1 FEMINIST CRITICAL HUMAN SECURITY: WOMEN’S (IN) SECURITY AND SMUGGLING ON ECUADOR'S BORDERS by Claudia Donoso A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Interdisciplinary Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan Campus) November 2016 © Claudia Donoso, 2016 ii Examination Committee The undersigned certify that they have read, and recommend to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a thesis entitled: FEMINIST CRITICAL HUMAN SECURITY: WOMEN’S (IN) SECURITY AND SMUGGLING ON ECUADOR'S BORDERS _____________________________________________________________________________ submitted by Claudia Donoso in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY. Dr. James Rochlin, Department of Political Science. Supervisor, Professor (please print name and faculty/school above the line) Dr. Patricia Tomic, Department of Sociology. Supervisory Committee Member, Professor (please print name and faculty/school in the line above) Dr. Ricardo Trumper, Department of Sociology. Supervisory Committee Member, Professor (please print name and faculty/school in the line above) Dr. Susan Frohlick, Department of Community, Culture and Global Studies. University Examiner, Professor (please print name and faculty/school in the line above) Dr. Pablo Andrade, Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, Ecuador. External Examiner, Professor (please print name and university in the line above) November, 2016 (Date Submitted to Grad Studies) iii Abstract The study addresses the following central research question: What comprises the web of power relations that have led to women’s insecurity in Ecuador’s border provinces, El Oro, Carchi and Sucumbíos? A web of power relationships in those provinces has perpetuated intersectional inequalities that lead women to become smugglers. This web is supported by systems of oppression based on gender, class, race and geographical location that foster unequal access to education, paid work, health services and domestic violence, thereby aggravating women’s insecurity. Customs control, police and military subsumed under national and border security aggravate women’s security conditions. To complement this militarized response, the government of Rafael Correa launched Plan Ecuador and the Sovereign Energy Plan in 2007 and the Comprehensive Security Plan in 2011. These plans sought to confront the involvement of Ecuadorians in activities considered illegal by the security forces. While Plan Ecuador and the Integral Security Plan incorporated a multidimensional approach and a human security discourse to complement national security, they did not recognize the diversity of women's experiences of insecurity and roles at border provinces. To address this empirical case, this dissertation advances the concept of “feminist critical human security” to examine women’s security in Ecuador’s border zones, specifically in El Oro, Sucumbíos and Carchi provinces. Drawing on Black feminism’s idea of intersectionality and matrix of domination and on feminist critiques of national security, this research establishes women smugglers as referents of security rather than as criminals, as the border security discourse views them. By using a feminist critical human security lens that take into account the intersections of gender, race, class and geographical location and that includes the voices of women and their conceptions of local development and security, this research will iv enhance the ability of governments to improve their planning and policies related to increasing the security of women in border zones. v Preface This dissertation is an original intellectual product of the author, Claudia Donoso. The fieldwork reported herein was covered by UBC Okanagan Behavioural Ethics Board and UBC Ethics Certificate number H12-02980. The results of the fieldwork were presented at the Canadian Association for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CALACS) 2014 conference in Quebec City on May 16-18, 2014, at the Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID) 2015 conference in Ottawa on June 3-5, 2015, and at the CALACS 2016 conference at the University of Calgary on June 3, 2016. vi Table of Contents Examination Committee .............................................................................................................. ii Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ iii Preface ........................................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ ix List of Maps ................................................................................................................................... x Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... xi Dedication .................................................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1. Conceptual framework and methodology ............................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Conceptual framework.............................................................................................................. 5 1.2.1 National Security ............................................................................................................ 8 1.2.2 Human Security and Critical Human Security ............................................................. 12 1.2.3 Feminist’s critiques of national security ...................................................................... 22 1.2.4 Intersectionality and women’s insecurity ..................................................................... 28 1.2.5 Feminist critical human security .................................................................................. 36 1.2.6 Border ........................................................................................................................... 43 1.2.7 Power ............................................................................................................................ 49 1.2.7.1 Power as domination ................................................................................................. 50 1.2.7.2 Power as empowerment............................................................................................. 54 1.2.7.3 Feminist critical human security’s conception of power ........................................... 58 1.2.8 Summary of the theoretical approach ........................................................................... 61 1.3 Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 63 1.3.1 Methods ........................................................................................................................ 64 1.3.2 Quantitative and Qualitative Data ................................................................................ 70 1.3.3 Successes and problems encountered in data collection activities ............................... 71 Chapter 2. Ecuadorian Policy on Security ............................................................................... 75 2.1 National Security as viewed by the Ecuadorian state ......................................................... 75 2.1.1 The State under Rafael Correa and Methods of Security Control ................................ 90 2.1.2 New threats to Ecuador’s border security under Rafael Correa ................................... 99 2.1.3 Smuggling of fuels and propane cylinders on Ecuador’s northern and southern borders ............................................................................................................................................. 103 vii 2.2 Human Security: a new paradigm in Ecuadorian security policy? ................................... 115 2.2.1 Human Security as a complement to National Security Initiatives on Ecuador’s Borders ................................................................................................................................ 115 2.2.2 Lack of continuity within public policy and permanent shifts in security priorities .. 120 2.3 Summary of the Chapter ................................................................................................... 127 Chapter 3. Women’s Insecurity and National Security ........................................................ 128 3.1 National Security and Women Smugglers in Ecuador’s Borders Areas .......................... 128 3.2 Women’s Insecurity in Ecuador: Intersectional Inequalities ............................................ 143 3.2.1 Violence against Women............................................................................................ 149 3.2.2 Education and Women’s Security .............................................................................. 151 3.2.3 Labor Market and Women’s