Historical and sociological evolution of women in the navy

Abstract

This article analyzes how women have been incorporated into the Ecuadorian Navy and what implications this has from a legal standpoint. For a long time, the Armed Forces were conceived as almost exclusively male spaces, which influenced the way functions were distributed and leadership was understood. With the entry of women as Armed Forces Officers in 2004, that logic began to change, but not by chance, rather within a national context where equality was already recognized as a constitutional principle. The work was based on a review of documents, without manipulation of variables or application of statistical instruments. Regulations, specialized doctrine, and international commitments assumed by the Ecuadorian State were reviewed. The analysis shows that the legal system does not prevent women from entering the naval career based on gender, since the requirements are based on ability and aptitude. In this sense, the presence of women in the Navy is not a circumstantial concession, but rather the progressive development of constitutional obligations related to equality.

Keywords

Women, Equality, Armed Forces, Naval Career, Constitution

References

1. Asamblea Nacional del Ecuador. (2018). Ley Orgánica de Defensa Nacional. Registro Oficial Suplemento No. 153, 4 de diciembre 2018. www.defensa.gob.ec
2. Balaguera, M., & Yate, A. (2022). Liderazgo femenino en las Fuerzas Militares. Escuela Militar de Cadetes. https://librosesmic.com/index.php/editorial/catalog/view/93/90/2320
3. Carreiras, H. (2006). Gender and the Military. Women in the Armed Forces of Western Democracies. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203969038
4. Chacón, R. (2020). Avances de género en las Fuerazas Armadas Ecuatorianas: 20 años. Comando Conjunto de las Fuerzas Armadas del Ecuador. https://cehist.mil.ec/images/2019/libros3/AG.pdf
5. Gutiérrez, O. (2002). Sociología Militar: La profesión militar en la sociedad democrática. Editorial Universitaria. https://www.buscalibre.ec/libro-sociologia-militar-la-profesion-militar-en-la-sociedad-democratica/30546363/p/30546363?srsltid=AfmBOooME1NjUA0bJBNGBI4ijbf7-zCvEEq3OMGr8I16yOJMLXHYIQh0
6. Hernández-Sampieri, R., Mendoza, C., & Torres, P. (2023). Metodología de la investigación: Enfoques cuantitativo, cualitativo y mixto (8.ª ed.). McGraw-Hill.
7. Iturralde, M. d. (2015). La mujer ecuatoriana en las Fuerzas Armadas: un espejo de la sociedad. El Outsider, 1(3), 30-36.
8. Janowitz, M. (1974). Sociology and the military establishment (3rd ed.). Beverly Hills: Sage.
9. Núñez, G. (2016). Los estudios de género de los hombres y las masculinidades: ¿qué son y qué estudian? Culturales. Época II, 4(1), 9-31. https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1870-11912016000100009
10. Organización de las Naciones Unidas. (1979). Convención sobre la eliminación de todas las formas de discriminación contra la mujer (CEDAW). https://lac.unwomen.org/es/digital-library/publications/2024/08/convencion-sobre-la-eliminacion-de-todas-las-formas-de-discriminacion-contra-la-mujer-comite-para-la-eliminacion-de-la-discriminacion-contra-la-mujer-panama
11. Viceministerio de Cultura y Patrimonio. (4 de junio de 2024). De Matilde Hidalgo de Procel a nuestros días: 100 años del voto femenino en Ecuador. https://www.culturaypatrimonio.gob.ec/de-matilde-hidalgo-de-procel-a-nuestros-dias-100-anos-del-voto-femenino-en-ecuador/

How to Cite

Download Citation

• Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)
• BibTeX

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.