Counter-narrative

Nowadays it is shown in the mass media the typical cases of discrimination of the women,

the harm that women received from society, and this is a “Mainstream”,

making the good points of society as its evolution and progress about the women role getting

invisibilized by the mainstream covered by the news. So, with this counter-narrative, we would

like to visibilized the good points and to show that not always it is worst. We want to show

that in Ecuador there are families that break out with the typical women’s role. We are

trying to give alternatives, possibilities, and not saying that the women in Ecuador are

undervalued, because everyone already knows it.

An interesting topic for us was how some people do not share the ideology of the majority of

the society of the country. In Ecuador, women are undervalued and the differences between

gender are very present. As Nahomi’s told us in her interview, her family was against

Ecuador’s tradition. For instance, her mother was studying at University in Ecuador before

they decided to travel to Spain and when they arrived, both of her parents started looking for

a job. None of them stayed completely at home looking after the children of the house.

Instead, they took turns for going to work and carry out their tasks and responsibilities as

parents. We are sure there are more people in Ecuador who do not share this type of ideology. 

On the other half, we found César’s history. He explained how his father was the one who

worked and brought money at home while his mother was in charge of the children and the

house. This situation shows exactly the structure of the majority of the Ecuadorian families,

reproducing gender inequalities.

Another aspect that we want to put in this counter-narrative is the fact if identity is where

someone grows up or where someone is born.

As far as we know for us the difference between nationality and identity (in this case) is that

is where your roots come from, and identity “is the condition or character as to who a person

or what a thing is; the qualities, beliefs, etc., that distinguish or identify a person or thing” (Collins, 2012). 

So after asking César and Nahomi: ‘Where are you from?’. The to of them answered that they

are from Ecuador, without consideration that they can say or feel from here. So, thanks to the

influences that society projects towards the people who migrate, they consider themselves

also not being part of the country where they are living, they still say that they are from the

country where they come from even if they have been living here from a very long time.

To do this counter-narrative more visual and dynamic, we have made this poster.