The empowerment of Indigenous women in Ecuador – A legal and political analysis of their rights to land and to food

The present thesis aims at finding strategies for the empowerment of Ecuadorian Indigenous women in the battle against intersectional discrimination through the promotion and protection of their rights to land and to food. This objective is reached by analysing the state of the art of the recognition and enjoyment of these rights, starting from the international and regional level to the national context. In Ecuador, Indigenous women’s gardens represent not only a source of food diversity, but also a tool for agency, building community, imparting traditional knowledge, voicing cultural identity, empowering women, and protecting the environment. Despite their fundamental role within their communities and society, Ecuadorian Indigenous women are marginalized as stakeholders in political and economic dynamics affecting Indigenous land for the recognition of collective land titles and the protection of natural resources because of the colonial legacy of sexism and racism fuelled by extractivism. As their right to food is entwined with land rights, the lack of access to their traditional territories and their resources exposes them to precarious living conditions with regards to food and basic services access. Additionally, due to intertwined power structures based on race, gender, and social class, they struggle with domestic violence, machismo, unpaid labour, rape, illiteracy, low levels of school enrolment, and higher infant and maternal mortality rates. Using secondary sources together with interviews and personal direct experience, this study argues that – despite many initiatives that have been put in place by CSOs, international actors and the Ecuadorian government – many challenges are still pending. It sustains that it is possible to empower Indigenous women in Ecuador by protecting and promoting their rights to land and to food through the adoption of an integrated approach to economic, environmental, and social development within a human rights legal and political framework.