FINAL CONCLUSIONS

Machismo and gender violence against women have an impact on the living conditions of migrant women, who, according to the survey conducted with Caritas, reported having been victims of machista and misogynist comments. In addition, only 37% of them received support from humanitarian assistance groups (NGO, Foundation, Cooperation) and from other migrants. As for sexual advances in exchange for transportation, housing, food, and shelter, these were reported equally by women and men. While it is true that the vulnerability to which men, women, and gender diversities are exposed in their journeys is determined by their migratory status, women face greater risks and threats such as macho and misogynist treatment and comments.

In terms of working conditions, it was found that on average male employment is higher than female employment, and women who work earn on average less income than men. In the country at the national level in January 2022, the average labor income of a man with a job was $402.5, while for a woman with a job it was $343.6 monthly (INEC, 2022). While the average monthly income of the female population in a situation of human mobility is $171.5 and the male population $202. In other words, the average income of people in a situation of human mobility is half of what Ecuadorians earn, which further deepens the reality and precariousness of migrant and refugee women.

The wage gap is perceived as an expression of structural gender violence since it is a problem that does not occur only in a single city or at the country level. However, direct violence also occurs in the workplace, which has different expressions and experiences for men and women. Men who have been assaulted in the workplace are mainly assaulted within the workplace by their bosses, which is explained by the social tendency to naturalize or use violence as a way of dealing with conflict. While women have been assaulted more frequently in other workspaces in a private manner, a situation linked to the intimate condition that is socially given to violence against women in relational dynamics, including at work.

Given the work conditions of people in a situation of human mobility, which is developed mainly in public spaces through street vending and informal commerce, it became evident that social violence

PASTORAL 45

OF THE

GENDER ANALYSIS

46 PASTORAL

PROVIDED BY ACCOMPANIMENT SOCIAL CÁRITAS ECUADOR IN HUMAN MOBILITY

is recurrent. In most cities, it was observed that women are more often assaulted than men in public spaces by strangers. While men who have been assaulted in public spaces, their aggressors have been acquaintances, neighbors, or armed forces personnel. In the same way, it was recognized that women are the ones who receive more sexual comments about their bodies and are also more exposed to sexual advances in exchange for work favors or as a condition for employment.

In the same sense, there was evidence of perceptions that justify domestic violence, which is anchored to the social expectations of compliance, submission, care of the home, and child-rearing attributed to women. A logic of ownership is reproduced with partners, which leads to anger or conflicts driven by jealousy. Men find it justifiable to mistreat their partners because of poor management of household resources, since they sense the presence of mechanisms of economic and emotional dependence, which continues to be a warning sign in the configuration of sentimental relationships, especially in a population in human mobility where their networks are often fragile, and the partners become a relevant actor at the time of their relationship and continuity of the migratory project.

In terms of the support provided by public institutions, the management and presence of these institutions are inefficient. Most complaints of any type of violence are poorly handled by the justice and rights protection services. It is common for aggressions to be seen as insignificant or inappropriate. For this reason, in many cases, migrants and refugees prefer not to report and sometimes do not tell anyone because they are ashamed of the acts of violence they have experienced. In addition, there is still a lack of knowledge about the justice system and the protection of rights.

The regulations on gender and human mobility in Ecuador are framed within the framework of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; therefore, the texts refer to all persons, seeking nondiscrimination and respect for the freedoms of each person. However, it is recognized that there is a need to deepen the approach to the gender perspective in the regulations on human mobility, as well as in the mechanisms of action, mainly in the human mobility roundtables. In addition, the Comprehensive Protection Systems were identified as mechanisms for action that carry out important work with people, mainly in vulnerable situations, to respond to their needs and propose actions from an inter-institutional and multilevel approach

In terms of the cities, it was identified that the city of Quito presents greater robustness in human mobility as well as the regulations regarding gender issues, but it can still be strengthened, especially at the level of action and budget allocation. In Quito, there is an ordinance developed in 2019 that ensures the incorporation of the gender approach in policies, plans, programs, and projects aimed at the entire population of the Metropolitan District of Quito, in this sense, the Municipal Code of the Metropolitan District of Quito refers to the incorporation of the gender approach within all strategies of the municipality.

The regulations on human mobility and the spaces that have been generated for this issue are framed in the Municipal Code of the Metropolitan District of Quito, therefore, it was identified that gender issues are addressed in a general manner and do not delve into any particular problem. There is no space where the actions to specifically address gender issues within the thematic of human mobility in the city are detailed, which continues to be a limitation to consider gender and human mobility as two different issues that require separate efforts.

In the city of Cuenca, although the regulations on human mobility have not been updated since 2010, there is a permanent Special Commission working on vulnerable groups and human mobility, with the participation of representatives of organizations working on gender issues. Unlike other cities, the Commission specializes in working with groups of children, adolescents, and women. In Cuenca, the Casa del Migrante (Migrant’s House) provides specialized care for the population in a situation of human mobility, as well as the Casa Violeta (Violet House) for women victims of violence, including women in a situation of human mobility.

In the city of Ibarra, a provincial articulation on human mobility issues is recognized, as the cantonal ordinance is derived from the Provincial Human Mobility Plan. It is also recognized that the regulations are very recent and therefore respond to the current context of human mobility, but the extent to which the regulations are implemented in practice remains to be seen. Within the provincial and municipal ordinance for the promotion and protection of the rights of people in human mobility and their families, a section on the gender approach in the care of people in a situation of human mobility is incorporated verbatim. It is expected that in the following months it will be possible to make visible the level at which the regulations generated in practice are incorporated

Finally, in Lago Agrio, a greater regulatory weakness was identified, mainly in human mobility, so it is assumed that actions are directly in line with national regulations but put local institutions at risk and depend largely on the actions of organizations from other sectors to provide adequate attention to the migrant population. In this sense, it is understood that there is no mainstreaming of gender issues in the regulations on human mobility. It is necessary to work on the development of regulations adapted to the context of human mobility in the city and to include gender issues in this construction.

It is necessary that organizations and civil society continue to encourage processes that include in a transversal and practical manner the gender approach in the management and attention to the human mobility population. As evidenced in the information survey conducted with Caritas, the problems that migrants and refugees continue to face are still complex and are rooted in existing structures of violence and exploitation systems that have seen in this population an object that can be discarded and discardable at any time, women and people of gender diversity continue to be the most vulnerable groups to these practices, which continue to imply challenges to provide differentiated attention to this population.

PASTORAL 47

OF THE

GENDER ANALYSIS