphasizes the fact that such
violence is gender-based. Consequently, in this recommendation, the

11Inter-American Convention to Prevent, Punish and Eradicate Violence against Women

Belém do Pará Convention

 23

[Link] gender

Learning Objective

• Recognizing strategies of Education in Human Rights for the

identification of elements of your identity related to the construction of
sex, gender, and sexual orientation and their relationship with the construction of the system
sex/gender.

• Recognize the need to create material gender equality to combat

discrimination based on sex identity, gender, and sexual orientation.

• Recognize the importance of incorporating the gender perspective in the struggle

continue for the exercise of human rights in a dignified, free, and equal manner.

Evolution of Women's Human Rights

TheCommission on the Legal and Social Status of Womenmet for the first time in
Lake Success, New York, in February 1947, shortly after the creation of the
United Nations. At that time, the 15 governmental representatives who
The commission was made up of women. From its inception, the commission had support.
from a United Nations agency that would later become the Division
for the Advancement of Women, dependent on the United Nations Secretariat.
The Commission on the Legal and Social Status of Women forged a close relationship with the
non-governmental organizations; those recognized as consultative entities
by the Economic and Social Council were invited to participate in the sessions of the
Commission as observers.

Between 1947 and 1962, the Commission focused on establishing standards and formulating conventions.
international initiatives that will change discriminatory laws and raise awareness
worldwide on women's issues. In her contributions to the drafting of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Commission successfully defended the need
to remove the references to 'men' as a synonym for humanity, and succeeded
incorporate a new and more inclusive language.

Since the codification of women's legal rights must be supported by data

and analysis, the Commission began an assessment of the legal and social condition of women at
global scale. Extensive research was conducted as a result of which a
detailed country-by-country overview of the political and legal situation of women, which
Over time, it would serve as the basis for the drafting of rights instruments.
humans.

The Commission developed the first international conventions on rights of the

woman, like theConvention on the Political Rights of Womenfrom 1953, which was the
first instrument of international law to recognize and protect rights
women's politicians; she was also responsible for drafting the first agreements
international agreements on women's rights in marriage, namely, theConvention
about the Nationality of Married Womenfrom 1957 and theConvention on the
 42

a. Physics. Any act or omission that produces or could produce

damage or physical suffering, pain or death, as well as any other
form of mistreatment or aggression, corporal punishment, that affects the

physical integrity, causing injuries or not, whether internal or external

or both, this as a result of the use of force or of any
an object used with the intention of causing harm and of its
consequences, regardless of the time required for their
recovery.

b. Psychological. Any action, omission, or pattern of behavior,

aimed at causing emotional harm, diminishing self-esteem, affecting the
honor, provoke discredit, belittle personal dignity,
disturb, degrade cultural identity, expressions of identity
youth or controlling conduct, behavior, beliefs or the
decisions of a woman, through humiliation, intimidation,
confinements, isolation, forced treatments or any other act
that affects their psychological and emotional stability.

Psychological violence includes emotional manipulation, control

through surveillance mechanisms, harassment or bullying, all
abusive conduct and especially the behaviors, words,
acts, gestures, writings, or electronic messages aimed at pursuing,
intimidate, blackmail, and surveil the woman, regardless of her
age or condition that may affect their emotional stability,
dignity, prestige, physical or mental integrity; or, that they may have
negative repercussions regarding your employment, in the continuation of
school or university studies, in promotion, recognition in
the workplace or outside of it. It also includes threats, the
verbal or actionable announcement that results in physical or psychological harm,

sexual, labor or property, with the aim of intimidating the subject of

protection of this Law.
 43

c. Sexual. Any action that involves the violation or restriction of

right to sexual integrity and to voluntarily decide about their
sexual and reproductive life, through threats, coercion, use of the
force and intimidation, including rape within marriage or
of other relational and kinship ties, whether or not there is cohabitation,
the intentional transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STIs),
as well as forced prostitution, trafficking for the purpose of exploitation

sexual, sexual abuse or harassment, forced sterilization and others

analogous practices.

It is also sexual violence the involvement of girls and adolescents in

sexual activities with an adult or with any other person that
is in a position of advantage over them, whether due to their age,
due to their greater physical or mental development, due to the relationship of

relationship, emotional or trusting, that connects him to the girl or teenager,

due to their position of authority or power; early pregnancy in girls

and adolescents, early marriage, female genital mutilation
feminine and the use of the image of girls and adolescents in
pornography.

d. Economic and patrimonial. It is any action or omission that is directed

to cause a detriment to economic and patrimonial resources

of women, including those of the marital society and of the
property society of cohabiting unions, through:

1. The disturbance of the possession, holding, or ownership of their movable property or

real estate
The loss, theft, destruction, retention or misappropriation of objects,
working tools, personal documents, goods, values, and rights
heritage;
 44

3. The limitation of economic resources allocated to meet their needs or the

deprivation of the necessary means to live a dignified life; as well as the evasion of
compliance with their food obligations;
4. The limitation or control of their income; and,
5. Receiving a lower salary for the same work, within the same workplace.

e. Symbolic. It is all behavior that, through production or

reproduction of messages, values, symbols, icons, signs and
gender, social, economic, political, cultural impositions and
of religious beliefs, they transmit, reproduce, and consolidate
relationships of domination, exclusion, inequality, and discrimination
naturalizing the subordination of women.

f. Politics. It is the violence committed by a person or group of

people, directly or indirectly, against women who are
candidates, activists, elected, appointed or holding positions
public, human rights defenders, feminists, leaders
policies or social issues, or against their family. This violence is directed towards

to shorten, suspend, impede or restrict its action or the exercise of

his position, or to induce or compel her to act against her
will an action or incur an omission, in the fulfillment of
its functions, including the lack of access to public goods or others
resources for the proper performance of your duties.

g. Gyneco-obstetric. It refers to any action or omission that limits

the right of pregnant women or not, to receive services from
gynecological-obstetric health. It is expressed through mistreatment, of the

imposition of non-consensual cultural and scientific practices or the

violation of professional secrecy, the abuse of medicalization, and the non
established in protocols, guidelines, or standards; the actions that

consider the natural processes of pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum

as pathologies, forced sterilization, loss of autonomy and

 45

capacity to freely decide about their bodies and their sexuality,

negatively impacting quality of life and sexual health
reproductive health of women in all their diversity and throughout their lives,

when this is carried out with invasive practices or physical abuse or

psychological.

It is worth mentioning that the different types of violence against the

women provided for in the Law can compete against one another
person, simultaneously, in the same context and in one or
various fields.

h. Sexual Digital, is any action that mainly involves

violation or restriction of the right to privacy, carried out against
women in the digital environment, through any of the
information and communication technologies, through the use of
of personal or intimate nature, which contains the
visual representation of nudity, semi-nudity, or attitudes
sexual things that the woman has confided in her intimacy or that has been
obtained by any other means.

