With the decision, all working mothers are granted maternity leave of 12 weeks (3 months) and a lactation period of two hours a day for an additional 12 months, that is, until the child is 15 months old. KEYWORDS: right to equality; formal equality; substantive equality; Nursing period. Legally, there have been significant changes in favor of this group of pregnant women, so much so that they are included in the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador in the priority attention group of articles 35 and 43, with the right to preferential protection, to holistic health care and to their life during pregnancy. Delivery and postpartum facilities, including facilities necessary for recovery after pregnancy and during lactation. (National Constituent Assembly, 2019) Among the respondents, seventy-two percent (72%) know the difference between formal and substantive equality, which is something satisfying, because it is able to distinguish them, and it is possible to plead in a court case if there is a violation of one of them, avoiding taking the serious risk of believing that they are synonymous or even confusing them with each other. Breastfeeding of women in Ecuador and the right to equality The resolution was published on the CC website last Sunday, 10 October. The change takes effect immediately, that is, it applies to all mothers who start breastfeeding. The decision does not specify anything with regard to women who currently have a reduced 6-hour day to breastfeed, the expert said. There are several legal norms in favour of this priority attention group that succeed in reducing discrimination based on sex in several respects, but there are still forms of discrimination that do not only occur between men and women, as in the present case, in the case of pregnant or lactating women who are employed in the public sector, compared to those in the private sector. (National Constituent Assembly, 2019). The National Institute of Statistics and Censuses indicates that in Ecuador in 2013, only 18.9% of children aged 0-2 years were continuously breastfed, given that the WHO recommendation is to continuously breastfeed up to 2 years. (Ministry of Public Health of Ecuador, 2011-2013) Therefore, this paper has analysed Ecuador`s jurisprudence, doctrine and constitutional provisions in order to determine whether women workers in the private sector are treated unjustifiably differently during breastfeeding than those in the public sector, and whether there is a violation of the constitutionally guaranteed right to formal equality and non-discrimination. In Ecuador, the female gender has always been discriminated against in various areas such as work, salary, social affairs, equal opportunities, including in the Constitution of Ecuador, there are significant changes in favor of pregnant women and their lactation, so much so that they are considered in the priority attention group.
The objective of this paper was to determine whether women workers in the private sector receive unjustified different treatment from the public sector when they take into account their breastfeeding, for which documentation and fieldwork have been used, the results of which show that there is no objective and reasonable justification for the difference in treatment that gives this group of persons the legal standard. Having concluded that women working in the private sector have violated their right to formal equality and non-discrimination, it is therefore necessary to bring the public action for unconstitutionality before the Constitutional Court in order to allow the replacement of the third paragraph of article 155 of the Labour Code. In fact, there is a violation of the right to equality in this particular case, which is related to the right to formal equality, because it is the same legal norms that refer to the Organic Law of Civil Servants and the Labour Code, which determine to calculate the breastfeeding time in two different ways and women, who work in the public sector. This question reflects the fact that 75% of respondents face a greater illustration of their benefits, compared to 25% who say they do not know how to count breastfeeding between the public and private sectors. Breastfeeding, regulated by international organizations such as the International Labour Organization and Ecuador`s internal regulations, aims to ensure the full development of the rights to health, well-being and life of the mother and newborn during the first months of life. The World Health Organization (WHO) noted in February 2018 that if all children aged 0 to 23 months were optimally breastfed, more than 820,000 children under the age of 5 could be saved each year. In addition, he explained that breastfeeding is an important source of energy and nutrients for children from 0 to 23 months of age, which helps them have a higher IQ and is less likely to suffer from overweight or obesity until adolescence. Even the mother benefits because it reduces the risk of ovarian and breast cancer, among other things.
(World Health Organization, 2018). Eighty per cent (80 per cent) say that in the event of a violation of the right to formal equality of women workers in the private sector in Ecuador, different legal regulations apply to count a worker`s breastfeeding time in the public sector than in the private sector. Both LOSEP and the Labour Code provide for breastfeeding for women who have a daughter or son for an equal period of 12 months.
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