Since 2021, Las Mujeres Caminando Hacia la Igualdad (Women Marching Toward Equality Platform, or PMCHI) has been traveling across Ecuador, working to develop a comprehensive roadmap for a “feminist government.” They’ve now joined forces with the collective Las Sordas Feministas (Deaf Feminists) to advocate for an inclusive healthcare system, particularly for people with disabilities.
WHAT WOULD A FEMINIST GOVERNMENT LOOK LIKE?
For Betty Tola, the national coordinator of the platform, the situation is clear: “Government decisions are leading to a rapid deterioration in the living conditions of women and the Ecuadorian people.” She also states that the government “continues to turn a blind eye when it comes to guaranteeing our rights.”
To address these issues, the platform has developed an agenda centered around five main pillars: bodily autonomy; identities and territories; the economy, work, and the preservation of life. The first pillar emphasizes bodily autonomy “as both an individual and collective process,” meaning that people should have the ability to decide for themselves. At the state level, they demand equal rights, respect for differences, and measures that promote real equality. They advocate for a feminist democracy with political participation carried out under conditions of equality and respect. As for the economy, they propose a deep transformation, “not to grow more, but to live better,” and they call for more inclusive healthcare and education. “Educational programs do not properly integrate a feminist perspective that promotes equality and non-discrimination,” adds Betty Tola.
“A feminist agenda doesn’t necessarily translate as a government led by a woman, but rather a feminist vision in how we think about the country’s future.” — Betty Tola, National Coordinator of the PMCHI.
AN ESSENTIAL INTERSECTIONAL APPROACH
The platform pushes for a caring, inclusive, deliberative, and intercultural society that includes contributions from feminist organizations, activists, and women from all backgrounds: from popular, rural, indigenous, Afro-Ecuadorian, disabled, and LGBTQ+ communities. Their agenda is an instrument “for building a more just and equitable country.” Moving toward these profound transformations requires “combining resistance with proposals, in the perspective of building a living, diverse feminist power rooted in the territory,” according to a press release.
The agenda, which took a year to develop, is inspired by the history of the feminist movement and women in the Andean nation, but it goes beyond just advocating for women’s rights. “It’s a proposal for the country, a proposal for Ecuadorian society, thinking of Ecuadorians as a whole,” explains Betty Tola.
PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY AT THE CORE OF THE PROCESS
The two collectives are working to build a strong feminist network to communicate their demands to local government bodies. This is an alternative proposal, built on local experiences, in response to what the two associations view as the “dismantling of the state” and to address the “political and representation crisis.” It’s also a response to the growing violence “resulting from state neglect and omission,” a point Betty Tola particularly emphasizes.
Their goal is to bring about “a state and society that recognizes and guarantees women’s sovereignty over their bodies, as the first territory of defense and assertion.” The two associations propose going beyond political representation to build a feminist power that, in conjunction with other social processes, will bring the necessary transformations to create a democracy that guarantees the rights of people and nature.