Information and Communication Technologies will be understood as

set of technological resources, used in an integrated manner,
for the processing, management, and dissemination of information to
through supports designed for this.

2. Areas of Violence13.
The areas where violence against women occurs are
the different spaces and contexts in which the types are developed
gender violence against women: girls, adolescents, young women and
older adult. The following are included among others:

13Organic Law to Prevent and Eradicate Violence Against Women.

 46

1. Intrafamily or domestic. It encompasses the context in which the

violence is exercised within the family unit. Violence is carried out by
spouse, the partner in de facto union, the cohabitant, the
ancestors, the descendants, the sisters, the brothers, the
relatives by blood and affinity and the people with whom the
the victim maintains or has maintained family, intimate ties,
affective, marital, cohabitation, dating or living together.

2. Educational. It encompasses the context of teaching and learning in

in which violence is perpetrated by teachers, administrative staff,

colleagues or another member of the educational community of all
levels.

3. Labor. It encompasses the work context in which it is exercised.

right to work and where productive activities are developed,
in which the violence is carried out by individuals who have a connection
or work coexistence with the victim, regardless of the
hierarchical relationship. It includes conditioning hiring or permanence
in the workplace through favors of a sexual nature; the refusal to
hire the victim or respect their permanence or conditions
general work; public discredit for the work done and
no access to equal pay for equal task or function, as well as the
impediment for women to have their period accredited
gestation and lactation.

4. Sports. Understands the public or private context in which the

violence is exercised in formative sports practice, high
performance, professional, adapted/paralympic, amateur, school or
social.

5. State and institutional. It includes the context in which the

violence is executed in the exercise of state power, in a way
 47

expressed or tacit and translated into actions or omissions,

coming from the State. It includes any action or omission of
institutions, legal entities, public servants or of
personnel of private institutions; and, of all types of collective or
organization that, failing to meet its responsibilities in the exercise
of their functions, delay, hinder or prevent women from
have access to public policies and their derived services; and,
that exercise the rights provided in this Law.

6. Centers of Deprivation of Liberty. It encompasses the context where the

violence is exercised in detention centers, by the staff

who works in the centers.

7. Media and cybernetic. It encompasses the context in which the

violence is exercised through public media,
private or community, whether through traditional means or by any other

information technology, including social networks,

virtual platforms or any other.

8. In the public or community space. It encompasses the context in the

whether violence is exercised individually or collectively in places
or public spaces, private spaces without public access; spaces of
neighborhood or community coexistence; public transportation and other uses

common both rural and urban, through any physical, verbal or

of non-consensual sexual connotation, which affects the security and

integrity of women, girls, and adolescents.

9. Health centers and institutions. It encompasses the context where

violence is perpetrated in public and private health centers, in
against the users of the National Health System, executed by the
administrative staff, health assistants, and professionals.
 48

10. Emergencies and humanitarian situations. Understand the context

where violence is exercised in situations of emergency and disasters
that promote inequalities between men and women, that
endanger the physical, psychological, and sexual integrity of women:
girls, teenagers, young women, adults, and elderly women.

3. Cycle of gender violence14.

In the cycle of gender violence initially formulated by
Leonor Walker (1984, 1989, 1991) emerges the assimilation that the exercise
of gender violence, could be supported by a schematization of the
culturally assimilated gender roles. Strength, power, and dominion
they appear as roles inherent to masculine identity and as
the counterpart of the feminine identity has been elaborated with the attributes of

weakness, controllability, and need for protection. These roles

fundamental structures of inequality, and a means to achieve them and
defending them is the aggression.

The cycle of violence is a model developed to explain the

complexity and the coexistence of abuse with loving behaviors,
in couple relationships. Domestic violence is one of its forms, whose
the objective is to exert control and dominance over the woman to preserve or
increase the power of man in the relationship. Women victims of this
type of violence are subjected to a cycle composed of a series of
repetitive behaviors over time, increasingly frequent and
graves, without distinction of age, race, religion, marital status, or social class.

The cycle of violence is a pattern of well-defined behaviors.

studied, which presents the following phases:

14Delgado Álvarez, Carmen, Ana Iraegui, et al. Patterns of masculinity and femininity associated with

cycle of gender violence. Journal of Educational Research, 2007, Vol.25 No. 1, pp. 187-217
 49

1. Denial of violence. The woman does not recognize herself as such or

minimize the situation. Assume the suffering by considering it natural.

irritability
like the lack of work, problems. One can blame oneself,
for not being able to calm their partner, justifying the
violent behaviors as a natural expression of masculinity. This
phase reflects the assimilation of the constructs 'masculinity' and
"femininity" that reproduce the role of dominant-dominated.

[Link] and increase of tension. At first, the tension is the

characteristic of the abusive man, he is irritable and does not
he recognizes her anger, which is why his partner is unable to communicate.

with him. This causes her a feeling of frustration. They appear

slight contempt at first, anger, indifference, sarcasm, and long ones
silences. The woman is repeatedly given the message that her perception of the
reality is incorrect, so she begins to internalize what it is
who does something wrong and begins to blame themselves. This tension goes

growing with increasingly aggressive bursts of rage.

3. Stage of explicit violence. Violence erupts with various

forms of aggression: physical (hits, wounds), psychological (threats,
scorn, humiliations) and sexual.

4. Reconciliation stage. The aggressor shows remorse and

promises not to be violent again, being able to show affection.
the victim strengthens the denial of violence and believes that he can
change. This stage has been referred to as the 'honeymoon' phase when the

Displays of affection reach excessive levels, trying

"counteract" the episodes of violence. In some cases it is a
stage of tranquility simply. As it is repeated
circle of violence, this stage is becoming shorter, until
 50

disappear and remain just a mix of the tension stage and of

explicit violence.

Graph No. 13: The present graph summarizes the circle of violence15:

4. Gender violence in Ecuador.

The second National Survey on Family Relations and Violence
Genre of Gender against women, conducted in the country in the year 2019,
tuvo como objetivo generar datos y producir información estadística sobre
the prevalence, frequency and magnitude of the different types of violence
gender (physical, psychological, sexual, patrimonial) that suffer or have suffered the

women, both in the public sphere (school, labor, and social) as well as in the
private (home, family, couple relationship); about knowledge and
search for services or instances of justice to confront violence; and
their perceptions about the institutional response.

