The Trajectories of Feminism in Columbia
Maria Emma Wills
Introduction: Methodological concepts and options.
The main purpose of this report is to present an evaluation of the process during which a
sensitive outlook on gender subordination and discrimination opened a path through
Colombian institutions and civil society1. The work covers the period from 1980 to 1999.
In this study, the term civil society implies descriptive and qualitative2 features. The latter
articulate the formation of a civil society with that of a democratic regime. When
innumerable expressions of collective action coalesce and give rise to an inclusive and
vital sphere of public debate we may conclude that both a civil society and a democratic
regime are on their way to consolidation (Fraser, 1997). It is within these spheres of
debate that various movements, networks, organizations and individuals acquire the
required abilities to build a democratic decision making process : applying pressure,
accepting dissent, managing conflict and constructing consensus. In other words, it is in
the sphere of debate that individuals are transformed into citizens. There, in these arenas,
through dialogue and debate, individuals become aware of their own interests, needs,
challenges, values and personal definitions of “the good life” but also of those they share
or which conflict with those of others. The transformation of an individual into a citizen
within the public sphere additionally implies that the person discovers her/himself as a
subject imbued with rights and obligations that makes him/her a member of a political
community
The concept of public sphere refers to the idea that a society is not only made up of
individuals, institutions and social organizations but also of different publics who often
confront each other under asymmetric circumstances. For example, the views of an
official public may enter in conflict with those shared by a counter-public, and a weak
public may exist along side a strong one (Fraser, 1997). These different publics need not
dissolve within a Global Public Sphere. Each sphere should retain its own specificity.
However, bridges and articulations amongst them are necessary if their plurality is to
avoid social and political fragmentation and instead of giving rise to a democratic arena3.
The concept of public also refers to the possibilities of promoting “consciousness
transformations” through the gestation and circulation of diverse discourses. Counterdiscourses circuits circulate world views that have the potential of stimulating the
creation of non-traditional identities.
In addition to these considerations, in this report, gender is understood as a concept
which makes visible the cultural constructions of sexual differences. The social
understandings of the masculine and the feminine, more than being biological
1
classifications, are the product of historical power arrangements. These understandings
are the result of pacts reached among various powerful agents who, once they come to an
agreement, impose the terms on the whole of society by using either seductive or violent
methods. In its historical dimension, gender also points at the fact that modernity and the
democratic revolutions originally instituted asymmetric power relations between the
masculine and the feminine. On the one hand, when democratic regimes emerged, the
public arena became associated with masculine attributes and behavior (reason,
calculation) while the private and intimate were articulated with qualities seen as
exclusively feminine (emotion). This dualized social world legitimized women’s
exclusion from public debate and from institutional decision making. In addition to
exclusion, modernity although emancipatory in other terrain, ended up by assigning a
devalued or invisible role to the private sphere. Thus, this process surreptitiously
assigned subordinate positions to women with reference to those of men (Wills, 1999).
Seen in this historical context, gender assumes a wholly political nature. It attempts to
reveal and transform the arrangements under which social relations are produced and in
which women are still subordinated or excluded from power due to their sex.
From the articulation between the concepts of civil society, the public sphere and gender
arises the central research object of this work. This paper attempts to reconstruct the
manner in which second wave4 feminist discourse started to circulate in Colombia and
foster the formation of diverse and specifically feminist movements (first journey). It
then undertakes the reconstruction of the way a feminist sensitivity and outlook
penetrated four fundamental spaces: the academic (second journey), state-institutional
(third journey), law (fourth journey) and popular movements (fifth journey). In each
road, an effort to periodize the penetration is made. Meanwhile, this work seeks to
evaluate the directions which this penetration has adopted in the different fields --whether
it targets a deep transformation of gender inequities or their maintenance. The work
discusses if the insertion of a gender outlook supports democratic ideology and practice
or to the contrary contributes towards the consolidation of intransigent mentalities
incapable of dialogue and with an excessive inward bias (the Ghetto syndrome). Before
examining these ideas, the general Colombian context behind these dynamics is
summarily described below.
I. The General Context
Synthesizing the global transformations which have affected Colombia over the last two
decades is not an easy task. Contradictory social and political patterns permeate the
country. Colombia is no longer a country with guerrilla presence, as was the case in the
past. It is now a nation with diverse armies imbued with conflicting ideologies and
interests5.
Alongside the war dynamic, during the last twenty years a democratic
language and set of initiatives have prospered. New substantive rights inscribed in the
1991 Constitution provide additional components for analysis. Finally, during other times
it has been stated that Colombia was going through devastating political crisis, which
however did not affect good national economic performance; nowadays, on the contrary,
Colombian politics and economy are simultaneously in crisis. A debased war,
affirmation of the democratic discourse and a severe economic crisis are the overlapping
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dynamics that characterize the moment and which propel the country in opposing
directions.
A public opinion climate very distinct from today’s existed in Colombia in 1980, this
paper’s date of departure. The State, as part of its social relations regulatory function,
undertook repressive actions legitimized by a National Security Doctrine discourse. This
doctrine attempted to defend the nation, then conceived as one and indivisible, from any
type of external interference, particularly communist (Leal, 1992: 20). The left was
considered to corrupt the nation fundamentally conceived as Christian and democratic.
Militants, sympathizers and mere alleged participants were severely persecuted and
punished under that Doctrine. In addition, the leftist parties and peasant, union, student
and feminist6 organizations were interpreted by the official discourse as “transmission
belts” of communist positions. This would be dangerous to the stability of the order and
therefore such these expression were repressed. These were times of “Focalized”
paranoia in the State security apparatus directed towards any expression of “civil” dissent
against the repressive State.
During the 1970’s, such a climate of fear, intolerance and repression was not exclusive to
Colombia: dictatorial regimes also existed in other Latin American countries. The fact
that second wave feminist ideas circulated within these repressive contexts would explain
the opposition acquired by the great majority of these movements over the continent
(Sternbach, Navarro, Chuchryck Alvarez, 1992)
In Colombia, both political and official expressions of opposition were the product of a
society educated to fear pluralism and differences (ethnic, racial, class, gender…) during
many years and in spite of its democratic discourse. In 1980, the effects of a Concordat
based regime7 still permeated the country, defining the nation as one and indivisible and
above all, catholic (Wills, 1999 b). More than in other Latin American countries, the
Church played a central role in the solidification and reproduction of the Colombian
official order. Church insertion was felt not only in religious spheres but also in
educational and political fields. Religious interference in the political arena had
pernicious effects: political struggles easily acquired the fundamentalist bias of religious
crusades impeding the construction of a sphere for public debate.
More than
representing ideological tendencies, the existing political parties and forces were inspired
by “absolute truths”, or non-negotiable discourses. Each respective identity became
enclosed within their own inward looking arguments.
During the 1980’s, society underwent gradual and irreversible processes of secularization
associated with the effects of diverse changes8. An additional trend also surfaced, rather
timidly at the start, to reject the use of the violent conflict resolution methods employed
amongst both the State and the insurgency. To mention the case of intellectuals, in the
early 1980’s, sympathies existed between that group and the establishment and/or the
guerrillas. Today, some intellectuals still articulate themselves with poles of armed
power. However, contrary to the intellectual climate of that time, others have now
sharply disassociated themselves from war related dynamics and armed actors. No
longer do such individuals desire to be associated with “one side or the other” (Sanchez,
1999). Finally, a more global process utilizing discourse to defend the right of diversity
also plays a role within these particular Colombian circumstances.
3
If we compare the language of the 1980’s with the discourse of the end of millennium,
the reflexive ideas on the good and the bad are still present. However, a recent tendency
strongly argues for a search towards consensus based on respect for differences including
accepting and positively valuing conflicts.9 In this sense, certain sectors of Colombian
society have begun to internalize a pluralistic cannon basic to democracy. It is interesting
that these efforts have not been able impede the consistent expansion of war related
dynamics across the whole national territory. In fact, the actors involved in the war are
deeply suspicious of those who define themselves as non-participants. More concretely,
this mistrust often takes the form of terror and in extreme cases, assassination. In
contrast to the 1980’s, today’s situation could be characterized as one of “diffused
paranoia”. Civilian victims are rarely able to discern the identity of the armed actors
executing an attack. Thus, the unarmed population has been enclosed by violations
authored by various groups.
1. First journey: from absolute feminists to secular democratic feminists.
Colombian feminism has traveled a path characterized by both transformation and
paralysis. When the behavior of these movements is examined, at four crucial points and
milestones during these two decades, this tendency becomes more evident. We shall
describe the Latin American and Caribbean Feminist Encounter of 1981, the National
Constituent Assembly of 1991, the preparations for the IV Beijing Summit and the
defense of the Equal Opportunity Plan. That Plan initiated during the 1998 presidential
campaign and eventually culminated as a lobbying process with the National Planning
Department the year thereafter.
1.1. The prolegomena10
Feminist discussions were born in Colombia during the 1970’s. Self-consciousness
groups formed in various cities around the country in that decade. These organizations
were inspired by ideas found in books and the contributions of some women who traveled
outside Colombia to later return impregnated with feminist polemics which had shaken
other countries. Members contributed to this process by preparing bibliography cards
while others translated key texts and started journals, most of which, although intense,
were short lived. Other women encountered, mostly by chance, Marxist feminist thought
then circulating in clandestine editorials. In addition to these channels, others events
during that decade generated worldwide impacts on women’s11 discrimination. In spite of
the prudish atmosphere which permeated those times, radical slogans like “All
penetration is Yankee!”, “Oh Family: may tongues of fire rain on you” or the classic “my
body is mine” became common. In the words one pioneer feminist in Colombia, “it was
during the 1960’s when we became aware that we were victims and discovered a
particular hate”.
At that time “everything was in intellectual effervescence”. Debates on innovative topics
such as the relationship between the body and power, the role of the State and women’s
liberation in addition to demands for certain rights, such as abortion (exceptional in this
most Catholic country) were all new of the day. Those were times of profound
4
theoretical readings, debates with militant colleagues and fears of repression. But they
were also times of dreams and expectations, and unlike today, of political enchantment.
It was in that atmosphere when a Venezuelan woman from a group called La Conjura
arrived in Colombia during 1979. She proposed the idea of holding a First Latin
American Feminist Encounter in Bogotá to several Colombian feminists.
1.2. The First Latin American and Caribbean Feminist Encounter - 1981.
Two variables must be taken into account to clearly understand the discussions between
feminist movements and currents on the First Latin American Feminist Congress (1981).
The origin of the majority of feminists from that generation and the distinct conceptions
which had inspired those women’s liberation movements were behind the two views.
Most feminists interviewed12 recognized that “we are all from the left wing, a very
absorptive left”. Many of the women who had initiated their militancy within that
perspective did not have a clear feminist project, but neither did they “believe in the
white bridal dress nor marriage”.
Other currents also formed part of this complex field of left wing militancy, less prone to
accept non-class related proposal (for example the Marxist Leninists, ML in the jargon of
the left, and the Communist Party). These organizations often adopted “Circumspect,
prudish, established and false” altitudes regarding the topic of gender.13 Women who left
their original militant organizations were subject to a deep and unforgiving divorce.
Other women found their roots in the Trotsky camp. This movement was probably the
most open to arts and culture at that time: the closest to the bohemian world and novel
topics on the political agenda. Feminists in that group did not feel the same urgent need
to break from their leftist parties, as did other women. Even though the women
mentioned above rejected relations with political parties, the other feminists considered
such a double matrimony to be possible (relations with the left and with feminism) and
felt that a double bond would not betray either of the two causes.
