In 1929, Ecuador became the first Latin American country to grant literate women the right to vote. The right was adopted during the presidency of Isidro Ayora and was done as a buffer against “a growing socialist threat in society,” as described by Marc Becker in his 1999 thesis. The change in suffrage rights was seen less as a victory for women’s empowerment in Ecuador and more as a move to keep the growing feminist movement and the Communist Party in check.

According to Becker, equality wasn’t a reality for these women since a patriarchal society still governed them. In addition, Spanish colonization during the 16th century had brought with it Catholic faith and spread the concept of marianismo, pure and virginal women. According to Evelyn Stevens and Tracy Ehlers, women were expected to accept the fate that was handed to them, that of being solely mothers and wives. This mentality still prevails today and entails the sacrifice of the women’s wants, desires and dreams for those of their family, predominately the men’s.

On April 16, 2016, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Ecuador, affecting 720,000 people. The earthquake left the country in ruins but that wasn’t all it did: it created a call for action, especially for women. Many Ecuadorean women felt that it was their duty to assist in rebuilding after the earthquake. A 35-year old woman named Veronica Lucas Melo stepped up, accompanied by three other women in her community. These women were determined to show their families and the community itself that women are capable of reconstructing their country.

She recalls the reaction her family had: “They said that I was going to do nothing useful there, just bother everyone. They asked me, ‘what are you supposed to do in a place that’s for men?’” As a mother of three children and a housewife who had never worked outside of her home, her main motivation was to set an example for her children. Another predominant purpose was the fact that the earthquake had damaged the farming ground on which her family relied so heavily. By going out to aid in the reconstruction of her country, she was advocating and bringing much-needed awareness to women’s empowerment in Ecuador.

A joint U.N. program called “Cash for Work” was seeking to reactivate the local economy, and had already trained and certified 48 people from earthquake-affected communities by that time. When the program was completed, participants were registered in an employment database of local people available for rebuilding. Melo heard about this opportunity and felt that it was exactly what she needed to learn new life skills and generate income to provide for her children.

Training in stone and construction work was conducted in Las Giles and Manta with support from the Ecuadorian Ministry of Justice. One the first day Melo showed the women involved in this program that women’s empowerment in Ecuador doesn’t have to be scary. She did this by picking up her tool to strike down a broken wall and the other women cheered her on and joined in. The actions that Melo took were huge and it became a movement for the mutual collaboration between men and women to rebuild Ecuador. “Men began to take us seriously. They didn’t see us as weak anymore and worked with us as a team,” she said.

According to U.N. Women Ecuador representative Moni Pizani, the post-earthquake recovery time presented “a unique opportunity to lay the foundations” for autonomy and women’s empowerment in Ecuador. “It’s a chance to dismantle gender stereotypes and build more equal societies,” she said.

In May 2016, U.N. Women in Ecuador organized a training workshop called, “Tools For My Personal and Business Development,” in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice. It provided entrepreneurship skills to 80 women from the nearby Calceta and Rocafuerte communities.

In these training sessions, the women were taught a range of topics for setting up and operating their own businesses. According to the Huffington Post, after three days of training, many women “already had a vision of the businesses they would establish.” U.N. Women has also come out in support of women’s participation in shelters, police and security training as a way to prevent and address gender-based violence. Women’s empowerment in Ecuador can prevent violence and ensure a better future for the country as a whole.

– Nicole Suárez

Photo: Flickr

Bulgaria, a country located in southeast Europe, has a population of 7.2 million and is comprised of 51.3 percent of women. Women’s empowerment in Bulgaria has made significant progress in the past decade.

The status of women varies from country to country and is often determined by a combination of factors such as the local cultures and ideologies. In Bulgaria, women are extended several rights that are enjoyed by men, such as the rights to vote, own property, receive an education and have equal opportunities to seek employment. Despite this, Bulgarian women have slightly lower literacy rates, are often employed in lower-paying jobs and occupy fewer leadership roles than men in society. These are issues that must be addressed in order to achieve women’s empowerment in Bulgaria.

In 2015, Bulgaria ranked 45th out of 144 countries on the Gender Inequality Index. As of 2017, Bulgaria is one of the top 20 countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia on the Global Gender Gap Index, having closed 76 percent of its overall gender gap. Nevertheless, promoting the gender equality of Bulgarian women still demands further work within its patriarchal society.

Women in Bulgaria were initially granted limited suffrage in 1919. The country continued to show its dedication to gender equality by adopting various international treaties. It ratified the Convention on the Political Rights of Women in 1954, the Convention Against Discrimination in Education in 1962, and the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1982. While the Constitution of Bulgaria recognizes the principles of equal rights and non-discrimination, gender equality is not specifically regulated.