15
National Council for Gender Equality. 2016. GENDER AND GENDER VIOLENCE. Presentation
PPT. Internal document.
 51

Graph No. 14: Gender Violence in Ecuador

In Ecuador, the National Survey on Family Relationships and

Gender Violence against Women (2019) revealed that in the country 65 of
every 100 women have experienced some type of violence at some point in
your life, whether it is of a psychological, physical, sexual, and/or property nature. It is

to say, at the national level, 5,785.295 million women were victims of

violence, with Afro-Ecuadorian and indigenous women being the most affected
affected (INEC, 2019a).
Chart No. 15 Gender Violence in Ecuador

As can be seen in the graph, it is evident that 71 out of every

100 Afro-Ecuadorian women have experienced at least one event.
 52

of violence throughout life, being the most affected. It is demonstrated

that 77 out of every 100 separated women have experienced at least one
violence throughout life.

The survey also allows us to understand the reality that people live.
women, regarding gender violence, in each of the provinces of
country, highly concerning situation that must be addressed and worked on
together with the women's organizations of each province, with
the authorities of the Decentralized Autonomous Governments (GAD) in order to
to provide a timely response to women in each of their territories.

5. Feminicide - Femicidio.
The term femicide originates from the work of Diana Russell and Jill
Radford, who used the term Femicide in their text: Femicide: The
politics of woman killing, like the equivalent of hate crime against women
women.

When translating the term femicide into Spanish, it is considered as

a voice homologous to homicide and it only means the murder of women, when
the authors define femicide as a hate crime against women,
as the set of forms of violence that sometimes culminate in
murders and even in suicides of women.

In this context, feminist anthropologist Marcela Lagarde uses the term

femicide for its differentiation from femicidio, and proposes the following
conceptualizations:

Femicidio: Hate crime against women for being women, is the point
culmination of a spiral of violence originated in the unequal relationship
between women and men in the patriarchal society.
Set of crimes against humanity that contain the crimes,
the kidnappings and disappearances of girls and women in a picture of
 53

institutional collapse. It is a fracture of the Rule of Law that

it favors impunity." (Lagarde, Feminicide. A Global Perspective, 2006)

This is a fundamental element to highlight about Feminicide, since

it implies the responsibility (complicity) of the State, conferring to it
concept a political meaning with the purpose of denouncing the lack of
response of the State in these cases and the fulfillment of its obligations
international guarantees, including the duty to investigate and to sanction.

Feminicide is a tiny visible part of the violence against girls.

and women; it happens as the culmination of a situation characterized by the
repeated and systematic violation of women's human rights.
Their common denominator is gender: girls and women are subjected to violence with

cruelty simply for being women and only in some cases are
murdered as a culmination of such public or private violence.

According to Diana Russell and Jill Radford, these crimes occur in

everyone and are the result of misogynistic violence taken to the extreme,
and therefore, they are the most visible manifestation of multiple full forms of

harassment, mistreatment, harm, repudiation, bullying, and abandonment. Societies of

past and present have turned femicide into a custom and a

social practice to discard girls through infanticide or in the
currently, it extends to the practice of selective feticide of xx products
in search of conceiving children, in the face of the couples' inability to procreate

more than one creature.

The explanation of feminicide is found in the realm of gender:

characterized both by male supremacy and by oppression,
 54

discrimination, exploitation and above all social exclusion of girls and

women16

In some Latin American countries, the term femicide was adopted.

maintaining the same conceptualization of feminicide. In the definition
Various levels of understanding, depth and of femicide are posed.
extension. The most general level, concerning the theoretical, involves the
broader concept of femicide: '...it implies any death of women due to
specific reasons for violence, and how at a theoretical level we understand the

violence as a manifestation of discrimination, when the

discrimination and all forms of control over women kill,
it is also about femicide" (Carcedo, 2011)

In the broadest sense, femicide refers to the murders of women.

as a particular act and culmination of violent relationships. Also suicides
that occur in that context and also the deaths from abortions
clandestine, avoidable maternal mortality and all those where the
a risk factor is being a woman in a society that discriminates against us

subordinates to male and patriarchal power.

The limit is very broad, just think that much of medical research
What should be done to prevent certain deaths of women does not happen because
research on men's health is prioritized…” (Carcedo, 2011).

This definition opens up an extensive range of possibilities in which the

the death of women appears as a consequence of the position of
subordination of these in patriarchal societies.

16Feminicide: A Global Perspective, edited by Diana E. H. Russell, Roberta A. Harmes

 55

Punctually, this notion highlights that the perpetrators of

this form of violence is not only about aggressive men who directly
they exert control and dominance over women, but also reveals how some
organizations, institutions, and the States themselves, through concrete actions
and discrete omissions, participate in complicity with this structure
oppressive, generically biased.

Despite the relevance of this theoretical vision, when it comes to researching this
it becomes necessary to define the concept at an operational level,
more restricted, able to clearly establish what is considered femicide
and why not in every study to undertake.

Now, it is necessary to remember here that not every homicide of a woman

it constitutes a femicide. Not all homicides of women are
involved the specific violence that is exerted against them due to their status
of women. There are other expressions of violence, in particular the so-called
social violence, which produces female deaths with the same logics and
dynamics that the masculine ones, without the intervention of conditions of

gender subordination. Thus, assaults motivated by theft, disputes

between groups, the settling of scores among mafias causes numerous
deaths in which, at times, the fact that the victim is a man or
woman is basically casual.

On the other hand, for femicide to occur or to be executed

in the way it is done, it is essential that the victim be a woman, because
it motivates and accompanies the male desire for domination or control over
this.17

17Transition
Commission to the Council of Women and Gender Equality. Collection
Women's Rights: Research. 2011. Quito-Ecuador. Manthra Publishers
 56

6. Femicide in Ecuador18.

Femicides, as an extreme form of violence against women...

women, it is a problem that is becoming increasingly visible in the
Latin American continent. However, it remains an underrepresented reality.
recognized.

In this context, several studies conducted have confirmed

the mortal risk that women live due to the fact of being women.
initial investigations revealed the violence in the field of the
couple relationships as a high-risk scenario for life
women, being the one that causes the most femicides in many countries.

Most recent works show that femicide occurs also

in other contexts and relationships that share this deadly risk, although
each of them includes dynamics of control of the aggressors over the
different women. This suggests that the necessary strategies for
preventing femicide in each of these contexts must also be
different.

At the national level, Enma Ortega and Lola Valladares (2007)

they conduct the first research on femicide which was focused on
the city of Quito. The results of this work showed a concerning
panorama. It is evident that 41% of the 204 homicides of women
reported in this city between 2000 and 2006 were actually
femicides, with half committed by men close to the victims
(intimate femicides) and the other half by other men (non-intimate femicides)

intimates). In 35% of the total, sexual violence was involved in the deaths of the
women.

18Same.
 57

This data leads us to reflect that femicide is not only a

Latin American reality, but it is a current problem in our country.
and requires a comprehensive approach that goes beyond sanctioning violence
doméstica o intrafamiliar como tradicionalmente lo ha hecho Entre sus
conclusions, the researchers express the need to have a
broader conceptualization of violence against women, as well as
to typify the crime of femicide, in order to promote an accurate record,
investigation and sanction of the same, and in this way achieve the identification of the

key actions for its prevention and eradication.