The often painful memories left from previous participation in militant groups profoundly
marked ruptures which would later divide the feminist camp. It must be mentioned that
these types of divisions were not peculiar to Colombian feminists nor would they
disappear over time. Feminist/political party relations or class and gender ties would
continue to incite worn out polemics at each successive Latin American and Caribbean
Encounter (Saporta, Navarro, Chuchryck and Alvarez, 1992).
In spite of these origins, the first feminist groups were very diverse. Some conceived
feminism as a project for life. The women in those movements sought insertion within
political parties or the State. However, more than anything else, they believed that the
creation of worlds radically distinct from the official would provide the momentum
necessary to generate global level change. They dedicated many years of their lives to
this cause:
During my stay in France I learned that militancy did not imply sacrificing other
aspects of my life. I learned, for example, that these could be combined, that
5
feminists could lead a very complete life and that we did not have to sacrifice our
children nor our love for militancy to the cause.
In 1977, Colombia was effervescence. Several feminist groups formed in Medellín
that year. One of them was called “Las Mujeres”. At that time a homosexual group,
“El Otro”, was also being formed.
The party meetings were very serious then. But, for me, the important thing was to
nurture more intimate contact between women in their personal lives. I wanted us to
have coffee together, to form bonds between ourselves as complete persons. Not only
as militants with a platform and a strategy in our minds.
When we marched with the Socialist Block, I would ask about the feminist banners
which never appeared. The organizers would simply answer “Oh what a shame!, they
were left behind!!”.
In reality, the party meetings had a very disjointed air, like a body walking with one
arm on one side, the head on the other and the feet on another
When we were finally dismissed from the Block, we became aware of just how
dependent the remaining women were to Central Committee. However, no one was
over us, not even God.
Our house was an open world, a world populated with men, women and children
where we mixed activism (organizing the pro-abortion campaign, for example), with
entertainment, art and sensitivity- on a daily basis. We set up campaigns to “Rescue
the Night”, with music, torches, costumes and bazaars. We made candles, painted
and wrote. We were a real group14.
A Venezuelan feminist (the voice which we just heard), member of the “La Conjura”
group, proposed the organization of the First Feminist Encounter to Chris Suaza’s
organization. Chris and her people wanted to avoid holding a “militant congress”. In its
stead they wanted “an experimental communion for many women and their initiatives to
unite as dreams or shared interests, but without hierarchies”.
The group who launched the 1981 Encounter held a deep aversion to power relations.
“We did not want to pay homage to anyone, to no leader, nor to the press”. To the
contrary, other feminists felt that advances could only be conquered through the political
parties active in traditional politics.
Instead of enriching intellectual confrontation, differences on criteria and conception
were resolved by definitive ruptures –expulsion from the parties- which left deep rooted
mistrust in their wake. “My people and myself felt wounded. You trust someone and
then find that was not the case. We felt used”.
At the onset of the Encounter in Bogotá, the organizers wanted to prohibit entry to party
member feminists such as Socorro Ramirez and Luz Jaramillo. Both were militants in the
Socialist Block. Meanwhile, Olga Amparo Sánchez, one of the first to break from the
“hard-core” militants, adamantly opposed admission for women from the parties. The
course of events became turgid. The desire to restrict entrance were manifested as events
of “compliance” at the door to the Congress and to make things worse, these events
became public news. Although the organizers finally let Socorro Ramirez into the
Conference, her participation in the event would only be incidental.
6
Foreign feminists have benevolently narrated the Encounter history”: “despite the
acrimonious debates, it was this joyful enthusiasm and spirit of solidarity that made the
‘Encuentro’ an unforgettable experience for most of the participants” (Sternbach,
Navarro, Chuchryk and Alvarez, 1992 : 218). However it left wounds amongst
Colombian feminists still unhealed today.
For the women who had arrived from the regions of Colombia, such strife and its
uncompromising handling were inexplicable. In Medellín, several feminist groups had
formed, inspired by European thought. These groups revindicated the anarchistic hippie
style of movements from other latitudes. They maintained fewer ties with militant
political discourse and had no prior party experience. However, in Bogotá groups
profoundly divided amongst themselves prospered, possibly because they had access to
public resources and international connections. Differences on conception, criteria and
even sensitivity led each current towards intransigent and “absolutist” positions that
would later exersize far reaching repercussions in the field of Colombian feminism.
1.2. The Constituent Convention Process: the feminist field rejoins.
It would only be until 1988 when those women, battered by 7 years old ruptures, again
reunited. President Barco’s constitutional reform proposal had motivated a joint work
effort. Thus,
liberals, communists, conservatives and socialists from 17 organizations, after
lengthy debates and revising the Constitutions and women’s proposals from
other nations, jointly prepared a project modifying and expanding the
Colombian Constitution of 1887. We submitted the project on March 23rd to
Cesar Gaviria, the Minister of Government at that time.15
In spite of this joint effort, divergences later emerged and once again became a motive for
rupture. During the National Women’s Encounter, “A Loving Embrace for Life” held on
October 13, 14 and 15, 1990, some feminists argued for participation in the Constituent
Assembly as based on their own electoral lists while others defended the strategy of
“going with the parties”. The seriousness of this process was not differences and
conflicts as such (the case of the 1981 Encounter) but the fact that they were handled as
absolute confrontations. Instead of focusing on the construction of a shared agenda
which would allow each feminist current the freedom to select its own method of
participation, the encounter once again became “traumatically” divided. The movement’s
leaders Colombia with no memory of such previous conflicts.
After the National Constituent Assembly was well underway, various women’s groups,
collectives and NGOs met, on May 4th 1991, “to coordinate efforts that would permit
improved influence over the constitutional process”16. This initiative enjoyed
international financing from Spain through SUM, an NGO located in Bogotá.
Fortunately, these coordination efforts were successful and later enabled the National
Women’s Network to be born. To start, the women initiated articulated lobbying efforts
within the Constituent Assembly. Although they lost the first round of the fight –
reproductive rights-, they obtained a rotund success on women’s equal political
participation rights. They were even able to conquer “the guarantee to adequate and
7
effective women’s participation in the decision making levels of public administration”17.
(On women’s constitutional accomplishments, see section No. 3 in this report).
Perhaps the most important legacy this experience left were coordinated agitation
activities generated around diverse regions of the country. Encounters and seminars in
Popayán, Pereira, Manizales, Cali and Bogotá became forums to discuss the
constitutional reform proposal. In addition, the women who participated in the lobbying
actions were obligated to acquire legal skills, abandon partisan altitudes and become
familiar with the positions women’s rights had adopted in other countries. These
campaigns also enabled feminist debates to enter the ongoing discussion on democracy.
Slogans such as “democracy for the home and the country” and “democracy won’t get
anywhere without women’s rights”, were widely circulated.
Once the electoral party debate (which, it must be clarified, divided not only women),
was surpassed, feminism in Colombia entered a new period. The various existing feminist
currents and women’s organizations had acquired the expertise needed to work together
for the benefit of a common cause. This effort undoubtedly produced other results.
Diverse articles of the 1991 Constitution, unlike the preceding Constitution, contained
specific women’s rights (with the exception of those tied to reproductive health and
freedom of choice on maternity). A first lesson on “unity within diversity” was thus
assimilated in the feminist field from this initiative.
1.3. The IV Beijing Conference
In addition to the Constituent process, the preparations for the official delegation and the
delegation of Colombian feminist movements to Beijing has become another feminist
milestone. For the first time, governmental entities and women’s movements negotiated
in a more symmetrical manner 18.
At that time one leader of the movement was working in coordination with a network of
Andean feminist movements planning to attend the encounter. These organizations had
international funding from groups including AID and Terre des Hommes, enabling
several regional workshops to be celebrated. Feminist movements gained greater familiar
amongst themselves. They abandoned their partisan status to jointly evaluate feminism’s
progress and difficulties in the Andean area and Colombia. Information about this
financial support was rapidly disseminated amongst the groups, thereby destroying the
monopoly which had been exercised over international resources by the more traditional
ONGs up to that time (Barrig, 1998).
A joint minimal agenda was formulated from those meetings between ONGs and
regional feminist groups. However, the process was semi-aborted after the “Casa de la
Mujer”, the first feminist NGO in the country, objected to the person who had
coordinated the network up to then. They approached Sara Gómez to propose that she
should replace the coordinator in Beijing. However, Sara Gómez did not speak English
and lacked abilities to generate confluence processes in the Conference.
In spite of the conflicts aroused in the Beijing Conference, it had a positive legacy. The
Colombian official and non-governmental delegations were, in the words of a foreign
feminist, amongst “the most qualified” (Acosta, 1998). In addition, for its participants,
the conference
8
was like an awakening to reality, … on one hand it inserted daily conference life
within an atmosphere different from the familiar “western” world (the language,
alphabet and customs were completely distinct for the majority of women at the
conference). In addition, at Beijing the positions sustained by anti-colonialist
feminists were, for the first time, definitively presented. These positions and
western feminism openly debated. Many of us personally felt the deep
dilemmas implied by the right to conserve differences. We saw the collisions
which could occur during the defense of both ancestral cultures and occidental
feminism.19
The traditions adverse to what the West considers as the decalogue of women’s
emancipation defended their cultures. Other delegations refuted these cannons. This
interchange permitted the women present to become aware that many distinct versions of
feminism existed. In the midst of diversity it is necessary to seek minimal common
ground to unify the entire movement.
1.4. The Equal Opportunity Plan.
The Colombian President’s Council on Social Affairs contracted several consultants in
1995 to design an equal opportunity plan. At that time Isabel Martinez directed the
council. However, this project did not prosper under the Samper national government.
The idea was only readopted in 1998 when Noemí Sanin’s presidential election campaign
motivated a major fraction of feminist and women’s movements to unite.
Several leaders in the feminist movement met with the presidential candidate during the
inauguration of her campaign20. After preliminary meetings, these leaders decided to
prepare a document representing the whole women’s movement to seriously introduce
the topic of gender within the campaign. This gestation group, and the Women’s
Political Participation Network (promoted by Magdalena León at the National
University), issued two documents. These texts were later fused into a single body with
the Equal Opportunity Plan (PIO) as the central axis for State gender policy.
The unified document, and its planning, became the seed from which the so called
“Confluence of Networks” was born. Although the National Women’s Network already
existed, the new organization was also implemented. The parallel existence of such
similar movements can be explained by two reasons. Several Network members
considered their organization to be very weak and some regional sub-organizations had
fallen into decadence. Meanwhile, other networks had appeared after 1991, date when
that organization formed a commission within the National Constituent Assembly. It thus
became necessary to integrate those networks within a new articulated entity. In addition
to these logistic considerations, the new entity was also created for political reasons.
According to the women who organized the Confluence, the sphere of the National
Women’s Network was saturated with apparently irreconcilable animosity. Once again,
conflicts paralyzed action instead of nourishing debate. Thus, many women desired a
space free of tensions. This would provide urgently needed additional operational
capacities for the movement, in addition to creating consensus during the juncture
represented by the Assembly.
9
Once organized, the Confluence had significant momentum after by the Equal
Opportunities Plan lobbing effort. That entity, supported by international cooperation
funds from the GTZ, celebrated diverse encounters with their member networks. As a
result, they jointly prepared a document to negotiate with the National Planning
Department.
The proposals for the housing, health and political participation sectors were the best
substantiated of the proposal. The remainder were drawn up in “a victimized tone. More
than opening spaces in the institutional arena, it closed doors to any king of planning
which would seriously incorporate the category of gender”21.
It thus becomes evident that some women from the networks and certain movements
have developed abilities to fluidly circulate in diverse spheres and social or institutional
areas. However, others utilize an emotional discourse, poorly suited for clearing roads in
the institutional world. However, all these women are aware that the “State, and its
bureaucracy looks with disdain on other languages”. A certain maturity within the
Confluence is reflected by the fact that the presence of distinct skills, tones and languages
have not become a motive for rupture. At the meetings “we all show the patience
required to handle untimely events”22.
