PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Henry Herrera
Phone: +1-301-801-0608
Email: info@menandboys.net
Men and Boys in Ecuador Are Being Left Behind—And the Data Is Unmistakable
January 9, 2026 – In education, health, safety, and family life, men in Ecuador face major disadvantages that remain largely overlooked, despite clear evidence demanding public recognition and policy attention.
Education:
Recent data reveal a sustained gender gap in higher education. Gross tertiary enrollment stands at 60% for men compared to 76.1% for women (1), with a female-to-male student ratio of 1.20 (2). Across Universities and Polytechnic Schools (UEP) and Higher Technical and Technological Institutes (ISTT), women represent 56% of students while men account for just 44% (3).
Health:
Health outcomes show a pronounced disparity. In 2025, life expectancy for men is 75.1 years, compared to 80.5 years for women (4). Adult mortality rates further reflect this imbalance, with 140.9 deaths per 1,000 adult men versus 81.4 per 1,000 adult women (5).
Child Labor:
Boys face greater exposure to child labor. Among children ages 5–14, 7.1% of boys are engaged in work compared to 6.1% of girls. In hazardous work among adolescents ages 15–17, 1.3% are boys versus 0.7% girls, placing a disproportionate burden of occupational risk on male children and adolescents (6).
Homicide:
Lethal violence overwhelmingly affects men. The homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants is 84.51 for men, compared to 6.66 for women (7).
Suicide:
Suicide mortality also shows a stark gender divide. The suicide rate is 12.4 per 100,000 among men, compared to 2.6 among women (8).
Child Custody:
INEC data from 2018 show that approximately 9,055 custody awards involving children under 14 were granted to mothers, compared to just 875 to fathers—meaning over 90% of custodial decisions favored mothers (9).
Homelessness:
In Ecuador’s capital, Quito, data show that 89% of people living on the streets are men, while approximately 10% are women, underscoring a stark gender imbalance within the city’s homeless population. (10).
Workplace:
Workplace fatalities disproportionately affect men, who account for roughly 90% of occupational deaths, compared to about 10% for women—a pattern consistent from 2016 to 2021, particularly in high-risk sectors such as manufacturing and construction (11).
Conclusion:
Men and boys in Ecuador face persistent and measurable disadvantages, requiring greater public acknowledgment and policy attention to achieve genuine gender equality.
The International Council for Men and Boys (ICMB) is a non-governmental organization that is working to celebrate the contributions of men to society and to end the 12 sex disparities that affect men and boys around the world. ICMB has conducted analyses of male disadvantage in over 50 countries around the world. These analyses are available here: https://www.menandboys.net/country/
Links:
1. https://genderdata.worldbank.org/en/indicator/se-ter-enrr
2. https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/ecuador/female_to_male_ratio_students_tertiary_level_educa/
3. https://www.produccion.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Ellas-en-Datos_2da-Edicion.pdf
5. https://genderdata.worldbank.org/en/indicator/sp-dyn-amrt?gender=male
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homicide_statistics_by_gender
8. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/male-vs-female-suicide-who?tab=table&country=~USA&tableSearch=ecuad