In the year 2011, the Transition Commission to the Council of the

Women and Gender Equality (current CNIG) conducted the research
called Femicide in Ecuador, considered relevant as it is the
first time in Latin America the concern for femicide as
social phenomenon with a 'woman's face', has been taken as
responsibility of public institutions, therefore it is hoped that this
The sign of government commitment becomes a state responsibility.

In our country, within the framework of the preparation of the new Code
Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code (COIP), femicide is classified in its article 141,

define it as: Femicide. - The person who, as a result of

power relations manifested in any type of violence, including death
a woman for the mere fact of being one or for her gender condition, will be

punished with a prison sentence of twenty-two to twenty-six years.

In this context and with the aim of having statistical data

specific to the femicides occurring in the country, the Group of
statistical strengthening of security and justice indicators of the
Special Commission on Security, Justice, Crime and
Transparency that validates, consolidates, and updates the information of the indicator

of femicide, available since August 2014, the date it came into force
validity of the COIP.
 58

Women's organizations and civil society formed the

alliance for the monitoring and mapping of femicides in Ecuador, who
they expressed their disagreement with the femicide figures presented by the
Special Commission. In this context and with the aim of expanding the analysis
of femicide and its context, starting from July 2020 the indicator is included
of intentional homicide in the weekly report of the technical table.

The study of intentional homicide is not only relevant because of the

seriousness of the crime, but also because it is one of the indicators
easier to measure and compare to monitor deaths
violent, which is usually considered as a substitute variable for crimes
violent and as an indicator of the levels of security in countries (ICCS,
2015). It is defined as:

Intentional homicide - is the illegal killing of a person.

with the intention of causing his death or serious injuries and that can be
identified as deceased persons19

The quantitative information on femicides in Ecuador, is

updates every week by the statistical strengthening group of
safety and justice indicators of the Special Statistics Commission
Security, Justice, Crime and Transparency

Legal framework for the eradication of gender violence20.

In conjunction with the growing visibility and recognition
social issue that has reached violence against women in Ecuador,
national legislation has been progressively modified

19
Methodological sheet of the indicator: number of femicide victims, Special Interinstitutional Security Commission
Citizen, 2017. International Classification of Crimes for Statistical Purposes - ICCS Version 1.0. United Nations Office
against Drugs and Crime, 2015.
20NationalCouncil for Gender Equality. Gender-based violence against women in the
Ecuador. 2014.
 59

that, currently, there is a regulatory framework that guarantees the

exercise for a life free of violence.

The Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador (2008) recognizes all

people equal rights, duties, and opportunities and establishes that
no one shall be discriminated against on the grounds of gender identity, sex,

sexual orientation, among others; while providing that any form of

discrimination shall be sanctioned by law. (National, Constitution of the
Republic of Ecuador, 2008.

In Title II "Rights", in the sixth chapter about Rights to

freedom is recognized and the right to live without violence is ensured, as long as
establishes that:

Individuals are recognized and guaranteed the right to integrity.

personal, which includes:
The physical, mental, moral, and sexual integrity;
A life free from violence in the public and private sphere. The State
will adopt the necessary measures to prevent, eliminate, and sanction
all forms of violence, especially that exercised against women,
girls, boys, and adolescents, older adults, people
with disabilities and against anyone in a situation of disadvantage
or vulnerability; identical measures will be taken against violence,
slavery and sexual exploitation

The prohibition of torture, enforced disappearance, and treatment and

cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments (Art. 66, No. 3).

Furthermore, in the chapter referring to Protection Rights,

"the law will establish special and expedited procedures for"
the adjudication and punishment of domestic violence and sexual offenses
 60

hate crimes and those committed against girls, boys, and adolescents,
young people..." (Art. 81).

The Constitution not only guarantees the rights set forth, but also
It prohibits advertising that incites violence, discrimination, and sexism.
(Art. 19); establishes priority attention for victims of violence
domestic and sexual (Art. 35); ensures care for older women
victim of violence (Art. 36); protection against all forms of violence,
mistreatment, sexual exploitation or any other kind, or negligence that
provokes such situations (Art. 46, num.4). The Magna Carta also
prohibits all forms of discrimination, harassment, or acts of violence against

any kind, direct or indirect, that affects women in the workplace;

in the educational system (Art. 331).

The Comprehensive Organic Law to Prevent and Eradicate Violence Against

the women (LOIPEVM) enacted in February 2018, establishes 4
great axes for its implementation: Prevention Axis, Attention Axis,
Protection Axis and Repair Axis.

Each of these axes contains provisions and obligations for

all public institutions, according to their powers and functions.

In addition, the LOIPEVM establishes the creation of the National System

Integral to Prevent and Eradicate Violence Against Women

The same one whose purpose is to prevent and eradicate violence
against women through the design, formulation, execution, supervision,
monitoring and evaluation of norms, policies, programs, mechanisms and
actions at all instances and at all levels of government.

The SINAPEVIM is made up of 18 national entities and

locales, which are coordinated by the governing body of Justice and
Human Rights.
 61

Each of these institutions has obligations and

specific duties they must comply with.

8. National Policy for the Eradication of Gender Violence.

The Law of Prevention and Eradication of Violence against the

Current women since February 2018, under the framework of the law by the Secretary of

Human Rights will focus in 2019 on complying with this regulation.

in the participatory construction of the National Plan for Prevention and
Eradication of violence.21

In Article 21 of the Comprehensive Organic Law for Prevention and

eradication of violence, regarding the powers of the governing body, the
Number 6 establishes: 'Formulate the National Plan for prevention and'
eradication of violence against women, in coordination with
the members of the System.

In the General Regulations of the Comprehensive Organic Law to prevent

and to eradicate violence against women, the conceptualization is established
and minimum contents that the National Plan must include
Prevention and Eradication of Violence against Women.

Article 22 of the Regulation defines the National Plan for the

Prevention and Eradication of Violence against Women as 'the
planning instrument that articulates the competencies, policies,
actions and services to prevent and eradicate violence against women
with special emphasis on childhood and adolescence. The Plan will be updated every
four years and will be evaluated annually in a participatory manner. The Plan is
it will be based on information from the Single Registry of Violence
against women.

21SDH. 2019. National Plan for the Prevention and Eradication of Violence Against Women.
 62

Article 23 on the contents of the National Plan for

Prevention and Eradication of Violence against Women establishes that
It will be formulated by the governing body in coordination with the members.

of the System and must include, at minimum, the following components:

1. Diagnosis of the current situation of violence against women.

2. Policies and strategies with a medium and long-term perspective.
3. Goals and their compliance and impact indicators.
4. Guidelines for sectoral and territorial planning in the field of
violence against women.
5. Management model and coordination strategies for the
implementation of the Plan.