The democratic process required to formulate that proposal was an important step
forward. In the meantime, those who lobbied at the National Planning Department gained
confidence and broke through the imaginary walls separating technically oriented
individuals from the militants: “we lost our fear of technocracy!”. Given this experience,
the Confluence proved that it is actually possible for a social movement to become a
serious dialoguing actor with State agencies. Its capacity to formulate demands proved
ability to pressure for “responses from the State and State entities and participation in the
decision making process”.
A General Balance.
The changes23 experienced during these two decades are related to shifts in perspective.
During the 1980’s, most of the movement perceived the State as a great enemy and took
up the challenge of destroying its institutions and rebuilding the world from zero. Today,
the destruction of the State is no longer an objective. To the contrary, feminist
movements aid in the construction of a strong, effective and democratic institutional
structure.
The fall of the Berlin wall and in addition to war in Colombia have genuinely produced
renewed perspectives in the feminist field. In addition to renovated form of addressing
the institutional world, the topics on the feminist agenda have changed. The movement
had previously centered on specific battles –such as legalization of abortion. Today, the
agenda incorporates this issue within a fabric of initiatives enabling this topic to become
more complex and include public policy on health, education and communications.
The transition towards a position influencing public institutions and policy still continued
to be marked by tensions. On one hand, awareness existed of that real advances had
been obtained, particularly on continual improvements to qualified lobbying efforts.
However, a nostalgic feeling still remained. As perceived by one pioneer from the
10
movement, “In 1980, the feminists, at least those from Medellín, had conceived a
completely distinct world built from liberty and ecstatic dreams. Twenty years later, the
movement has become more conservative and institutional. It has lost that (almost
poetic) capacity of dreaming and inventing parallel worlds and now looks towards less
heroic but more attainable goals. To the extent that viability has become a criteria for the
definition of objectives, feminism as a whole has abandoned global positions for
involvement in concrete programs seeking change”24. Thus, over the last twenty years,
feminism has become more concrete but has lost irreverence and inventiveness.
Some narratives are even more critical, charging that “the system has engulfed feminist
assertions, by institutionalizing and formalizing them. Feminist movements lost their
sense of mission; and women began to meet behind closed doors. Many had more lives
than a cat. Roles of militants, family members and feminists didn’t fit together. Today
some women have become bureaucrats, while others have entered the feminist diplomatic
corps and spend their time travelling. When we started, things were very different.
Feminism was not an ideology, but a way of life”.25
Other narratives, both historical and critical, yearn for those first years. They remember
women from the movement, who with conviction, “unwaveringly dedicated themselves
to mastering advancements in the theoretical and philosophical fields. We had a study
group and read all the time. Today, pragmatism halted this impulse. Furthermore,
feminist movements were more tightly inserted into the field of struggle and popular
movements”.26
experience
In spite of their nostalgic tone, feminists in Colombia today still have aggregated
knowledge to show. An accumulated capital of experience based on negotiation,
lobbying, confronting institutional resistance and acquired political skills are now
available. In addition, the idea of absolute truths has been gradually dissolved. The
personal history of some women have enabled them to understand that democracy can
not exist without respecting differences. Respect often originates at home. As one
pioneer feminist put it “I do not believe that we are going to accomplish much with
Women’s offices, but I will accompany them in the applause committee”27. She does not
share, but respects the decisions that other women adopt.
However, memory of past and extremely poorly managed conflicts still subsists amongst
feminists and impedes progress today. Many wounds have not yet healed. Differences
are expressed more as rumors than open debate amongst distinct positions.
Unfortunately, the efforts implemented to this effect up to now have not cured the illness,
but have worsened it (this point will be discussed in the Conclusions).
11
2. The Second Journey. Feminist discourse in Academia: from invisibility to isolated
visibility.28
“Ten years ago they made fun of us. Today at least they don’t dare to do it
publicly”. Yolanda Puyana, Coordinator of the Gender, Women and Development
Studies Program. National University of Colombia – Bogotá campus.
In 1980 not one postgraduate nor gender studies program existed in Colombia. Today,
twenty years later, the Universities of Valle, Antioquia and the National University, as
public institutions, and the Universities Externado de Colombia, Los Andes and the
Javeriana (private academic centers) have now established scholarly centers on the topic.
The National University –Bogotá campus- established a Masters and a specialization
program on Women, Gender and Development. What types of conclusions can be
formulated from the trajectories, accomplishments and limitations of these efforts?
2.1. The pioneers
The incorporation of women’s dynamics into the academic field must recognize the
contributions of Virginia Gutiérrez de Pineda. Although feminist focuses did not inspire
her initial work, it was based on analyzing cultural structures which regulate family
relations over various regions of the country (Gutiérrez, 1968 and Gutiérrez and Vila,
1988).
Nora Segura relates that demographic motivations fueled the first studies on women.
During those years “population growth was defined as underdevelopment and an obstacle
towards the country’s development and modernization, thereby giving priority to birth
control policies. Women attained more visibility in this manner” (Segura, 1990).
After this “demographic” phase, additional publications appeared in Bogotá at the end of
the 1970’s. Most were directed by Magdalena León at the Colombian Association for
Population Studies –ACEP. In addition, this work constructed an empirical data base and
formulated theoretical formulations on women’s roles in the labor market. On the whole,
this research attempted to reveal the connections existing between the spheres of
reproduction and production (León de. 1977, León 1980 and León ed. 1982).
The Center of Development Studies (CEDE) at the Universidad de Los Andes initiated
research during the early 1980’s to quantify women’s contributions in the labor market.
It also examined the levels of segmentation of those contributions, in addition to
migration and the relationship between salaried labor and domestic work (Meertens,
1995, p. 3).
In general, this period could be described as one of individual efforts towards making
women’s contributions in various fields more visible. Sata bases were set up during those
years and efforts were made to differentiate information in national level surveys by sex.
Thus “women’s studies were able shed their leaflet veneer to become more serious.
Women’s discrimination was no longer considered as ‘superfluous’ topic and became an
objective and quantifiable situation”29.
12
2.2. One step more: the first study groups.
Parallel to these individual efforts, women’s and mixed groups exploring the women’s
role in contemporary Colombian society began to appear in various universities. During
the 1970’s, a group of professors from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
started gathered at the University of Antioquia: a pioneer institution in this respect. They
questioned their “role, voice and participation within the diversity of academic,
administrative and vocational representational entities”. Regarding the topic of health, the
Colombian Health Group was organized to question the “biological trends in the
interpretation of women’s health-disease related processes, the physician-patient
relationship and the medical approach to biological processes including menstruation,
childbirth and menopause (Pelaez, s.f.).
Some years later in 1985, the Women and Society Group was organized at the National
University with women scholars from varied disciplines. This group started to hold
informal meetings every Thursday to discuss ideas, theories and research in process. Over
time and due to its perseverance and stability, the Group organized a symposium on
“Women and Society” in 1986. The symposium became a “rite of passage” towards the
Group’s formal recognition in the University and central administration. “Time
assignations” were also allocated to the Group. After institutionalization, the group set
out to explore diverse fields, while organizing a context course on women offered to
more than 60 students each semester from diverse majors. The group also initiated
extension, investigation and consulting work. It thus completed the function of “a
multiple tiered bridge between the academic, social and governmental worlds” (Meertens,
1995). In 1990 a book titled “Women, Love and Violence” was complied from the
collective work of group members, published as a fourth edition in 1994.
During this same period, the Universidad Externado de Colombia set up a series of
investigations on family, domestic violence and reproductive health. A few years later
several women academics from the Department of Valle met to stimulate foster public
policy which finally was incorporated as a women’s office within the institutional at
Mayor’s Office in the City of Cali. This department supports women’s and health
programs, in addition to the family commissaries offices30.
2.3. Towards institutionalization
Women and Society group had discussed The possibility of organizing a complete
program on Gender, Women’s and Development Studies at the National University for
several years. Eventually it obtained funding through Dutch cooperation to launch this
project. In addition to receiving approval for a Master’s program and a gender studies
specialization31, the program includes extension activities32, an advanced training subprogram33, several areas of research34, a Library Fund35 and a sub-program for
publications.36 The Master’s program is presently preparing to admit its third entering
class.
At the University of Antioquia during the 1990’s, “a permanent ‘interdisciplinary’
reflection group comprised of professors and students was organized. The Gender Studies
Center: Women and Society was created as a result in 1997 (Pelaez, 2000) ”. This center
promotes an internal research seminar37 and another permanent seminar open to students
13
and professionals interested in the topic. It now edits a large number of publications and
newsletters to publicize its research38. The team continually advises student dissertations
at the University.
It was also after the Constitution of 1991 and under the auspices of the Commission on
Youth, Women and the Family that a large scale project for the reconstruction of
women’s historical memory was initiated. Very little systematic results had been
generated in the field of history and so this project united 41 researchers. However, some
senior scholars were “terrified and refused to participate because they knew nothing
about the topic”. In spite of initial resistance, the coordinator persevered with the altitude
of “Well, you will have to learn something about this39” – until the three resulting
volumes finally appeared in 199540.
In terms of the topics examined in this paper, the 1980’s were a time of “enthusiasm,
women needed to reflect on our own identity, we had to ask ourselves about ourselves
and start a search on our differences”. The 1990’s can be characterized as a decade of
aperture and interdisciplinary activities. Laying bridges partially responds to the fact that
“gender studies (and the category of identity) enables relations to be established with
other social disciplines”. In addition, the feminist field opened the way towards a
discourse on the rights to preserve personal differences. This connected the women’s
struggle with those of other discriminated groups.
Finally, the 1991 Constitution reduced resistance to women’s advancement in the legal
area. Progress obtained in field of Law required further “work in the cultural sphere, on
mentalities and the symbolic world”41.
2.4. To conclude.
Twenty years ago women were not discernable in statistics and no data was available to
substantiate denouncements on discrimination. Now, pertinent empirical research has
been compiled and provides the technical foundations required to substantiate feminist
demands for equality in the political, social, economic and cultural spheres.
Based on such statistics, we know that during recent decades, the number of women
enrolled in all levels of education in addition to feminine enrollment in universities now
surpasses the number of masculine students.42 However, massive women’s access to
education is not a guarantee unto itself that women will acquire greater consciousness of
their rights. Neither does it guarantee that male students will accept the fact that certain
types of conduct and arrangements have are detrimental to women. Education, thus, does
not insure that women will automatically live internal and collective empowering
processes.
For the university to function as a path towards transformations of
consciousness, qualitative mutations must accompany such quantitative tendencies.
These modification must be developed in the content and courses offered in the
university In this manner, they may function as vehicles to circulate new visions on
power relations between the masculine and feminine.
However, progress has been made in the academic field thanks to the appearance of
gender education centers at various universities around the country. Receptivity amongst
more women and some male academics to adopt an inquisitive view and a perspective on
gender has also played a role in these transformations. In general the 1990’s are
14
characterized by pioneer feminist groups’ institutionalization within universities and a
growth of diversified visions on gender.
However and in spite of progress in the academic field, present day efforts are still
hindered by the unintentional effects of strategies adopted during the past decade.
Institutionalization, in form of research and similar centers, has internally strengthened
gender programs. But, the disjointed nature of university faculties and departments in
general implies dangers to the category of discrimination and gender sensitivity. The
continued presence of gender based exclusions hinders the process of opening official
spaces in the curriculum and introducing that perspective to research in progress. In
other words, these efforts could terminate in the ghetto syndrome if those processes are
not corrected.
Disjointed relations between university majors becomes even more serious when we
consider that academic spaces are extremely important for the preservation and
transmission of the memory of women’s struggles to achieve recognition for their rights
over the last decades. Such programs would cultivate “generation transitions” within the
feminist movements and develop sensitivity amongst youth on continuing unequal gender
relations.
