2020
Felipe Ochoa Mogrovejo
- Age: 30
- | He/him/his
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We need to pursue gender equality in order to make this world more human and livable. If my mother, my cousins, my aunts, and my women colleagues and bosses would have had the opportunities I have had as a man, I can assure you this world would have already changed.
- Felipe Ochoa Mogrovejo
Bio
Felipe Ochoa Mogrovejo was born and raised in Ecuador. He received a Master in International Relations from Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals. As a Coordinator for Students at Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador, Felipe advises to the Directorate General of Students and other academic colleagues on higher education regulations and its international trends, recommends strategic projects, and manages and monitors the access, permanence, and graduation of 20,000 national and international students in three areas: admission, scholarships and finance aid, and student welfare.
Felipe is also Director of Diversity at Aequintas Foundation. In this position, he programs and plans the diversity program for the organization, delivers executive reports on the LGBTIQA+ situation in Ecuador and Latin America, and connects national and international networks to implement partnerships.
What ignited your pursuit for gender equality?
When I was 20 years old, I was a student who barely knew about gender topics. I was impacted by the story of a close friend who was molested by her professor in class. He argued that all she wanted was to have sex with him. The impotence, lack of protocols, and normalization of violence inspired me, my friend, who was the survivor of this violence, and 10 other students to create an association that would organize a forum for the visualization of gender violence. Aequitas Association is still alive, and it is currently working on gender-related topics focusing on LGBTIQ rights and safe abortion policies in Ecuador.
Please share your biggest wins as an advocate for gender equality.
In 2012, I co-founded the Aequitas Association for gender equality where I am currently volunteering as the Director of Diversity. I had the responsibility to prepare annual short-term courses, fundraising events, and conferences related to the prevention and visualization of gender violence, improving the knowledge of new masculinities and empowering girls and women. Even though Aequitas is a small organization, it became a key influencer on gender policies through advocacy strategies and networking with local and national actors. We successfully trained 200 children and women from peripheral communities and developed an advocacy network with several organizations that worked on gender and LGBTIQ’s rights. Thus, this coalition participated as a permanent member on the Local Board to Eradicate Gender Violence in Cuenca, Ecuador, and contributed to the implementation of the Law to Prevent and Eradicate Violence against Women, both at the local and national sphere.
Outside of your gender equality advocacy work, what do you enjoy doing?
I love to read novels and literature. I also write some academic articles on the field of higher education policies. I like to swim.
Languages Spoken:
- English (Advanced/Native)
- Spanish (Advanced/Native)
- Catalan (Elementary)
- Spanish (Advanced/Native)
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