In this sense, the current plan constitutes a public policy of

intersectoral character, medium and long-term strategy, differentiated
from institutional operational planning.

Digital Rights.

a. Impact of information and communication technologies.

Information and communication technologies are tools

that allow the full development of human beings, currently, are
unavoidable, as they are even used to satisfy needs
basics. We cannot deny the infinite benefits they bring for the
progress, innovation, and the processes of multidisciplinary relationships of
the individuals.
ICT knows no borders, they are used so that people can
communicating, facilitate the forecasting and acquisition of goods, as well as
services at any time, from anywhere and in almost
 63

snapshot. It is undeniable that they have revolutionized the way in which the

human beings relate and interact.

However, many also use them to cause harm, given
elements such as hyperconnection, the massification of damage, as well as the
Viralization are elements that, when used improperly or maliciously, are
favorable for harming others.

b. Concept of Digital Rights.

Human rights are instrumental conditions that

they guarantee the preservation of the dignity and integrity of individuals, they enjoy

of characteristics such as universality, irreducibility, among others; their

the main objective is to foster and promote the comprehensive development of the

individuals.
Information and communication technologies have
transformed into a space for interaction, as well as for relationships
inevitable for the full development of individuals; which is why
ha sido necesario reconocer que ahora los seres humanos, ante esta nueva
reality, they have a new category of rights, that is, digital rights.
Digital rights are extensions of human rights to
world of ICT, but also this new environment of relationships and
development has led to the recognition of new categories inherent to
this space, given that, as mentioned previously, elements that
only occur in this area how viralization and hyperconnection contribute
to the massification of damage, realities that are not evident in the world
offline, since they are characteristic of this new environment, for which it is

it is necessary to recognize timely, adequate, and appropriate rights that

allow the integral development of individuals in this context.

c. Categories of digital rights.

It is correct to state that there are two categories of rights.

digital, the first refers to those extensions of the
human rights in the digital world, such as freedom of
 64

expression, privacy or intimacy, among others; on the other hand, there are
those that by their nature belong to or are analogous to technologies
from information such as access to ICT or data protection
personal and others.

It is therefore important to delve into the concept of rights.

closely related to digital violence.

Digital identity and online reputation rights.

The concepts of digital identity and online reputation are

strictly linked to the activity or activities that human beings
they develop in the field of information technologies and
communication, are key concepts of how all those data or
information generated builds the person in this new environment.
Digital identity is the compendium of data and information
generated by a person about themselves or by others in the use of ICT,
while online reputation constitutes the perception that others have
about a subject based on the set of information that contributes to
your digital identity.
But this concept should not only be constructed from a point of
technical view or from the field of information technologies and
communication, then for the world of Law, is to define identity
and reputation as rights.
Thus, Article 66, numeral 28 of the Constitution of the
The Republic of Ecuador establishes that "It will be recognized and guaranteed to the

28. The right to personal and collective identity, which includes

to have a name and surname, duly registered; and to maintain, develop
and strengthen the material and immaterial characteristics of identity,
such as nationality, family background, expressions
spiritual, cultural, religious, linguistic, political, and social.
 65

Furthermore, in numeral 18 of the Constitution it is determined that 'It is'

recognize and guarantee to individuals: 18. The right to honor and the good
name. The law will protect the image and voice of the person.
These two rights, although they originate in an offline context,
they must be extended to the online world to promote development
full, as well as the integral development of individuals.

Right to privacy.

It is the right that all human beings have equally

conditions to demand that there are no intrusions in the aspects that
constitute their private life or can affect their inner sphere;
guarantee of this right in this new era is essential given that ICT
they constitute an easily accessible space for everyone, which makes it easier for
third parties injure human dignity through the invasion of very spaces
close to the person.

a. Right to the protection of personal data.

The right to the protection of personal data, for its part, is

it stands out for an essential element which is informational self-determination,

that recognizes and promotes self-determination over personal data. It is

It is important to highlight that this is an autonomous right, which is
instrumental pues mediante su ejercicio se pueden garantizar otros
rights such as honor, reputation, privacy, one's own voice and image,
access to health, education or housing and other human rights.

Personal data is everything that identifies or makes

identifiable to a person, not only referring to data such as the name,
age or gender, which while they are part of this category are not the only ones,
well, a simple 'like' on a social network can reveal preferences,
tastes and ideologies.
 66

It is therefore important to guarantee this right in the current era.

dado que los datos pueden ser usados para vulnerar sustancialmente la
integrity or dignity of a person, to control the decisions of the
individuals and even manipulate their thoughts, ideologies, ideals,
beliefs or any kind of knowledge of people.

b. Right to integrity.

This right promotes the life of individuals and their healthy development,

information and communication technologies have an element that

used negatively can even affect your life outside of
line.

Viralization and hyperconnectivity are currently elements

characteristics of information and communication technologies that
allow the data or information to be shared and known
around the world in less than three seconds, this has as
consequence of the massification of damage. In the most severe cases of
transgression of rights in the use of ICT or in the digital environment, the person
ends up taking his own life.

Digital violence is a current issue that affects

millions of people worldwide; it is a topic that has not been able to
to control or eradicate themselves. Human beings are very unaware of
impact generated by information technologies and
communication, these have spread at an incalculable speed in the
daily life, but very few know about the effects or consequences of their
unconscious and inadequate use can lead to.

Digital violence can be defined as all acts aimed at

to cause harm in the ICT environment or through the use of technologies
 67

of information and communication as a tool, the effects that this

generates both online and offline.

The Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code typifies some of the behaviors

harms considered as digital violence, we can find:

Crimes against identity.

e. Identity theft.

Article 212.- Identity theft. - The person who

any form that substitutes the identity of another to obtain a benefit
for oneself or for a third party, to the detriment of a person, shall be sanctioned with

prison sentence of one to three years.

Suppression, alteration, or assumption of identity and marital status.

