Construcciones de género a través de las leyes en la actualidad ecuatoriana: el caso de las Reformas al Código Orgánico Integral Penal

Abstract

This paper examines some of the amendments of the Criminal Code (Código Orgánico Integral Penal) related to gender issues that have been presented recently to the Ecuadorian legislature for enactment. The key objective is to enquire how gender is being conceived by the Ecuadorian state through the law. What I describe in here is a product of an investigation made in FLACSO-Ecuador in 2012, to obtain the Master in Gender and Development degree. Contradiction is what sometimes describes the practice in the Ecuadorian legislative discourse. The official discourse emphasizes women rights and gender equality. In a contradictive way the legislative assembly takes little to no action to approve the bills related to women and gender. Also, the language used in these bills and by lawmakers is sometimes reinforcing sexual stereotypes.