In these terms and in spite of progress in this area, some individuals are skeptical on
changes in mentality within the university environment. As one young woman political
researcher and professor stated “male students from the Universidad de Los Andes want
wives who stay at home. They desire stable and comfortable households with diligent
spouses”43. But, as some statistics suggest, it is apparently not only the male students
who have not changed. “Even amongst the new generations of professional women,
submissive altitudes towards men prosper: ‘bring me a coffee, serve me dinner, time to
wash the dishes’.44 This has become so common that I have come to think that my
brother in law is right when he says that “you feminists believe that the world has
changed more than it really has”.45
Other data tends to confirm this skepticism. The majority of women choose university
majors which traditionally have been related to feminine qualities: nursing, nutrition and
dietetics, education, social work and psychology. In addition, “these types of majors
have apparently not been adapted to market requirements (…). In 1988, unemployment
amongst Colombian women reached 35% in comparison with 9.6% for men (…). Women
as a group still earn 15% less than men, in spite of enjoying the same levels of academic
preparation while occupying equivalent jobs” (Pelaez, 2000).
In summary, in spite of progress in Colombia, the category of gender has not reached the
levels of legitimization in academic environments which would be required for
formalization of gender in official programs. The presence of both male and female
feminist lawyers, economists, psychologists, historians or political studies experts is the
exception to the rule. Therefore, core courses in the various university majors rarely
include feminist literature. “In spite of its transformations, feminism is still treated as a
separate topic applicable to ‘initiated’ feminists”.46
It may be true that “in the academic world, gender topics are neither accepted nor
rejected” and that what is taking place is “as in other areas, and in spite of their
importance, feminism is still subject to sources of funding”47. But it could also be true
15
that “academia shows little solidarity for feminism”. Lack of solidarity or funding is still
a reality even after the period dedicated to the construction of specialized centers which
promote the presence of groups sensitive to gender. This situation suggests that it is time
to adopt a strategy that “neutralizes” the category of teaching within the various college
level majors.
3. Law: homogenous citizens towards specific citizens.
Many of the most important advances from 1980 to 1997 in favor of women have taken
place in the constitutional and legislative fields.
Over an initial period, institutional strategies were responsible for introducing sensitivity
towards sex and gender discrimination within legislation. International developments in
this area pressured governments to ratify agreements and covenants. Measures were
adopted on discrimination and violence against women in addition to those favoring
expansion of their fundamental rights. In continuation, the international human rights
instruments ratified in Colombia are summarized. None of these have been amended48.
Convention
Yea
r
On women’s nationality.
1933
On women’s political rights concessions.
1948
On women’s political rights.
1953
On the elimination of all forms of 1979
discrimination against women. Upholds
affirmative actions.
The Ratification of the Inter-American 1994
Convention to prevent, sanction, and
eradicate violence against women
as
declared by the Constitutional Court on
Sept. 4, 1996 in sentence C-408/96.
Date ratified
July 22, 1936
June 3, 1959
August 5, 1986
January 19, 1982
Law No.
Law 77/1935
Law 08/1959
Law 35/1986
Law 51/1981
March 5, 1996 Law 248/1995
It is true that many of these agreements generate purely formal impacts. However, they
represent a first step towards adopting a perspective sensitive to forms of discrimination
against women. In addition, certain international agreements prevail over national law in
force.
A second Rights movement initiated at the start of the 1990’s, although still accompanied
with international pressure. A qualitative jump fueled that change: the celebration of the
National Constituent Assembly and the subsequent approval of the new Political
Constitution of 1991. These times represent a milestone for feminism. Unlike the prior
Constitution, the new 1991 charter contemplates specific women’s rights, empowers civil
legislation with the capacity to regulate marital or couple relations, enabled the
implementation of affirmative elements against discrimination, prohibited the use of
violence in the family and declared all types of discrimination as unconstitutional,
including sexual discrimination.49 Foreign pressure was not behind these advances, but
were generated from the internal demands mentioned above. Articulation between female
16
and male politicians, feminist and women’s movements and members of the Constituent
Assembly (See point 1.3) all contributed to that action.
The constituent process additionally revealed a “weakened Catholic church, parties
without articulated axis and the presence of inward looking and occasionally split
movements. The process also magnified an explosion of previously invisible social
diversity and the appearance of new conceptions on democracy” (Wills, 2000). The
attrition of the Catholic church represents an important change to women’s lives. This
institution had regulated Colombian’s daily lives and the sexual morals from a
perspective that praised abnegation and concealment amongst women while promoting
their dedication (as a mission in life) to the home and children. Within its official
discourse, the Church opposed and still opposes all family planning methods, considers
heterosexuality as the only sound and “natural” alternative for the human species and
disassociates sexuality from any tie to eroticism and pleasure.
Today the Catholic Church must compete on the spiritual plane with other churches and
creeds. In the political field it must confront powers of an increasingly secular nature.
The Constitutional Court, entity created by the Constitution of 1991, entered the terrain
of “private relations” to defend the rights for free development of the individual, nondiscrimination and other rights promoted under the new Constitution. Greater emphasis
placed on State organizations has enabled more comprehensive discussions while giving
greater wider political emphasis to topics previously considered more as a matter of faith,
than social arrangements.
A third period in the Legal field was later promoted within the legislative branch. A
gradual conformation of a still fragile “crucial mass” in Congress is related to this new
period. The “crucial mass” was promoted by changes ratified under the new Constitution
in addition to new social norms, social changes, the availability of professional education
to greater numbers of women and women’s insertion within the political arena all
induced (Dahlerup, 1993).
In quantitative terms, female participation in Congress
notably increased after 1991, even though this number only reaches 11% in both the
House of Representatives and the Senate (See Attachment 1). While the number of
women in Parliament continues to be low and the female representatives strongly
resisted gender related topics or were notably ignorant on gender50, the panorama has
started to change over the past few years. In addition, a number of feminists have
recently arrived to Congress (Margarita Londoño, for instance). Women who have not
declared themselves as feminists but who are interested in gender related topics and
supporting laws favorable to those “constituencies” (Yaneth Suárez and Piedad Córdoba,
for example) are also active in Congress. Other representatives have gradually acquired
sensibility on the topic after suffering histories of discrimination or power manipulation.
These representatives also launch or back projects in Congress directed towards women
(Viviane Morales, for example, backer of the law on quotas).
A fourth period will probably initiate in the near future. This tendency refers to the still
faint efforts to construct a more stable process of mediation between some currents in the
feminist movement and some women members of Parliament. One portion of the
feminist movement, in this case being the National Women’s Network – Bogotá Office,
started a lobbying effort to convince the members of Parliament to create a feminist block
organized around initiatives such as the Law on Quotas.
The “crucial mass”
17
accompanied the congressional debate process and while preparing comparative texts
describing positive actions implemented around other areas of the globe (National
Women’s Network – Bogotá Office, 1998: a & b). This activity provided the historical
and philosophical underpinnings for discussion while qualifying the terms of debate.
This faint crucial mass, or block, in Congress, in addition to the still fragile alliance
between women and a portion of the feminist movement all contributed to a series of
legislative changes including:
IMPORTANT LAWS ON THE ADVANCEMENT OF GENDER 51




Law 82/1993 – The State shall regulate income for single woman heads of household, and the
family of that person when it includes persons under the responsibility of the social security
system, order to provide integral protection. This law corresponds to a type of affirmative
action for a group defined as vulnerable.
Law 294/1996 – This Intra-family Violence Law seeks to prevent, sanction and compensate
domestic violence. It penalizes this kind of violence, establishes sexual violence between
partners as a punishable offense and attempts to protect the mistreated party (family judge).
Law 360/97 Crimes against Sexual Liberty and Human Dignity (Violent carnal access,
between 8 to 20 years).
In 1992, the Constitutional Court recognized domestic work within the home as qualifying
for monetary valuation, thus establishing a precedent and formulating jurisprudence.
However, the changes represented by the above mentioned processes are under threat. In
the first place, certain topics such as abortion, forced carnal access and sexual abuse
generate resistance amongst legislators and judges. Thus, few members of parliament,
both men and women, are making an effort to support or propose these measures because
they imply complex filing processes with a high probability of being shelved. The topic
of abortion is even more complicated. It implies negotiations with the Catholic Church
(depenalization of abortion was defeated in the Constituent Assembly). The Church
continues to play a role of moral tutor, although that body has lost political centrality.
The second important source of resistance in the legislative progress is related to the
period after the mentioned types of laws are approved. This legislation is not always
regulated after approval and thus become very difficult to apply. In addition, the persons
who these laws would protect are not always familiar with their content nor with judicial
language and processes. In spite of these limitations, it must be recognized that certain
laws (quotas, intra-family violence) have generated national level debate which uncover
situations previously ignored52.
In the third place, the judicial branch and most legal institutions are permeated with
masculine concepts. They reproduce justice in terms of subtly discriminating patterns
against women. In spite of the fact that, as mentioned previously, the Constitutional
Court has issued some “progressive” sentences, the great majority of judiciary
functionaries and attorneys refuse to recognize the fact that judicial action produces very
different consequences for men and women. Thus a detailed revision of the conceptual
bases of judicial decisions, jurisprudence and procedure is necessary to guarantee greater
equality of access to justice and conflict resolution between men and women within
society (Motta, 1998). The teaching of law is apparently quite receptive to discourse
promoting multi-cultural considerations, but is almost entirely hermetic to feminist
18
discourse (See point No. 2 on resistance to the category of gender and receptivity to that
category in the academic field).
The preponderantly male composition of the judicial apparatus is not of much aid either.
Only a minimal number of magistrates in the high courts are women, as may be observed
in the table below. In addition, men almost totally dominate the selection process. The
existing magistrates are those who define the candidate pool for future positions,
generally quite reduced in number53.
Women’s participation in the High Courts, 1995.
Position
Constitutional Court
Supreme Court of Justice
Superior Council of the
Superintendency of Justice.
Council of State.
Total
Total
No.
Women
%
7
20
13
0
0
1
0
0
7.69%
26
66
4
5
15.38%
7.58%
Source: DINEM. Op.Cit., pg. 190.
Receptivity to gender topics Law is now based on internal process. Law (constitutional
norms and the system responsible for protection of those norms, in addition to the laws
and apparatus responsible for their promulgation) the process of developing sensitivity to
gender is now no longer one of externally applied pressures (international conventions
and World Conferences on Women). In addition, during the last twenty years a “crucial
mass” has been constructed in the legislative sphere. That “mass” often does not
encounter empathy in Congress nor within the judicial branch. Furthermore, during
certain specific periods of transition, or political junctures, this potential “mass” has been
able to articulate with a sector from the feminist movement to act jointly in Congress.
However, it is too soon to know whether these localized events, in some cases promoted
with foreign funding, would become the seed for more stable mediation between
members of Parliament and a current of the feminist movement, or to the contrary if these
efforts would rapidly die out.
4. Public Policy with a perspective on Gender: a balance between technocracy,
concerted action and client based politics.
Summarily, public policy directed towards women during the last twenty years is no
longer based on specific efforts inspired from considerations on development. Women’s
public policy now begins to operate in governmental instances created to overcome
gender inequality. Difficulties have abound during this transition period. Even today the
process of institutionalization is poorly consolidated. In continuation we shall present a
reconstruction of these events.
19
4.1. From formalisms to the first efforts: the case of the Ministry of
Agriculture and Community Homes (1984 to 1990)
Colombia signed a series of international commitments in 197954. As a result, in 1980
“the government created the National Council for Women’s Integration within
Development (…), however it did not specify (for that entity) an administrative structure
nor did it assign personnel and budget” (Caro, 1995 : 450). As an institution, this council
appears to be more of a formal move than a serious political commitment of the
Colombian government.
