The challenge of political education for women and men

Although there has been significant progress in legislation for women’s political participation in Ecuador, there are still many obstacles that need to be removed, including within political organizations.

One of the growing obstacles, especially after the pandemic that led the country to the highest number of gender-based violence, is public and political action, especially towards women in decision-making positions.

female leadership

It is common to see violent messages on social media against women involved in politics. The non-governmental organization Corporación Participación Ciudadana records and reports an extremely high and worrying level of violence on Twitter that devalues ​​the role of female politicians, criticizes their physical appearance, objectifies them, distorts their ethnicity and imposes gender roles. UN Women also exposed violence in internal party processes during the selection of candidacies.

Women’s candidacies

In the past few days, by the decision of the Civil Election Court, it was decided that in these early elections, gender parity in the presidential binomial and in the lists of parliamentarians should be respected, which is why political organizations did what suited them at the last minute. of the law that needs to be done from February 3, 2020, when the reform of the Code of Democracy was approved.

It is not a country for women

Despite the fact that three years have passed, the leader of the traditional party pointed out that it is not easy to find profiles because “women are not interested in political activity because their priority is motherhood.” Even the electoral authority assured that in these early elections there is a “risk of impromptu female candidacies or putting women on the lists”.

Today, the challenge for political parties and movements is to incorporate training and training plans with equality for women and men, so that they are also part of the directives, to have training programs and empowerment of women leaders. The standard exists, but it is still a challenge to make it effective. (OR)