I was working : women smugglers on Ecuador’s borders

Date

2019

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Abstract

The article views masculine national security discourses and practices as gendered, racialized policing and discriminatory of women’s informal work in Ecuador’s border zones. Smuggling has become an alternative to the lack of job opportunities in the border region. Drawing on Black feminism’s idea of intersectionality, matrix of domination and feminist critiques of national security, the concept of “feminist critical human security” is advanced. Women smugglers are characterized as criminals by the discourse of border security authorities. The study argues that women’s involvement reflects a myriad of other human security features based on intersectional inequalities limiting women’s access to paid work.

Description

Keywords

WOMEN’S EMPLOYMENT, UNDEREMPLOYMENT, INTERSECTIONALITY, POLICING, HUMAN SECURITY, FEMINISM, SMUGGLING, UNPAID LABOUR, BORDER TRAFFIC, NATIONAL SECURITY, GENDER DISCRIMINATION, ECUADOR, SOUTH AMERICA

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