Sexismo En Guayaquil

Juan Diego Del Pozo Maruri

Sexism in Guayaquil.

In today's society there are different types of abuse. Generally when talking about the abuse we immediately think of physical attacks that could range from verbal abuse to physical. But this article will be focusing more on the abuse of women, or also called, sexism. Do you know the severity of sexism in Guayaquil? Sexism is a major problem in Guayaquil society. Every year percentage of domestic violence and sexual abuse of women rise, and the government doesn’t give the support it should, and with a well structured campaign, an improvement of social services, and stricter laws and punishments, this should be fixed.

According to the newspaper HOY, during the nine months of this year, the Commission for Women and Family, in Guayaquil, has receipted a 35% increase of reported domestic violence over the same period of 2010. From January to September 2011, the police reported 13,693 complaints.

To Beatriz Bordes, director of the Fundation María Guare, the statistics are alarming and indicate that domestic violence crimes are increasing due to the lack of policies and programs that provide social and psychological assistance to those affected.

The mayor Juan Carlos Rosas, head of the Department of Family Violence of Guayas Police, said the most extreme cases of abuse against women and ending in murder, now established as femicide, are the result of not reporting on time to the aggressor. "Many women victims of violence within the home do not report, or if they do, then give up for fear," said the officer. This specialized unit of the Police investigate an average of 1 000 reports of domestic violence per month in Guayas. Complaints are forwarded from the four Commission’s of Women and Family in the province. Rosas suggests that, of all complaints, 60% were physical abuse within the home. Among the complaints, many are of sexual abuse. Of these, those involving sexual abuse of children and adolescents are the most concern to the authorities.

There shall be no abuse of men and women and promote gender equality are the main objectives of the “Maltrato Cero” campaign, launched by the Municipality of Guayaquil, which began on Monday March 8, 2010 on Women's Day ."The campaign is a partnership with the Ibero-American Youth and the Ibero-American General Secretariat with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain to trigger this issue in Latin America," explained Councilwoman Cristina Reyes. The main objective will be the young, which are scheduled for talks at colleges and universities, at the start of the new school year. It also signed an agreement with the “Super Jovenes” Group, to help train and educate especially adolescents on the need outlined in the campaign slogan: "My partner will never be more or less than I, are equal."

At the moment there is no specific legislation against sexism, and the few that exist are not enforced. A clear example is evident in what the law requires, where for 15 years states: "It will create offices for women" but is that about 222 cantons in Ecuador, these stations are just in 35 cities and along them only six shelters.

"There is a convergence of political objectives with what is in the laws." said Cecilia Calderon ,former MP and former president of the Tax Commission, Banking and Budget of the National Congress, for the newspaper El Mercurio, the reason is because, according to former legislator, at the moment to build upon the development plan and establish a budget, it does not have the resources to implement them. Cecilia Calderon also stressed the need for equitable budgets for preventing violence against women in the international

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