Article 211.- Suppression, alteration or assumption of identity and

civil status.- The person who illegally prevents, alters, adds to or removes the
registration of your or another person's identity data in programs
computer scientists, game pieces, index cards, notes or in any other
document issued by the General Directorate of Civil Registry, Identification
and of Cedulation or its dependencies or, register as its own, at the Directorate
General Directorate of Civil Registry, Identification and Issuance of Documents to a person who

he is not her son, she will be punished with a prison sentence of one to three
years. The person who illegally alters the identity of a girl or boy; the
replace it with another; deliver or submit false or assumed data about a
birth; I usurp the legitimate parenthood of a girl or boy or
falsely declaring the death of a newborn will be punished
with a prison sentence of three to five years.
 68

g. Violation of privacy.
Article 178.- Violation of privacy. - The person who, without having
with consent or legal authorization, access, intercept, examine,
retain, record, reproduce, disseminate or publish personal data, messages
of data, voice, audio and video, postal items, information contained in
computer supports, private or confidential communications from another
Person by any means will be punished with a custodial sentence of
freedom from one to three years. These rules do not apply to the person.
that discloses audio and video recordings in which they are involved
personally, not even when it comes to public information according to
the provisions of the law.

h. Crimes against girls, boys, and adolescents (Cyberbullying)

Article 177.- Acts of hate. - The person who commits acts of
physical or psychological hate violence, against one or more people on account of

of their nationality, ethnicity, place of birth, age, sex, identity of

gender or sexual orientation, cultural identity, marital status, language, religion,
{"ideología":"ideology","condición socioeconómica":"socioeconomic condition","condición migratoria":"migratory condition","discapacidad":"disability"}

health status or carrying HIV will be punishable by imprisonment

from one to three years. If the acts of violence cause injuries to the person,
it will be punished with the imprisonment penalties provided for the crime of
aggravated injuries in a third. If acts of violence lead to death
of a person, will be punished with a prison sentence of twenty-two
at twenty-six years old.

i. Grooming.
Article 173.- Contact with sexual purpose with minors under eighteen
years through electronic means. - The person who through a medium
electronic or telematic propose to arrange a meeting with a person
under eighteen years old, provided that such a proposal is accompanied by actions

materials aimed at approaching with a sexual or erotic purpose, will be

 69

punished with a prison sentence of one to three years. When the

approach obtained through coercion or intimidation, will be
penalized with a prison sentence of three to five years. The person
by assuming the identity of a third party or through the use of a
false identity through electronic or telematic means, establish
communications of sexual or erotic content with a minor
eighteen years or with disability, will be sanctioned with a deprivation of liberty penalty

freedom from three to five years.

j. Child pornography.
Article 103.- Pornography involving the use of girls, boys or
adolescents. - The person who photographs, films, records, produces, transmits
or edit visual, audiovisual, computer, electronic, or
any other physical medium or format that contains the representation
visuals of nudity or semi-nudity, real or simulated, of girls, boys or
adolescents in sexual behavior; will be punished with imprisonment of
freedom from thirteen to sixteen years. If the victim also suffers any type of
disability or serious or incurable illness will be punished with a penalty

imprisonment from sixteen to nineteen years. When the person

the offender may be the father, the mother, a relative up to the fourth degree of

consanguinity or second degree of affinity, guardian, legal representative, curator

or belongs to the intimate environment of the family; minister of worship, teacher,

master, or person who by their profession or activity has abused the

the victim will be punished with a custodial sentence of twenty-two to
twenty-six years.

k. Offer of sexual services with minors under eighteen years by means

electronics.
Article 174.- Offer of sexual services with minors under eighteen
years by electronic means. - The person who uses or facilitates the email
electronic, chat, instant messaging, social networks, blogs, photo blogs
network games or any other electronic or telematic means to offer
 70

Sexual services with minors under eighteen years of age will be punished.
with a prison sentence of seven to ten years.

l. Marketing of pornography involving girls, boys and

adolescents.
Article 104.- Marketing of pornography using
girls, boys or adolescents. - The person who advertises, purchases, possesses,

carry, transmit, download, store, import, export or sell, by

any means, for personal use or for exchanging pornography
children and adolescents will be punished with imprisonment.
from ten to thirteen years old.

It is important to mention that the Integral Organic Penal Code

it includes only some types of digital violence, so for cases of
stalking, sextortion, deepfake, doxing and others should be framed accordingly.
these behaviors in pre-existing criminal types to avoid leaving defenseless
to the victims of conduct that affects their integrity and dignity.

Protocols and mechanisms for attention and action in digital violence.

Esta es una realidad que se da a nivel mundial y que puede parecer

distant from our reality, but the truth is that this problem also
it occurs in our country more frequently than expected.

According to data from the State Attorney General's Office, the total of

complaints filed for crimes such as violation of privacy, contact

with minors for sexual purposes, child pornography its offer and
Marketing increases by an average of 23% each year.

This shows us that more and more cases are coming to

to know each other through justice, however there are indications that most of
possible victims have tried to report this type of aggression and that
In light of the novelty of the theme, the agents cannot guide the person.
or to act in the face of these situations, which makes it necessary for all those who

are responsible for protecting the citizens are properly trained and
 71

have clear protocols that determine the processes to help

the subjects who may have been injured.
 72

LEGAL REGULATION
1. Procedures of the National Police of Ecuador in the face of the
gender-based violence
1.1. Learning objective
1.2. Contenido
• Legal regulations governing police functions
• Police procedures
• Police procedures in cases of gender violence against women
women
• Police action in the execution of urgent actions
• General procedure for the notification of Measures
Immediate Protection Administrative Measures (MAPIs)
• Non-compliance with Administrative Protective Measures
Immediate (MAPIs)
3. Procedures of the National Police of Ecuador in response to gender violence.

3.1. Learning Objective.

Strengthen the gender equality approach in the National Police

Ecuador, under legal precepts and strategic axes such as prevention,
education, attention, protection for victims of gender-based violence in order to
to generate a suitable work environment in our Institution and the awareness
what will contribute to taking appropriate police procedures, under the principles of
no discrimination and equality, with strict adherence to human rights
in compliance with the constitutional mission.

3.2. Legal regulations governing police function.

Police actions must be based and guided by the

international and national regulations that govern the police function and are focused on
to human rights and gender, which are detailed below:

[Link] regulation.

REGULATION DESCRIPCIÓN
INTERNATIONAL
 73

Universal Declaration of
Approved on December 10, 1948 in Paris, France.
Human Rights

Convention for the

Legal Instrument created in 1979 of Character
Removal of all the
International that enshrines the guarantees that the
Forms of Discrimination in
States must observe and respect in order to achieve the
against women
equality and eliminate all forms of discrimination.
(CEDAW)

The Declaration on the

Approved by the General Assembly in its Resolution
Elimination of Violence
A/RES/48/104, of December 20, 1993.
against the Woman

Inter-American Convention
To Prevent, Punish and Approved on June 9, 1994, it consists of 25 articles
Eradicate Violence Against and define what is understood by violence against
the Woman "Convention of woman and the areas in which they manifest.
Belém do Pará

ILO Convention 190 Legal norm that protects workers.

any type of violence in the workplace.
NATIONAL REGULATIONS DESCRIPTION

The Constitution of Ecuador approved in 2008

Constitution of the Republic collects the principle of equality and non-discrimination by
from Ecuador sex and gender identity.

Its objective is to prevent and eradicate all types of violence.

