Ecuador: one in six women have suffered physical, sexual, psychological violence

huffingtonpost.com reported in Ecuador, roughly one in six women have experienced physical, sexual or psychological violence. To put it another way, 3 million Ecuadorians have counted themselves a victim of gender-based violence in their lifetime. According to the same Pan American Health Organization research, 38 percent of women in Ecuador have been physically abused, 26 percent sexually abused, and 17 percent have been victims of patrimonial violence. These statistics, however bleak, are still merely numbers. Numbers that look eerily similar to statistics across the globe.

In 2011, a campaign by UN Women attempted to transform black-and-white stats like the ones above into robust, personal stories by calling for women to submit real testimonies about their experience with violence. In just three months, the project, dubbed Cartas de Mujeres, collected a total of more than 10,000 letters from women across the country. Nearly half of those letters detailed instances of family and domestic violence. In response, the city of Quito decided to criminalize the sexual harassment of women in public places. Read Article

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