Four years later, Cecilia López and Fabiola Campillo initiated a policy that impacted all
Latin America: the Policy for Peasant Women55 promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture.
This policy marked the arrival of femocrats (bureaucrats with a feminist consciousness)
to governmental entities (Geerje Lycklama á Nijeholt, Virginia Vargas and Saskia
Wieringa, 1996).
As noted previously, academics had initiated a series of studies on articulations between
the spheres of production and reproduction during the 1980’s (See point 2.2). At that
time, the femocrats defined women’s subordination and discrimination to be basically an
economic phenomena. Therefore, this policy emphasized development and redistribution
as a strategy towards generating improved material standards of living56 amongst women.
This assumes that economic progress would automatically incite changes of
consciousness within the target population.
The question thus arises on why was sensitivity towards gender incorporated within the
institutional discourse of an entity such as the Ministry of Agriculture?. Several reasons
lie behind the answer. In the first place, the presence of certain individuals was key to
permit entry of feminist sensibilities within that institution. For instance, Cecilia Lopez
was named Vice-minister of agriculture under the Belisario Betancur government and it
was she who promoted that policy. In addition, she was familiar with a previously
available empirical data base on rural women’s conditions. This data was generated from
research completed at the end of the 1970’s57. Finally, and equally important, notable
cycles of peasant mobilizations, in which women’s presence was fundamental, took place
during that time. During the same decade, several agrarian Women’s Congresses were
sponsored by the National Association of Peasant Users (Asociación Nacional de
Usuarios Campesinos)58.
In addition to circumstantial reasons (presence of a vice-minister sensitive towards
gender), that period was immersed in a context that enabled agrarian policy for peasant
women to fall on fertile soil. The peasant women’s movement was shared by women
who felt it was possible to profitably work with the State and who therefore supported
government efforts. The other portion of peasant women were “fearful of possible State
manipulation and potential coercion”59 (CITA). In any case, the creation of the National
Association of Peasant, Indigenous and Black Women – ANMUCIC resulted from this
confluence of public policy with a portion of the peasant women’s social movements.
Today, this organization incorporates more than 27 associations at the departmental level
for a total of more than 100,000 affiliated women.
Conversion of policy into a space for confluence is an important phenomenon. At the
beginning, the femocrats, inspired in relevant literature, had designed strategies for
20
peasant women. Access to a preliminary data base and sensitivity towards gender
discrimination and subordination were also helpful. However, this process took place
with limited participation from the Colombian agrarian sector and women peasants and
without with consultation. It was only be later when both elements, policy and the
movement, would converge.
Vigilio Barco’s presidential government implemented a development plan called the
“1986-1990 Social Economy Plan”. Within that Plan, and underpinnings similar to those
described above (economic bias and a top to bottom design strategy), the Colombian
Institute of Family Welfare promoted policy oriented towards providing the opportunity
for collective child rearing amongst mothers from popular sectors. As had been the case
for agrarian policy, self-managed solutions promoted by the community mothers and
State action both converged. On one hand, working mothers perceived the need to
resolve certain problems related to rearing their children and in addition to domestic
violence. On the other, the State offered support with a plan for the creation of
“Community Homes”.
The Community Mothers program enabled the women to organize and mutually support
each other. This later developed into the Association of Community Mothers for a Better
Colombia –Amcolombia-, with more that 100,000 women affiliated throughout the
country today. As discussed below, the ANMUCIC and Amcolombia movements were
developed from unintentional confluence processes, but have become stronger over time.
In a manner similar to that of the peasant women’s policy, the community homes strategy
had a developmental bias. The primordial basis behind these policies was the resolution
of urgent requirements for material survival. In addition, public policy was rooted in the
axiom that institutional strategy would be disseminated down to the benefiting sectors.
These sectors were generally considered more as a “target population” than as
participants60. Additionally, during those initial years, public policy for women was an
exception within institutional structure, while governmental institutions did not concert
women’s public policy. These were practically isolated efforts on separate islands
within the institutional structure, marginated from the concepts and resources behind
existing global policy.
4.2. From the periphery to the center: Towards institutional processes
specifically designed for women.
Several changes came together during the initial years of the 1990’s. The developmental
focus was subject to substantial economic criticism, while criticism at the political level
targeted the idea of representative-delegated democracy. Concepts such as empowering,
citizenship, subjectivity and symmetric power relations gradually appeared in the
academic and bureaucratic lexicon. In this context, a second period initiated for the
introduction of a more open perspective on gender discrimination within the institutional
sphere. This period started with accepting the fact that improved living conditions were
not necessarily a road towards changing the consciousness of groups traditionally subject
to discrimination and exclusion. To enable the effectiveness of such policy, pedagogical
initiatives to empower women would necessarily have to accompany economic programs.
21
The Plan for Development titled “The pacific revolution, 1990-1994” implemented under
Cesar Gaviria’s presidency initiated the introduction of a new perspective on
development. However, that plan did not then, nor now, modify the concept of delegated
democracy utilized in governmental entities. During the first days of his government, the
First Lady’s office led the conformation of a Presidential Council on Youth, Women and
the Family, formalized under Decree 1878. The council was responsible for “orienting,
coordinating and supervising programs and projects to guarantee compliance of the rights
of the population groups under its responsibility”(CITA). Funding was allocated from the
national budget and included international cooperative funds; however, only 5.6% was
assigned to women (CITA). That institution’s execution capacity was extremely low
(Meertens, 1996) with very unstable management structures: during those four years
“directors changed more than seven times”.61
In 1992, the Council presented the CONPES 2626/92 document titled “The integral
women’s policy”, for inclusion in national policy and thus introduced a new focus for
official discourse on women. The document treated gender inequality and discrimination
against women as structural problems (Meertens, 1996). The Council advanced in
understanding discrimination and subordination against women in a more general
manner. It attempted to appropriate the new perspectives on planning with a perspective
on gender during an international seminar it organized on that topic in 1992 (Meertens,
1996). However the Council was only partially successful. That organization’s main
weakness centered on the fact that it had drawn up the document cited above without
consulting with the women’s movements. Lack of articulation became an impediment for
massive women’s support and reduced the document’s representative nature. According
to Olga Amparo Sánchez the content of the text was deficient because it “exclusively
projected improvements for low income peasant and urban women through the use of
outdated technology, while ignoring the outstanding and recent problems of women’s
subordination and oppression permeating all social classes” (Sánchez, 1994).
The Council’s fragile institutional solidity soon became evident. When Ernesto Samper
was inaugurated to his presidential period (1994-1998), his government terminated the
Council. However, one year later a Senator in the Samper block, Piedad Córdoba, took
advantage of her position as a speaker within the National Development Plan, her notable
political skills and support from a group of women in Parliament. After substantial
lobbying, she was able to include a State entity in the Plan called the National Directorate
for Women’s Equality (DINEM), responsible for coordinating gender policy. The
Directorate was established under Decree 1440 of 1995 and commenced activities in
August of that year. The decree mandated the status of a Special Administrative Unit
ascribed to the Administrative Department of the Presidency with administrative
autonomy and a budgetary regime included in organic budget law (Acosta, 1998).
Shortly afterwards, Olga Amparo Sánchez was appointed as director. She was a founder
of the Casa de la Mujer, one of the first NGOs dedicated to the specific defense of
women’s rights and which provides attention for women victims of domestic violence.
Olga Amparo suggests that her appointment was probably due to criteria requiring an
apolitical orientation within the Directorate and adds “I don’t belong to any party”62.
Such appointments imposed at the top of these institutional structures would later
generate strife and misunderstandings within the Colombian women’s movement.
22
Under the direction of Olga Amparo Sánchez, the DINEM adopted three lines of action.
The first is directed towards the organization of training for public functionaries and
congressional consultants to promote legislative projects benefiting women. The second
focuses on introducing a perspective on gender applicable to development plans. The
third area receives the greatest fraction of the Directorate’s budget and is directed
towards supporting and empowering social organizations through the conformation of
events, publications and training programs (Barrig, 1997).63
Parallel to the time when Ernest Samper assumed office, Cecilia López prepared a
document titled “The Women’s White Book” to draw up an integral strategy on equality.
This document was prepared behind the back of the women’s social movement and
neither its goals nor proposals were the product of prior consultation with feminist and
women’s movements64 After promoting new policies for rural women at the Ministry of
Agriculture, Cecilia was named director of the National Planning Department (DNP)
where she set up the Consulting Team on Gender Affairs, entity which reports directly to
the director of the National Planning Department. The main function of that team is to
imprint a perspective of gender over the statistics and policy prepared at that entity. In
1994, López included the Policy on Women’s Equity and Participation (EPAM) within
the National Development Plan. Simultaneously, the director of the planning department
attempted to set up an “institutional web of women in upper administrative levels” 65. In
this manner, the topic of gender would be introduced “from above” avoiding isolating an
entity not articulated within the institutional structure. In the opinion of Cecilia López,
these measures attempted to permeate State entities from a multi-sector perspective
(Acosta, 1998).
From the start, Cecilia López’s strategies at the Planning Department clearly confronted
the position adopted by Olga Amparo Sánchez as director of the DINEM. The former
assumed that a process of institutional penetration “from above” would be sufficient for
the perspective on gender equality to permeate the higher levels of bureaucracy.
Meanwhile, the latter strategy emphasized action centered on social movements, NGOs
and the diffusion of law and programs towards civil society. Both strategies would have
been mutually compatible. In a manner similar to the case of the history of feminist
movements in Colombia (see Section 1), distinct focuses became radically divided and
ended up polarizing those two women occupying upper level government positions.
Those strategies, instead of complementing each other, competed to the point of mutually
weakening both. The DNP attacked the work of Olga Amparo Sanchez qualifying it as
unarticulated and becoming lost in micro-initiatives. The DINEM was accused of
converting itself into a large NGO utilized for client based political purposes (Ospina,
1998). In spite of the impeccable technical substantiation for the studies prepared by the
Gender Unit at the Planning Department, quibbles with the DINEM were interpreted as
clashes between two politically ambitious women: Piedad Córdoba and Cecilia López.
Those public disagreements generated an air of discredit between the two femocrats. By
the end of the Samper government it had become clear that institutionalization of gender
policy and those entities dedicated to the promotion of gender equality was still a fragile
process. The Gender Consulting Group at the National Planning Department was
transformed into an office under the Social Development Unit with only one employee.
The DINEM became a Presidency Council Office. The first director of the DINEM
23
named during the Pastrana presidency (1998-2000) was Elsa Gladys Cifuentes. She was
appointed as a result of to her participation in the presidential campaign and her
experience in regional politics. Any credentials on gender equality were not a factor. She
resigned after one year to be replaced by another woman from the Pastrana camp. Those
two appointments reflect the manner in which governments still consider women’s as
client based political entities useful for returning favors. It also becomes evident that the
women’s and feminist movements have not been able to establish themselves as a solid
actors with which the government must negotiate to appoint or remove functionaries and
to create political consensus.
Meanwhile, the Equal Opportunities Plan (PIO) lost momentum due to the nature of its
method of implementation. In the past, this Plan had motivated a participation planning
process generated from the Confluence of Networks (See point 1.4) in addition to
lobbying efforts between the social movement and government entities. This method
established the National Planning Department as the entity responsible for follow up and
evaluation procedures. The recently created Council was made responsible for general
design and coordination, while various governmental sectors managed execution (health,
education, agriculture, etc.). In addition to the difficulties related to inter-institutional
coordination procedures resulting from that method, resources have still not been
assigned to the Equal Opportunity Plan, in spite of its approval within the National
Development Plan”66.
