The Constitution of Ecuador upholds the principle of gender equality and guarantees human rights. It prohibits any form of sexual discrimination without exception and provides for equal opportunity for men and women in access to productive resources and in marriage.
The economic independence of women depends largely on their relationship to means of production and their access to property. In reality, few women own land and households headed by women generally have a lower income than those headed by men.
The Family Code is broadly favourable to women in Ecuador. The legal minimum age for marriage is 18 years, but early marriage is permitted with parental permission or authorisation from a judge. A 2004 United Nations report estimated that 22 per cent of girls between 15 and 19 years of age were married, divorced or widowed.
Polygamy is not a common practice in Ecuador.
The Constitution of Ecuador provides for equal family responsibilities for men and women, and parental authority is exercised jointly by both spouses. However, the Committee on the Rights of the Child highlights “the often limited extent of parental responsibility taken by the father, particularly in terms of recognising and maintaining the child”. Increasing emigration in recent years has also created problems in relation to parental responsibility.
There are no apparent restrictions on women’s inheritance rights; they can act as both executors and administrators of wills.
The physical integrity of Ecuadorean women is well protected. The law on violence against women and the family defines domestic violence as any act or failure to act resulting in physical, psychological or sexual abuse perpetrated by a member of the family against a woman or another member of the family. The number of complaints of physical violence remains constant, but there has been an increase in complaints of psychological violence, which suggests an increasing awareness of this problem. The law punishes rape, including spousal rape, by 25 years in prison. In 2004, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights criticised the overly restrictive definition of rape and the failure to classify domestic violence as a crime.
Female genital mutilation is not practised in Ecuador. There is no evidence to suggest that Ecuador is a country of concern in relation to missing women.
The 1994 Agrarian Development Act promotes training for campesinos and organisation of the production process. It established a market for land and guarantees access to land ownership. In practice, fewer women than men have access to land.
Women have legal access to property other than land but face some restrictions in its administration. Within marriage, joint property is administered by the head of the family. There is a presumption in favour of the husband, who is considered to be the head of the family unless there is an explicit statement to the contrary. In the civil arena, the head of the family must obtain written authorisation from his or her spouse to enter into any contract that binds the couple’s joint property.
Restrictions in access to bank loans pose serious problems for women and agricultural development. According to a national agricultural survey in 2000, the proportion of women producers who had been granted a loan was approximately half that of men producers.
The civil liberties of women in Ecuador are respected. There is no statutory restriction on women’s freedom of movement. There are, however, instances of forced movements of Colombians in Ecuador and Ecuadoreans living close to the Colombian border because of the conflict in Colombia. According to the Commission on the Occupation of Migrant and Refugee Women, women leave their communities “principally because their partners or family have been victims of persecution, because their children have been recruited by force or because they have had to face the death of a close family member”. Ecuadorean women have freedom of dress.
CEDAW (Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women) (2007), Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties Under Article 18 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women: Ecuador, Combined Sixth and Seventh Periodic Reports of States Parties, CEDAW/C/ECU/6-7, CEDAW, New York, NY.
CESCR (Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) (2004), Considerations of Reports Submit¬ted by State Parties Under Articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant, Concluding Observations of the Commit¬tee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, E/C.12/A/Add.100, UN, New York, NY.
Commission sur les occupations des femmes migrantes ou réfugiées (2004), Conclusions de la commis¬sion sur les occupations des femmes migrantes ou réfugiées, 1-3, Simon Bolivar University, Quito.
CRC (Committee on the Rights of the Child) (2005), Consideration of Reports Submitted by State Parties Under Article 44 of the Convention, CRC/C/15/Add.262, CRC, New York, NY.
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development), ILC (International Land Coalition) (2004), Rural Women’s Access to Land and Property in Selected Countries: Progress Towards Achieving the Aims of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, FAO Gender and Population Division, IFAD Technical Advisory Division, and ILC, Rome.
UN (United Nations) (2004), World Fertility Report 2003, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, New York, NY.
US Department of State (2006), Country Reports on Human Rights Practice: Ecuador, US Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Washington, DC.
