Exporting Gender Injustice: The Impact of the U.S. War on Drugs on Ecuadorian Women

Abstract

Numerous researchers have documented the gendered impact of the United States' domestic war against drugs. Women incarcerated for non-violent drug offenses are the fastest growing segment of America's prison population because of the harsh penalties for using, selling and transporting illegal substances. The impact of U.S. drug policy on women in other countries, in contrast, has been overlooked. This paper argues that the greatly increased imprisonment of women in Ecuador for drug-related offenses is collateral damage of the U.S. war on drugs. The impact of the expansion of women's imprisonment in Ecuador appears to be particularly damaging to the inmate's children who frequently join their mother in prison. U.S. policy should not be exported to other countries before having a clear picture of the unintended negative consequences.

Women, trauma and substance abuse: Understanding the experiences of female survivors of childhood abuse in alcohol and drug treatment

“…However, the accumulation of psychological trauma and the complex life circumstances that contribute to AOD abuse among women are overlooked by a neoliberal vocabulary of individual choice, autonomy and rationality, and hence women with AOD problems are increasingly finding themselves in the criminal justice system. The punitive response to AOD abuse among women has resulted in the mass incarceration of vulnerable and victimised women around the world (Mauer, Potler, & Wolf, ; Norton‐Hawk, ; Parker, Kilroy, & Hirst, ).…”

Introduction

“…on Drugs" (Ariza & Iturralde, 2015;Diaz-Cotto, 2005;Norton-Hawk, 2010;Nuñovero, 2010;Reynolds, 2008), which I discuss in Chapter 2. As such, there is a high percentage of women imprisoned for drug-related crimes.…”

Coloniality of Power and Coloniality of Knowledge: Prisons in Peru as Post-colonial and Patriarchal Institutions

“…Based on bilateral agreements between the USA and Latin American governments, legislation based around "zero tolerance" of drugs has been enacted and enforced to highlight the role which Latin American countries play in the production, processing, trafficking and consumption of illicit drugs. While such policies place all the responsibility on Latin America, the demand for drugs in Western countries is disguised, as well as obfuscating the role American government agencies, law enforcement officers and private corporations play in the furtherance of the drug industry (Diaz-Cotto, 2005;Norton-Hawk, 2010). The policies implemented in Latin America use absolute repression as a strategy to fight drugs, and it is through neoliberal policies fuelled by globalisation that the USA is pressuring countries to criminalise drugs and build up prisons and advising that the evidence to support its efficiency is the rise in the number of people incarcerated for drug-trafficking.…”

“…In addition, the majority of women engaged in drug-trafficking organisations play roles only in the lower positions of such criminal networks (e.g., engage in the transit and distribution of the drugs) and thus face a higher likelihood of arrest (Boutron & Constant, 2013;Fleetwood, 2014;Giacomello, 2013Giacomello, , 2016Giacomello, , 2017. As scholarship has demonstrated, the mass incarceration of women or people positioned at the bottom of drug-trafficking chains does not necessarily have an impact on the production, distribution or sale of drugs considered illegal (Ariza & Iturralde, 2015;Giacomello, 2013Giacomello, , 2016Norton-Hawk, 2010;Nuñovero, 2010). Conflict .…”