Ecuador: More than half of violent crimes are acts of gender violence

globalvoices.org /In Ecuador today, more than half of all violent crimes committed nationally are acts of gender violence. According to the government, there were 80 femicides recorded in 2016. In the first four days of 2017, police recorded one femicide every 32 hours.

The activists say they want to “break the silence.” According to the 2011 National Survey of Familial Relations and Gender Violence, six out of every ten women in Ecuador have been victim of some kind of abuse.

This January, the initiative “No callamos más” (“Silent No More”) started gaining momentum. The campaign is an effort to get women talking about the harassment, abuse, and mistreatment they’ve experienced firsthand.

In an interview with Global Voices, the project’s co-creators, Verónica Vera and Francisca Frisone, explained how they were inspired by other movements in Latin America, such as the hashtag #MiPrimerAcoso – a campaign which started in Mexico but soon spread throughout the region – that helped draw attention on social media to the abuse of women. Read Article

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