Organic Comprehensive Law For
Prevent and Eradicate the against women: girls, adolescents, young women,
Violence Against Women, adults and older adults, in all their diversity, in
the public and private spheres; especially when
they find themselves in multiple vulnerable situations
or risk, through comprehensive policies and actions of
prevention, care, protection and compensation of the
victims.
 74

Organic Integral Code Issue protection measures for victims of

Penal domestic violence and punishes the perpetrators
offenses and crimes of violence against women.

The entities provided for in this code and their

Organic Code of the
servers will be governed by the principles of rights
Security Entities
humans and gender equality, thus punishes all types
Citizen and Public Order
of discrimination.

The national and international legal regulations are a fundamental basis.

and it is imperative to protect and guarantee the effective enjoyment of rights
of women who are disadvantaged and in situations of risk or
vulnerability, violence is a serious problem in the world and in our
country, and as police officials, knowledge of the law makes it so that
our procedures are in accordance with the law, guaranteeing rights and
avoiding that in many cases the victim is re-victimized due to a wrong
police procedure or that there is even a violation of rights to the
female police officers within the institution.

Based on all the aforementioned regulations and in the Constitution where

it mentions in article 11, numeral 2, that 'All people are equal and
They will enjoy the same rights, duties, and opportunities. No one shall be
discriminated against on the basis of ethnicity, place of birth, age, sex, identity of
género, identidad cultural, estado civil, idioma, religión, ideología, filiación
["politics","criminal record","socioeconomic condition","immigration status"]
sexual orientation, health status, HIV carrier, disability, physical difference;
nor for any other distinction, personal or collective, temporary or permanent, that
aims to undermine or nullify the recognition, enjoyment or
exercise of rights. The law will penalize any form of discrimination. The
The state will adopt affirmative action measures that promote real equality.
in favor of the rights holders who are in a situation of
 75

inequality. Therefore, attached to the construction of public policies that

ensure the rights guaranteed by the constitution and instruments
internationally, institutional policies were adopted in order to prevent
eradicate gender violence focusing on 4 aspects that are detailed in the
Institutional Gender Policy of the National Police of Ecuador that was decreed
through Ministerial Agreement 104, and they are as follows:

1. Prevention –Educational Axis.

It will articulate plans, programs, projects, mechanisms of

awareness and consciousness aimed at gradually eliminating
sociocultural patterns and stereotypes that justify or normalize the
gender violence.

2. Axis of attention and protection provided by police units - Health

Occupational.

The police dependencies within the scope of their competencies

they must provide medical, psychological, and legal advice to personnel
police officers who are victims of gender-based violence, in a specialized manner,
integral and immediate, promoting a dignified treatment with quality and warmth in

all instances and institutional levels.

3. Relational axis - Work environment.

Will articulate plans, programs, projects and mechanisms that

they contribute to the creation of a healthy work environment among the
and the police servers.

4. Monitoring axis - from the institutionality.

The Commander General of the National Police will exercise leadership.

from this policy, for which it has the authority to coordinate, articulate
 76

and summon any police agency to comply with what

established in this policy, in order to generate prevention actions,
attention, intervention, and monitoring.

In this legal context, the National Police of Ecuador will carry out its
procedures framed within such standards to not violate or tempt
against human rights nor commit any act of violence from
gender nor any discrimination, acting with equality and with a focus on
gender.

3.3. Police Procedures.

For the protection against gender-based violence, the National Police

will adopt the following procedures through its police servers:

1. Police procedures in cases of gender-based violence against women.

Gender-based violence cases can occur in different ways.

ways, it is feasible to mention that in the Comprehensive Organic Law to Eradicate
Violence Against Women recognizes seven types of violence as
physical, psychological, sexual, economic and property, symbolic, political and the
gyneco-obstetrics, and as police officers we have to generate and apply
measures to prevent violence against women.

It is also important to mention that according to the LOIPEVCM in

Article 48 Request. - any person or group of people who has
knowledge of the commission of violent acts or acts may request
the granting of urgent actions and administrative measures of
immediate protection, in favor of the victim, either verbally or in writing, before
the national police, urgent actions; to the cantonal boards of
protection of rights, political holdings, administrative ones.

The competence of the National Police in cases of violence against

of the woman in addition to the LOIPEVCM, must be governed by the Instruction for
 77

Police actions in the execution of Urgent Actions and Measures

Immediate Protection Administrative Measures to Stop or Prevent Violence
Against Women and their annexes to take the following procedure:

Police Action in the Execution of Urgent Actions

The police personnel in the exercise of their duties will carry out the following:

1. Respond immediately to an alert generated by a button

security, call to ECU911, video surveillance, patrol, monitoring
police and other alert mechanisms, this in relation to the ACTION
URGENT No. 1 [literal a) of Art. 48 of the LOIPEVCM].

NOTE: This urgent action will trigger the other actions

urgent if necessary. In case of a false alarm, the incident will be reported
raised in the instance that generated the alert or if necessary through the
corresponding web part.

Activation of security protocols and protection for women

victims of gender violence, this in relation to the URGENT ACTION
No. 2 [literal b) of Art. 48 of the LOIPEVCM].

Within the compliance, the following will be carried out:

a) Request for immediate administrative protection measures

(Regulation LOIPEVCM, Art. 34).
NOTE: Only in case the administrative dependency does not
have internet service, or do not have the means
logistics necessary for the automation of the procedure,
the police officer will print the report and form, to
bring it to the attention of the said authority.
 78

b) Characterization and valuation of Risk

NOTE: In case obtaining the data becomes difficult,

The police personnel may only ask questions.
clarifications regarding doubts that may arise at the time of
listen to the narration given by the victim.

c) Home visits to follow up with the victim.

NOTE: If during home visits, the police personnel

detects or identifies the presence of the alleged person
aggressor against whom there are administrative measures
of immediate protection, they will proceed to inform the victim and
the alleged aggressor that the "failure to comply with the order of a

the competent authority constitutes a crime and can be

sanctioned with a penalty of imprisonment from one to three years;
and will inform the victim that they will proceed with the apprehension of the

presumed aggressor according to the established procedure for

the effect. In case the victim does not authorize or prevents the
The entry of the police server will be done through the web report.
corresponding and will be brought to the attention of the authority

corresponding judicial.

d) Patrol milestones.
e) Activation of the safety button.

NOTE: If the victim already has an active security button, the

The police officer will verify if the data corresponds to the
current address, otherwise it will update the information to
that has this mechanism.

f) Risk revaluation.
 79

NOTE: Control and monitoring of home visits

3. Accompaniment for the victim to reintegrate into their usual home,

when requested or to take your belongings, if applicable,
this in relation to the URGENT ACTION No. 3 [literal c) of Art. 48 of the
LOIPEVCM and literal c) of the Regulation.