Education is a crucial metric for determining the gender equality of a nation. Annual statistics between 2012 and 2014 indicate that in Bulgaria 48.3 percent of students in primary education were female. While women are more likely to attain a higher education than men in Bulgaria, which was reflected by 54.3 percent of women in tertiary education, this figure did decrease between 2013 and 2014.

Women’s empowerment in Bulgaria also highly relies on their employment status. As indicated by a 2013 country profile, the employment rates of men and women were 61.3 percent and 56.3 percent, respectively. At the time, only 24.6 percent of Parliament was made up of women representatives, though this was considered a symbolic win for equal rights. Bulgaria has the highest proportion of women software engineers in Europe, consisting of 27.7 percent of women in technology.

The gender pay gap of Bulgaria is 13 percent: though lower than the EU-27 average, women still earn 13 percent less than their male counterparts.

Unfortunately, women face a difficult path to attaining gender equality within the family unit and marriage, due to its traditional society. Women are likely to spend more time caring for their family, doing housework and looking after children than men are. Despite certain family laws enshrining equal rights and obligations between spouses in matrimony, conventional norms of the Balkan culture are still prevalent in some families, leading to women being treated as subordinate to men. Some regions in Bulgaria, such as the old Zagora district, still retain traditions of buying and selling brides.

To address this, Bulgaria started to execute a project against domestic violence in 2001. It also adopted the Program on Prevention and Protection of Domestic Violence, which provides a 24-hour hotline for victims.

Bulgaria plans to achieve gender equality in the next 15 years in order to fully realize women’s empowerment. It plans to implement a new specialized law related to gender equality and ensure that all the related policies are mainstreamed with a gender perspective. In doing so, the government has agreed to eliminate the gender wage gap as well as discrimination and violence against women.

Despite these few challenges, substantial progress is being made for women’s empowerment in Bulgaria. With continued efforts, equal rights will be extended in all aspects of society, including civil, political, educational, economic and social domains.

– Xin Gao

Photo: Flickr

Achieving gender equality is a common challenge for developing nations. This is certainly the case in Papua New Guinea, where a majority of women and girls are victims of violence. Authorities in Papua New Guinea have historically turned a blind eye to violence against women. However, countless organizations are working to make women’s empowerment in Papua New Guinea a reality.

In 2013, Papua New Guinea passed the Family Protection Act to protect women and children against domestic violence. Unfortunately, the parameters of the act are rarely upheld due to a largely corrupt police force. Authorities often charge illegitimate fees before acting, which most women cannot afford. Corruption makes women’s rights difficult to protect at the government level, so aid organizations and NGOs have had to step in.

The U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) has many goals, including bettering the treatment of women and children in the developing world. Government involvement by women is discouraged in Papua New Guinea, but since the UNDP’s intervention, three women have been elected to Papua New Guinea’s parliament. Twenty women have been elected to serve in local government positions, finally giving women a political voice.

Forty percent of men in Papua New Guinea are employed in the formal sector versus only 24 percent of women. These few employed women earn only half the salary that men make. Since 2015, U.N. Women has sought economic justice for women in Papua New Guinea by improving local markets via the Safe City Program. Eighty percent of market vendors in Papua New Guinea are women, and 55 percent of these women have experienced sexual violence and other forms of exploitation, such as robbery.

By creating a vendors’ association and a mobile bill-paying system, the Safe City Program is making markets safer for women. Dark public toilets were once areas of rampant sexual violence, but the Safe City Program has remodeled outdoor markets to be more organized and have better lighting in order to discourage violence. In new, safer markets, women have the opportunity to pursue economic empowerment.

Papua New Guinean women created and run Meri Toksave, an organization seeking gender equality in their country. Meri Toksave means “information for women” in Tok Pisin, the language spoken throughout Papua New Guinea. The goal of this group is just that: provide women with the knowledge to achieve women’s empowerment in Papua New Guinea. In 2014, Meri Toksave created the “Directory of Emergency Services for Those Affected by Family and Sexual Violence,” which was distributed across the entire country.

While nationwide discrimination often stifles the fight for women’s rights, gender equality in Papua New Guinea is possible and necessary. Through the efforts of local women and with the help of aid organizations, women’s empowerment in Papua New Guinea is taking shape. Women are serving in government positions and safely seeking economic betterment in larger numbers than ever before, and hopefully even larger numbers in years to come.

– Mary Efird

Photo: Flickr