4.4. To conclude
Women’s Public policy has gone through distinct phases from 1980 to 1999. During that
period, Colombia abandoned its position as a country which promotes “discrete”
women’s policy and unarticulated initiatives within the institutional structure (peasant
women’s policy and community homes). It now formulates the creation of offices
exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality (the Commission on Youth,
Women and the Family, and later the National Directorate on Women’s Equality –
DINEM). However, institutionalization remains a fragile process, marked by political
whims and is still vulnerable to the demands of client based politics (See annex 3:
summary of public policies).
It is true that over the last twenty years, government focuses on the topic of women have
changed, somewhat differently from academic transformations. From purely economic
concepts emphasis has shifted, at least in a theoretical sense, towards more integral and
complex points of view which incorporate cultural and political dimensions within an
understanding of the exclusion and discrimination affecting women’s lives.
In those
terms, the governmental sphere gives more consideration to the gender problem that to
women. However, during this journey along the concept of gender within institutions,
that category has often lost its critical dimension to be converted into a “politically
correct” way to “properly present” the social existence of men and women. “When
utilized in a neutral sense, gender looses its sense of subversion regarding the
subordinated relations to which women are subject, even today”67.” Thus, institutional
circulation of gender related topics is not always an indicator of a changing mentality
within State bureaucracy and even less of massive receptivity to women’s discrimination.
24
Even today, applied focuses are often biased. The femocrats, operating from an
economic point of view, focus policy on transforming economic conditions. Those from
Anthropology, philosophy and the humanities emphasize changes in women’s
consciousness. Meanwhile, the integrated positions achieved in some academic circles
do not translate easily into multi-faceted public views which would articulate economic
initiatives with pedagogical efforts seeking to trigger women’s empowering processes.
The difficulties related to transferring integral gender equality processes to public policy
constitute only one aspect of the problem. A gap exists between the proposal on
democratic participation (praised during the early 1990’s and included in the Constitution
of 1991) and the political practices utilized to prepare government initiatives.
In
addition, gender equality policy is substantially under represented. In general,
governmental initiatives are not the result of negotiation and lobbying processes between
women’s social movements, various feminist currents and State bureaucracy. Spaces for
Negotiation and the search for consensus have only occasionally been produced amongst
a portion of women’s movements and public functionaries, may they be men or women
(Beijing, the Equal Opportunity Plan, for example). On other occasions, fortunate but
basically casual encounters have been generated between public policy and women’s
social movements (the case of the ANMUCIC and the Ministry of Agriculture, the
community homes program at the Colombian Institute for Social Welfare and
Amcolombia). This shows that even amongst femocrats, concepts still exist which
attribute certain intrinsic validity to the technocratic discourse with. However, this
concept does little to promote convergence with the women’s social movement and to
change the fact that, with some exceptions, those movements continue to be ignored by
the institutional world. Thus, encounters between femocrats and women’s social
movements continue to be specific and circumstantial instead of representing the product
of stable mediation between those two worlds.
Initiatives directed towards women also must confront serious funding problems. In
general such policy is expensive and depends on international cooperation to a large
extent68. The lack of institutional coordination also impedes efficient use of the scarce
resources assigned to the search for gender equality. In addition, public officials tend to
be poorly prepared on the topic of gender. This situation affects policy quality and
efficacy while impeding viable backing. The evaluation prepared by the Gender
Consulting Team at the National Planning Department indicates the need for more
persons adequately prepared to comply with the proposed objectives. The limited number
of women in public positions is an existing problem in the field of justice and does not
contribute much to the generation of an atmosphere favorable to gender sensitivity. In
spite of the fact that the number of women occupying high level public positions is
increasing, the absolute amount of women in the upper level official jobs is still relatively
low in Colombia (see annex 2). Profoundly masculine and machismo based cultures still
prosper69.
The fact that femocrats are decisive figures for implementation of policy constitutes
another roadblock. The key role of a single person behind the success or demise of a
policy is not exclusive to gender topics, but in this case contributes to hindering the
continuity and efficacy of women’s policy. This problem became evident after Cecilia
López left the Planning Department. Gender initiatives at the department drastically
25
declined shortly thereafter. In addition, the importance these people attain generally is a
factor behind conceptual differences or divisions which later grow into personal
confrontations. These confrontations often lead to ruptures in inter-institutional channels
of communication and block cooperation, as was the case for Cecilia Lopez in the
National Planning Department and Olga Amparo Sánchez at the DINEM.
In general terms over the last twenty years, feminist discourse has opened path towards
the inside of the State. However, progress on a vision sensitive to gender discrimination
and subordination has met with sizable resistance which threatens to suffocate the
achievements obtained to date. Such resistance stems from masculine institutional
culture and fragility, alongside errors in the feminist field. Femocrats and feminist
currents (See section 1 of this report) still suffer from serious difficulties related to
democratic management of different views. Instead of respecting distinct positions and
generating a minimal consensus centering on shared goals and built out of diversity, the
feminist currents flowing through State bureaucracy transform differences into sharp
antagonisms.
5. Feminist consciousness, gender and the women’s movement: a balance between
war and a bad marriage70
In terms of the popular sphere, a tendency has been operating over the last twenty years
to transform women from specific social and political actors into more visible roles.
During that period, women have started to avoid getting lost within an anonymous and
generic mass based on social mobilizations. They have started to acquire their own
identity. This has taken place in three distinct contexts. In the first place, some women’s
organizations have stimulated their dynamic relations with the State (ANMUCIC and
Amcolombia). The second area includes citizens and mothers who protest against war
and the third comprises the women’s offices recently included within labor unions and
syndicates. A final important tendency which appeared during the 1990’s comprises
those women from the upper classes who often organize efforts to protest against
corruption and other specific items (for example, blackouts). In addition to gaining
visibility, this period in the women’s movement corresponds to efforts, with varying
degrees of success, that articulate peace initiatives.
As mentioned in the chapter on the institutional sphere, two public policies reinforced
organizational processes already underway: specifically being, policies on peasant
women and community homes. Such initiatives are often criticized because they fortify
dependant relationships between women’s groups and institutional funding71. In
addition, distribution of funds has generated discord while functioning to favor the
political loyalty of some groups and to punish others. In spite of these trouble spots, the
ANMUCIC and AMCOLOMBIA are active organizations with a high capacity for
mobilization and exerting public pressure. In 1990, the data base on civil resistance at
the Center for Popular Research and Investigation (CINEP) adopted the category of
“women’s mobilizations”. This instrument shows that of a total of 37 collective women’s
actions reported in the newspapers between January 1991 and November 1997, 9 were
initiated by the Community Mothers. These movements petitioned the State to recognize
the mothers as public functionaries with the right to a pension, health benefits and an
adequate “bonus”.
26
Women also mobilized during the 1990’s to demand improved provision of services, to
protest against the government’s macro-economic policy and electric blackouts (See
attachment No. 3). Women were additionally able to send a very clear message on social
class during these protests. The Unified Workers Central (Central Unitaria de
Trabajadores) organized a march on March 8th, 1992 to protest against “the government’s
macro-economic policy and the high cost of basic goods”. Shortly thereafter,
businesswomen organized as “Women at the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown” protested in
June of that year against electrical blackouts.
In addition to protests on economic policy, mother’s protests against war became more
frequent. In March 1996, mothers of soldiers detained by the guerillas marched in
Bogotá to demand their sons’ release. The protest was repeated soon thereafter in
Medellín. Later, in December 1996, the mothers of soldiers detained after FARC the
attack on the town of “Las Delicias” also pressured the guerrillas and the government to
respect their sons’ lives (Villareal, 1997). Meanwhile, women from a variety of
organizations initiated a massive war protest march72. This initiative was organized with
funds from the National Directorate for Women’s Equality, other government institutions
and international cooperation73. The march was very effective. In Antioquia, a region
decimated by violence, more than 1,500 women joined to declare “No more war and
spilled blood”74 and to demand their inclusion in the peace talks.
It is important to mention that both the organizing entities and the individual women
participants denounced ALL armed actors. They condemned war within a discourse on
ethics based on respect for Human Rights. A preliminary section of their document read:
“We are ashamed of these acts which degrade and destroy the human race”. In another
section they invite all actors involved in the war, including “paramilitaries, the Convivir,
drug traffickers, guerillas and the military to disarm (…)”. Organizing these events in
such a war stricken zone requires great effort and courage. In a country where civil
declarations are rapidly polarized and dragged into wartime dynamics, an effort to create
public opinion distanced from all poles of the armed conflict in order to propose a
democratic and negotiated solution is a daring task. Accordingly, many of the organizers
received threats.75
Finally, popular organizations began to accept the possibility that women could adopt
their own identity. During the first years of the 1980’s many “comrades” assumed that
feminism would divide the working class. This is not the case today. In the CUT, for
example the working woman’s office has been acquiring status and visibility within a
panorama which, of course, gives priority to the class struggle above all other aspects of
social confrontation.
Efforts have also been made to articulate localized and dispersed initiatives. Various
types of networks have appeared. The Women’s Popular Education Network (REPEM),
the Colombian Network for Sexual and Reproductive Rights and the National Movement
of Women Peacemakers and Actors for Peace are representative of formal networks.
Many other networks with a lower degree of institutionalization also exist in nodes where
information circulates and contacts are made.76
In spite of efforts towards articulating public action amongst women, these process are
obstructed by a series of knots, situation is common to many activities in Colombia
27
(Alvarez, Saporta, Navarro, Chuchryk, 1992). Women from union organizations and
organized popular sectors tend to contextualize their struggles within meta-narratives that
prioritize the class struggle above all other considerations. Thus, the time worn dispute
between the defendants of the autonomous feminist movement and those who combine
this activity with militancy has assumed new connotations. Collective multi-class action
is difficult because certain currents emphasize a party based discourse which articulates
specific struggles to global class antagonism. Other movements, however, prefer to focus
on well identified women’s struggles. These types of difficulties become more explicit
during the activities organized to defend the DINEM. In these meetings many
autonomous feminists wanted to focus on the specific topic on which all sectors had
united to discuss. Meanwhile, the women from the unions proposed defending that
institution in terms of a discourse attacking the neo-liberal development model.
Although these differences did not destroy the joint effort, they weakened it. The class
based position finally dominated, leaving the remaining networks behind with a sensation
that they had diluted their identity within that unification.77
During such multi-class women’s events, the question on articulations between class and
gender continually tends to reemerge. For example, tensions surfaced amongst the
participants in the First Women’s Congress to Broaden the Exersize of Citizenship and
Equal Opportunities held in December 1999, in spite of the success of that Congress.
Some women felt intimidated by the presence of experts. They petitioned for a change in
methodology which would permit the regional delegations to narrate their specific
experiences and therewith construct a collective strategy. Other participants supported
the methodology of the Congress and accused the former of attempting to politicize the
event: they felt that such criticism originated from areas with connections to armed
groups. 78
Tension between experts and the grassroots is generally not a chance event. When the
academics are not present, the dissenting parties often have expressed with surprise,
“where are the academics?”. This is the type of question which women’s movements
generally ask themselves when they hold meetings to organize collective lobbying
processes, or to pressure and monitor international commitments signed by the
Colombian State. Meanwhile, during some interviews, academics openly express their
reluctance towards greater involvement with the women’s movement. For instance,
“activism is a world blighted by personal disputes. Many of us (academic women) feel
that our participation in that space would be a waste of our time and personally wearing”.
Whatever the case may be, mediation between the academic and militant spheres is
generally fragile. Apparently the task of creating the bridge proposed by certain gender
programs between research and society has still not been completed.
In summary, perspectives on greater solidarity with feminist concepts have been able to
pave their way towards the popular sphere over the last twenty years in Colombia.