4. Accompany the victim to the administrative authority to request the

issuance of the assistance ticket and the restraining order for proximity to
the victim by the alleged aggressor, in any public space or
private, this in relation to the URGENT ACTION No. 4 [literal d) of Article 48
from the LOIPEVCM].
They will proceed to the apprehension of the aggressor when found.
in flagrance and they will make her available to the competent authority, this
regarding URGENT ACTION No. 5 [literal e) of Art. 33 of
Regulations of the LOIPEVCM.
NOTE: The police server will initiate the search for location and
transfer of the alleged aggressor to the competent court, within the
24 hours from the commission of the established act for flagrance, in
in case the alleged aggressor is not found at the scene of the events.
6. Request specialized attention from the entities that make up the
SNIPEVCM in favor of the victim and the people who depend on her,
this in relation to the URGENT ACTION No. 6 [literal e) of Art. 48 of the
LOIPEVCM].

General Procedure for Notification and Execution of Mapis

The police personnel in the exercise of their functions will proceed with the

notificación y ejecución de las medidas administrativas de protección inmediata

determined in literals a, b, f, and h of Art. 51 of the LOIPEVCM, according to
disposition of the Administrative Authority (Cantonal Board of Protection of
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Rights, Political Tenancy, National Police Comissariat or General Intendancy

of the Police), adopting the necessary security measures.

Immediate Protective Administrative Measures:

a) Assistance ticket and restraining order against approaching the victim

by the alleged aggressor, in any public space or
privado.
b) Restoration of the victim to their usual residence, when it has been
far from this due to the violent act and thus I requested it, with the

sufficient guarantees to protect your life and integrity;

f) Order the aggressor to leave the home when their presence

constitutes a threat to physical, psychological, or sexual integrity
either the life of the woman or any of the family members.

h) Installation of alert devices, risk or electronic devices

from alert, in the home of the woman victim of violence.

The police personnel will proceed to verify the content in all cases.
notification in which it must state:

⮚ Date
⮚ Name of the administrative authority that issues the measure
⮚ Names of the victim and the alleged aggressor
⮚ Address where the administrative measure will be notified and executed
⮚ Description of the immediate administrative protection measure to be
notificada y ejecutada
⮚ Company/electronic signature

⮚ If the notification ticket does not contain the required information, DO NOT TO

WILL MAKE THE NOTIFICATION

⮚ Apply the security and protection mechanisms for your actions
⮚ Identify yourself in front of the victim and/or presumed aggressor and inform about what

it will consist of your performance or procedure.

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⮚ Ensure at all times the safety and integrity of the victim and of
its minor dependents, if applicable.
⮚ Verify the personal background of the victim and the alleged aggressor
⮚ He will check the data of the alleged aggressor with his document.
personal identification
⮚ He will read the notification ballot and proceed with its delivery.
receiving the respective receipt with full names, ID number, date,
time and signature.

⮚ It will read the notification slip and proceed with its delivery,
receiving the respective receipt with full names, ID number, date,
time and signature.

⮚ Will inform the alleged aggressor that the non-compliance of

Administrative measures constitute an offense punishable by imprisonment.

⮚ The progressive use of force will be applied, if necessary.

⮚ Create the corresponding web report (Judicial, Police,
Measures/Delegation) once the procedure is completed.

MAPIs: "Assistance ticket and restraining order against approaching the victim for
part of the alleged aggressor, in any public or private space

The police personnel must:

⮚ Apply the general procedure described above; and

⮚ Coordinate with the victim the date, time, and place to notify the alleged perpetrator.

aggressor when found in the victim's home; otherwise

will go directly to where the aggressor is, without coordinating with the
victim, nor request their presence.

Restoration of the victim to their usual residence, when they have been removed
from this because of the violent act..."; and, "Exit of the aggressor from the home when his
presence constitutes a threat to physical, psychological, or sexual integrity or
the life of the woman...
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The police personnel must:

⮚ Apply the previously described general procedure; and

⮚ Coordinate with the victim the date, time, and place to notify the two measures.
of protection, and carry them out in the presence of both parties.

⮚ Will inform the person in charge of the housing,

condominium and another, of the diligence provided and will proceed to execute it

⮚ Avoid eye and physical contact at all times while it lasts.

procedure.
⮚ He/She will explain what the measures against the alleged aggressor consist of and will request

his immediate departure from the home, being able to take only his
work tools and personal clothing.
⮚ The alleged aggressor will request the keys to the home, which will be
delivered to the victim, recommending the change of security measures in case

for not obtaining the keys.

⮚ Once the alleged aggressor leaves the home, the personnel
The police will ensure that the victim returns to their home.

Exit of the aggressor from the home when their presence constitutes a
threat to the physical, psychological or sexual integrity or life of the woman or
any member of the family

The police personnel shall:

⮚ Apply the previously described general procedure; and

⮚ Coordinate with the victim the date, time, place to notify the two measures
of protection, and execute them in the presence of both parties.
⮚ Request authorization from the victim to enter the dwelling
⮚ He/She will explain what the measure against the alleged aggressor consists of and will request its

immediate departure from the home, being able to take only their
work tools and personal garments.
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⮚ The alleged aggressor will request the keys to the home, which will be
delivered to the victim, recommending the change of security measures in case

for not obtaining the keys.

⮚ Once the alleged aggressor leaves the home, the personnel
The police will ensure that the victim returns home.

MAPIs: "Installation of alert devices, risk devices or electronic devices of

alert in the home of the woman victim of violence (security button)

The police personnel must:

⮚ Aplicar el procedimiento general antes descrito; y,

⮚ Go to the victim's home.
⮚ Proceed as determined by the 'Instructions for creating button'
security" Code: PNE-DNPC-BS-INST-02.

⮚ Non-compliance with Administrative Measures (MAPIs).

In the event that a victim requests police support by submitting

from the 'Assistance Voucher' due to non-compliance with administrative measures, the
police personnel must:

⮚ Check in the system beforehand if the alleged perpetrator was

duly notified with the administrative measures issued in your
against.
⮚ Proceed with the apprehension of the offender and take him/her before a
competent judicial authority in the nearest Flagrancy Unit.
⮚ Prepare the corresponding report.

Note:
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Police Officials in the exercise of their responsibilities

they will strictly comply with all the Guidelines in the Instruction for Actions
Urgent and Immediate Administrative Protection Measures to Stop or
Prevent Violence against Women, they will apply a comprehensive approach in
protection of the physical, psychological, and sexual integrity of girls and adolescents

women, and young, adult heterosexual women, lesbians or transfeminine

older adults in cases of violence against women.

In the different cases of violence against women, there will be no

type of mediation and this Instruction for Urgent Actions shall apply
it is necessary to coordinate the obtaining of Administrative Measures
Protección Inmediata para Detener o Prevenir la Violencia contra las Mujeres, en
the various procedures that arise in flagrant or non-flagrant assistance
flagrants.