Documentary about sexual violence, teenage pregnancy and clandestine abortion in Ecuador
The Department of International Relations and the School of Communication screened the documentary "Women decide" and organized a subsequent dialogue with its director, the Spanish doctor and documentarian Xiana Yago.
The event took place on June 12 through the YouTube and Zoom platforms.
The director allowed the Campus to reproduce an interview that was carried out in Spain about the documentary and her dual role as director and doctor.
There she comments that the idea of "Women decide" was born in 2007 while she was doing her last years of medical practice in Ecuador when she was shocked by the reality of teenage pregnancy, sexual abuse and clandestine abortion in our country.
“There were quite a few people at the local level who were very helpful in all phases of the film. When I explained to them that I wanted to talk about clandestine abortion and intra-family sexual abuse, many people agreed that it was good to make a film that was about that; I thought I was going to find more resistance and it wasn't like that ”.
"Women Decide" has received recognition at festivals such as Roma Cinema Doc, Festival des Libertés in Brussels and Bangkok Thai International Film Festival.
The documentary, made in 2017, indicates that 98% of sexual abuse in the country occurs in the family circle; that out of every 10 rape victims, 6 correspond to girls, boys and adolescents, and that in the country some 125.000 women clandestinely abort each year.
“In Ecuador, harassment against women is very generalized, it is a constant violence that women endure since they are children and that I also had to endure for living there. But in contrast to that, many women react and unite by creating very solid bonds against such strong violence and that is a unique experience, they are networks of mutual care and almost survival ”, concludes the documentary maker.