Confronted with degradation of war in the country, some women’s movements and a
portion of feminist currents have united during transitory articulation periods. However,
the relation between those sectors is still wrought with tension and conflict and is even
affected by the current war. Therefore, at the same time these that these relationships
generate spaces for encounter, they also promote mistrust and polarization.
28
5. The end of the journeys : the Great Vacuum.
“Exile truly transformed the left (in Chile) into a cosmopolitan and
sophisticated movement (…). Their renovation was thus all the more
easier.
When Feminism had infuriated me, Soledad and I were the essence of
ghosts, now I have to make everything relative – it must be the 1990’s..”
Marcela Serrano, 1995 : 277-278.
According to Marcela Serrano, in Chile, women and leftist movements changed as a
result of their experiences in exile. In Colombia, significant changes amongst the elite,
the government, the anti-status quo and the public and the counter-public, have occurred
alongside the horrors of war. The barbaric and arbitrary nature of war stimulated
reflections on democracy, conflict resolution through dialogue, pluralism and the
institutional space. This altitude has characterized some State strategies and other
initiatives generated within civil society.
This discourse, with its origins in the present national conditions, has found an
international partner. The global proposal on respect for the right to differences and harsh
criticism against any internal political or social homogenization process closely
resembles the Colombian position. In spite of the fact that praise for diversity is loaded
with an immense democratic potential, unlimited adoption of this view could easily lead
to social and political fragmentation. Each type of difference would thus exemplify its
uniqueness and, in this context, abandon the effort to construct the bridges necessary to
mutually discover elements in common within collective processes.
The danger of that fragmentation in Colombia would border on abandoning praise for
diversity, acquires dramatic tones. Armed conflict and memories of the “absolutist” strife
from other times reflect the democratic tendencies implicit in the defense of diversity.
Paranoia, fear and mistrust impede the formation of one or more spheres of debate
articulated amongst themselves. Questions like, Who am I talking with?, What side is
he/she on? Will my interlocutor have suspicious connections with armed actors?, make
construction of spaces for encounter all the more difficult. Such mistrust becomes more
comprehensible considering the implications of a “bad marriage” or gullible alliances
which could have unexpected consequences and/or unwittingly include a party committed
to the armed conflict.
The general Colombian situation has introduced specific characteristics and implications
to feminism and women’s movements. In each of the five fields of analysis previously
discussed (feminist identities, academia, law, public policy and women’s movements) we
find that during the two decades of this study, undeniable progress has taken place in the
organization and clarification of goals and strategies. However, the momentum behind
such progress is halted by the discussions and resistance lingering from the past
differences.
The first journey relates the construction of feminist identities. Although all the persons
interviewed, formulated their criticism of colleagues and companions very carefully, a
deficit in the presence of public sphere and debate was most recognizable:
29
Colombian feminists have not been capable of producing sound reflections on how
we must open a space within the public sphere. We arrived at the public sphere
backed by skills developed in the private and where conflicts are often not resolved
directly. Two sided messages and unplanned alliances are all common and utilize
emotional resources. During discussions amongst ourselves as feminists, we usually
combine personal and professional topics. There, conflicts jump from the logicalrational plane to the personal and emotional without any type of mediation.
To make this affair even more complicated, the affective world has been
constructed on the assumption that closeness is born out of sameness In the intimate
field, a person instead of accepting the other as distinct, accepts him or her as
identical. Therefore, handling differences becomes extremely complex. In this
framework, public differences are easily converted into friend/enemy confrontations
which impede cooperation between distinct currents. We mentally eliminate the other
and become incapable of even having a coffee with the opposition after a discussion.
We are unable to distance ourselves from conflicts. Conflicts totally absorb us while
our whole life passes by in this emotional-rational involvement.
Women have not been able to sustain civil relations amongst ourselves. Even today
it is very difficult for us to recognize authority in another woman’s voice. We are still
trapped in this compulsive urge to tirelessly seek our father’s recognition. Perhaps
our identities are as fragile as eggshells. Perhaps we hold many fears and
insecurities inside ourselves and that is why we do not accept other women and thus
perceive them as the competition. Internal fears continue to snow us under.
This conjugation of passion and reason complicate our conflicts and many times
convert them from skin deep dislike into irremediable distances over time79.
It can be deduced from this multi-vocal narrative that women have to learn to distinguish
the emotional-affective-personal plane from the professional-militant-academic levels
within ourselves. This proposal would not only sharply separate the public from the
private but would recognize that both are multiply compatible but distinct areas. Making
this distinction would enable women to avoids collapsing the personal within the public
sphere and thus initiate a process permitting the set of feminisms and women’s
movements to act in a more dispassionate manner on the public theater.
The second journey, namely penetration of the feminist outlook in the academic area,
involves two processes. The first refers to the strategies adopted within a dialectic
movement which have simultaneously produced results and obstacles. Once gender
studies centers became institutionalized, they guaranteed the logistic resources required
for the construction of feminist academic communities capable of producing far reaching
academic research. However, this strategy has isolated feminist discussion and
production from the mainstream of most faculties and disciplines. Until the category of
gender and the corresponding body of research “neutralizes” the various university
majors, the new generations will graduate without having any inkling to feminist thought.
Perhaps these deficiencies in the academic journey explain the lack of generational
continuity which become immediately apparent at feminist encounters and meetings. It
is also clear that this lack of transition is related to the perverse effects of animosity
dragging behind feminism. The presence of such conflict and discord impedes an
30
enthusiastic commitment to the feminist struggle amongst more young people and
academics.
This idea brings us to the second knot in the journey through academia. With few
exceptions80, very fragile mediation exists between women’s/feminist movements and
academics. In addition to the distancing effect produced by feminist infighting,
communication gaps become even wider in function of the great distances still existing in
this country which operate to separate women in spheres of concrete thought from those
of abstract logic. In addition to the enormous distances between those two thought
patterns, “codes of style” separate the spheres of official or academic negotiation from
the unofficial (Fraser, 1997).
With reference to Law, the balance is apparently more positive. Joint efforts between
distinct feminist movements in the Constituent Assembly have born fruit. Today, new
rights inscribed in the Constitution of 1991 back women. In addition, regulation of
relations within the intimate sphere are no longer the exclusive domain of the Catholic
Church and are now governed by more secular bodies such as the Constitutional Court.
This has enabled a more open type of public political debate. In Congress, a fragile
nucleus or crucial mass of women members of Parliament is now playing a role in new
initiatives. Additionally, part of the feminist movement has constructed apparently
advantageous relations with the potential block of congresswomen (approval of the
quotas law, for example). However, university faculties of law and the judicial branch
are apparently more recalcitrant to the feminist outlook.
Several knots exist in the fourth journey, that of the femocrats within the institutional
system. The femocrats have fostered the displacement of conflicts between feminist
movements towards the heart of the State. Strife, jealousy and competition all have
hindered the advancement of a more integral feminist view within State institutions. In
addition, the entities dedicated to gender equality are ridden with client based political
logic. Both male and female politicians consider such institutions as booty to be
distributed amongst their associates. Neither has public policy generally been the product
of consulting and lobbying efforts with women’s social movements.
While distance exists between the academic world and women’s movements, it also
separates the institutional and militant worlds. Women who operate in upper institutional
spheres apply a “know how” distinct from that of women dedicated to social promotion
in the popular feminist and militant arenas. Each, the femocrat, the militant and the
facilitator, have different skills, languages, codes and senses of time. In Colombia, this
specific set of style and time has become, during certain key moments, the root of
discord. Each type of militancy claims to be correct and devaluates the work of other
women in other fields. Therefore, potentially complementary actions are perceived by
their very protagonists as options that compete amongst themselves and in the worst of
cases, as betraying “true” feminism”.
It would seem that feminism had only one
expression and the winner would annul the validity of the rest.
This situation seems to be timidly changing. Some women have decided to develop skills
which enable them to go between the militant world, State lobbying and even the exersize
of public power.81 Recently, more stable mediation efforts have come to light. The
Confluence of Networks initiated a lobbying process with various entities to prepare the
31
terrain for the ratification of an Equal Opportunity Plan (PIO). This type of movement
shared between feminists in both the social and institutional fields has reduced distances.
It addresses the complexity of the State world and that of the political parties in a more
realistic sense. These factors, alongside the activation of processes to construct more
stable strategies for mediation between these spheres, would enable the formulation of a
more representative public policy.
In terms of the journey through the popular field, it could be concluded that war has made
women more visible. They, as mothers or as citizens, have organized to pressure the
actors of the armed conflict to the negotiation table. However, joint action amongst
women from distinct social origins has not been very successful. The knot separating
gender sensitivity and formulations on the topic of class have not been resolved in
practice or in theory. In addition, mediation between popular movements, the State and
academia is almost non-existent. Sectors within the State have become impatient with
the diverse times and languages utilized by social movements (in general). Women’s
movements are particularly subject to this criticism due to their emotional tone and sense
of victimization frequently adopted in their discourse. Women’s movements continue to
be trapped in mentalities fluctuating between the paternalistic State (distributor of favors)
and total mistrust (the State as the exclusive representative of dominant interests). With
reference to mediation between academia and the women’s movement, the “experts” are
often perceived as members of a privileged class. This class is thought to have a poor
understanding of the movement’s needs, but to be useful as a potential negotiator to
obtain State resources and international cooperation.
In summary, distances have impeded the formation of stable mediation strategies between
militant feminists, those from academic and bureaucratic spheres and the women’s social
movements.
This dynamic significantly weakens the combined impact of the
advancements undoubtedly generated over the two decades examined in this article.
Briefly, one could say that Colombia still lives under the yoke of an enormous deficit in
the public sphere. In the feminist world, although indications of change do exist, such
deficiencies still reach dramatic proportions.
. Al escoger estas fechas se quiso evitar el “colapso” de los tiempos de las luchas feministas y de mujeres
en los ritmos del régimen político partiendo de que unos y otros no se mueven siempre bajo una misma
dinámica. Ninguna de los años marca una transición de régimen pero tanto 1980 como 1999 señalan el
despegue de una coyuntura crítica para el feminismo en Colombia. En 1980 se inician los preparativos del
Primer Encuentro Feminista de Latinoamérica y el Caribe que se realizaría en Julio de 1981 en Bogotá y en
1999 un grupo del movimiento de mujeres negocia el Plan de Igualdad de Oportunidades con el equipo de
asesores del gobierno de Andrés Pastrana.
2
Conteo de ONGs, asociaciones voluntarias y movimientos ; conteo de acciones colectivas por trimestre ;
evaluación del grado de institucionalización y perdurabilidad en el tiempo.
3
. En otras palabras la multiplicación de públicos no garantiza en si misma la democratización del conjunto
pues los publicos pueden estar de espaldas unos a otros y conducir a una gran fragmentación social. Sólo
cuando los públicos y los contrapúblicos entran en debate y se reconocen entre sí es que pueden surgir ejes
articulatorios del conjunto social, producto de un debate democrático.
4
. La primera ola feminista remite a los movimientos sufragistas de principios de siglo. La segunda hace
referencia a aquella que emerge en los sesenta en algunos países como EEUU, Francia o Inglaterra y cuyas
ideas empiezan a circular en los setenta por América Latina.
5
Para sólo mencionar a la guerrilla, “según cifras de 1995...(esta en conjunto) pasó de 7.673 hombres y 80
frentes en 1991 a 10.483 hombres y 105 frentes en 1994” en Sanchez, 1998.
1
32
6
. En la entrevista a Chris Suaza, esta mujer relata cómo la casa donde ella y otras mujeres y hombres
trabajaban organizando el Primer Encuentro Feminista fue allanada
7
Si en algo resalta Colombia frente a otros países de América Latina es justamente por el arreglo
concordatario que firmara el gobierno de la Regeneración con la Santa Sede en 1887 y que perduraría hasta
1993. A mediado el siglo XIX se firmaron algunos concordatos con Bolivia (1851), Guatemala y Costa
Rica (1860), Honduras y Nicaragua (1861), Venezuela y Ecuador (1862), de corta duración. En México,
país que siempre se opuso a mantener relaciones diplomáticas con la Santa Sede, éstas se han formalizado a
comienzos de la década de 1990. "Concordato", Enciclopedia Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98. (c). En
Colombia el tratado le otorgaba a la Iglesia la potestad de tutelar los contenidos difundidos en la escuela
pública para garantizar que todos ellos fueran acordes con las enseñanzas de la religión católica ; le
concedía amplios poderes de regulación en materias matrimoniales y por esta vía sobre la legislación civil ;
en el campo económico, el Estado le confería a la Iglesia la exención de ciertos impuestos y reconocía la
deuda por él contraída a raíz de la confiscación de bienes eclesiásticos llevada a cabo por gobiernos
anteriores ; en contrapartida, el gobierno colombiano se reservaba ciertos poderes como la capacidad de
recomendar los eclesiásticos elegibles para las sedes episcopales vacantes. (Wills 1999b).
8
Una gradual expansión de los niveles de escolarización, expansión de los medios masivos de
comunicación, procesos de migración campo ciudad en Gonzalez, 1997.
9
“Para combatir la guerra con una posibilidad remota pero real de éxito es necesario comenzar por
reconocer que el conflicto y la hostilidad son fenómenos tan constitutivos del vínculo social como la
interdependencia misma, y que la noción de una sociedad armónica es una contradicción en los términos.
La erradicación de los conflictos ...no es una meta alcanzable ni deseable”. (Zuleta, 1985 :77)
10
. La reconstrucción de estos primeros tiempos se hace sobre la base de las entrevistas a Magdala
Velasquez, Olga Amparo Sánchez y Cristina Suaza y Luna y Villareal (1994)
11
Para solo mencionar los más importantes, recordemos que en 1975 la ONU declaró la década de la mujer
y en 1978 se lanzó una campaña internacional a favor del aborto.
12
Aquí combino fundamentalmente las voces de Beatriz Quintero, Chris Suaza, Magdala Velazquez,
Argelia Londoño y Olga Amaparo Sanchez.
13
A Magdala Velasquez los cuadros de su partido le prohibieron recibir a sus compañeros de militancia
temprano en la mañana en “baby doll”.
14
Relato escrito sobre la base de la entrevista con Chris Suaza
15
Martha L. Tamayo : “Los movimientos de mujeres en el proceso constitucional 1990-1991”, documento
preparado para el Taller sobre advocacy y derechos sexuales y reproductivos de la mujer, Chinauta,
Octubre 1998, sin publicar y sin paginación.
16
. Ibid.
17
. Ibid.
18
. Esta reconstrucción se hace sobre la base de las entrevistas de Beatriz Quintero, Claudia Mejía,
Magdalena León, y las lecturas de Acosta (1998) y Barrig (1998).
19
. Entrevista a Beatriz Quintero.
20
. Las ideas que siguen fueron expresadas en las entrevistas a Olga Amparao Sanchez, Magdalena León y
Claudia Mejía.
21
. Entrevista a un funcionario que prefirió guardar su ananimato.
22
. Reunión de evaluación del cabildeo por el PIO convocado por la Confluencia, Bogotá, Septiembre 20 de
1999.
23
. Aquí se combinan las voces de varias entrevistadas pero en particular la de Beatriz Quintero, Magdala
Velasquez, Claudia Mejía y Magdalena León.
24
Entrevista a Beatriz Quintero.
25
. Entrevista a Chris Suaza.
26
. Olga Amparo Sánchez.
27
. Entrevista a Chris Suaza.
33
2828
En esta parte del informe se combinan las voces de Magdala Velasquez, Florence Thomas, Chris Suaza,
Magdalena León, Nora Segura y Yolanda Puyana y los textos de Segura (1990), Meertens (1995), Puyana y
Meertens (1998) y Pelaez (s.f.).
29
. Entrevista a Magdala Velasquez.
30
. Entrevista a Nora Segura.
31
En la primera promoción, se matricularon 19 personas en la maestría, 6 en la especialización , de los
cuales se han graduado 12 se han graduado y 3 más van a sustentar tesis en el primer semestre de 2000
(Puyana y Meertens, 1998 ; Informe de labores, 1999)
32
A maestros, defensores de DDHH, profesionales de todo el país (Puyana y Meertens, 1998)
33
Un taller avanzado para profesores se ddictó en los inicios del programa, y se han organizado dos
seminarios internacionales, uno sobre Mujer, Democracia y Desarrollo y otro sobre la investigación con
perspectivas de género (Puyana y Meertens, 1998).
34
Algunos temáticas son : Economía campesina, movimiento de mujeres y Estado en Colombia, Mujer,
violencia y desplazamiento ; Mujeres y derechos de la tierra en América Latina ; Masculinidad y paternidad
en América Latina (puyana y Meertens, 1998)
35
Que cuenta hoy con más de 6000 libros y que ha apoyado la conformación de dos redes, una sobre
masculinidad y la otra sobre mujeres y participación política.
36
Se han publicado entre otros los siguientes títulos : Género e identidad : ensayos sobre lo femenino y lo
masculino ; Sentí que se me desprendía el alma : los procesos de socialización de mujeres de sectores
populares ; Poder y empoderamiento de las mujeres ; Mujeres, hombres y cambio social (Puyana y
Meertens, 1998)
37
Entre los títulos de las investigaciones en curso encontramos los siguientes : Aborto inducido y
morbilidad psiquiátrica ; Evaluación de la política coeducativa en cinco países ; la puesta en escena del
género en el futbol, Las mujeres remiendan la pobreza, recuperación de la memoria histórica de la
consejería para la Mujer en Antioquia ; Violencia a la mujer en la familia en los estratos 1,2 y 3 (Pelaez,
s.f.)
38
Mujer, democracia e igualdad ; Cuerpo y cultura ; Sexual behaviour and health ; Between violence and
hope (Pelaez, s.f.)
39
.Entrevista a Magdala Velázquez, coordinadora del proyecto.
40
Las mujeres en la historia de Colombia, Tomo I : Mujeres, historia y política ; tomo II : Mujeres y
sociedad ; tomo III : Mujeres y cultura.
41
Entrevista a Florence Thomas.
42
“Mientras en 1984 la matrícula universitaria del país estaba integrada en un 52% de hombres y un 48%
de mujeres, en 1996 el porcentaje es a la inversa : 52% de las matriculas son de mujeres y 48% de
hombres.” (Pelaez, s.f.)
43
. Entrevista a Ingrid Bolivar.
44
. Este tipo de actitudes casi que reflejo también eran comentadas por Laura Zambrano, politóloga joven de
la Universidad de Los Andes, quién se está desempeñando en el Centro de Investigaciones Jurídicas de la
misma universidad y con quién hemos emprendido conjuntamente esta investigación.
45
. Entrevista a Beatriz Quintero.
46
Entreviasta con Andrea Parra, abogada joven, investigadora del Centro de Investigaciones Jurídicas de la
Universidad de Los Andes.
47
. Entrevista a Elisabeth Ungar, profesora de ciencia política, universidad de los Andes.
48
Tomado de Dirección Nacional de la Equidad para las Mujeres (DINEM). Los derechos de las mujeres
en Colombia. Imprenta Nacional, 1997. Pg.233-234
49
Artículo 13: Todas las personas nacen libres e iguales ante la ley, recibirán la misma protección y trato de
las autoridades y gozarán de los mismos derechos, libertades y oportunidades sin ninguna discriminación
por razones de sexo, raza, origen nacional o familiar, lengua, religión, opinión política o filosófica. El
34
Estado promoverá las condiciones para que la igualdad sea real y efectiva y adoptará medidas en favor de
los grupos discriminados o marginados ;
Artículo 40 Inciso 7 : todo ciudadano tiene derecho a participar en la conformación, ejercicio y control del
poder político... las autoridades garantizarán la adecuada y efectiva participación de la mujer en los niveles
decisorios de la administración pública.
Artículo 42 Inciso 4 : Las relaciones familiares se basan en la igualdad de derechos y deberes de la pareja y
en el respeto recíproco entre todos sus integrantes ; inciso 5 : cualquier forma de violencia en la familia se
considera destructiva de su armonía y unidad, y será sancionada conforme a la ley ; inciso 8 : la pareja tiene
derecho a decidir libre y responsablemente el número de sus hijos, y deberá sostenerlos y educarlos
mientras sean menores de edad ; inciso 9 : las formas de matrimonio...se rigen por la ley civil ;
Artículo 43 : La mujer y el hombre tienen iguales derechos y oportunidades. La mujer no podrá ser
sometida a ninguna clase de discriminación. Durante el embarazo y después del parto gozará de especial
asistencia y protección del Estado, y recibirá de este subsidio alimentario si entonces estuviere desempleada
o desamparada. Inciso 2 : El Estado apoyará de manera especial la mujer cabeza de familia, Constitución
Nacional de Colombia.
50
Para un desarrollo de este tema, ver: Zambrano, Laura “Participación y representación femenina en el
Congreso” En: Bejarano, Ana María y Dávila, Andrés (comps). Elecciones y democracia en Colombia,
1997-1998. Fundación Social, Departamento de Ciencia Política, Universidad de los Andes y Veeduría
ciudadana a la elección presidencial. Bogotá, 1998. Pgs. 255-283.
51
Tomado de Tickner, Arlene y Bermúdez, Suzy. “Compromisos internacionales y acciones nacionales
frente a la mujer: el caso de Colombia”. En: Cámara de Representantes. Derechos nacionales e
internacionales de las mujeres colombianas. Bogotá, marzo de 1999. Pgs. 21-176. Leyes anteriores a la
Constitución de 1991 : Ley 11/1988 – Régimen especial de seguridad social para empleadas domésticas y
Ley 50/1990 – Favorece a las trabajadoras embarazadas con licencia de maternidad y protección contra
despido. Amplia la licencia remunerada de la maternidad de 8 a 12 semanas
52
. En dos invitaciones que recibía para ir a dictar charlas en las regiones (Bucaramanga y Villavicencio)
me encontré con folletos sobre “las normas y las leyes que favorecen a la mujer” ver “Mujer Llanera
Pa´lante !”, Marzo 8 de 1999.
53
. Entrevista a Elisabeth Ungar, profesora de Ciencia Política, Universidad de Los Andes.
54
. Convención sobre la eliminación de todas las formas de discriminación contra la mujer por ejemplo.
55
Documento CONPES 2019, del 17 de mayo de 1984.
56
“Garantizar a las mujeres el acceso a instrumentos de trabajo productivo […] Asegurar su participación
en proyectos productivos que contribuyan a la generación de empleo e ingresos […] Impulsar su
participación en organizaciones comunitarias […] Mejorar las condiciones en lasque se realiza el trabajo
doméstico y promover un cambio que facilite una distribución más igualitaria del trabajo entre los sexos
[…] mejorar el nivel educativo de la mujer rural.”_ Igualmente, el CONPES incluía acciones relacionadas
con revisar los criterios respecto a adjudicación y titulación de tierras, acceso a créditos, modificar la
asistencia técnica de las entidades agropecuarias (INCORA, DRI, FEDECAFE, etc.) a las necesidades de
las mujeres, ayuda en la comercialización de los productos, capacitación a líderes campesinas y algunas
otras estrategias de tipo social como mejoramiento de vivienda, alfabetización y mayor acceso a la
educación de las mujeres e impulsar su organización, Op. Cit.
57
. León, 1980 y León, 1982.
58
. Magdala Velázquez menciona el congreso de mujeres de la ANUC celebrado en 1978 en Ovejas, Sucre.
59
. Argumentos que le hacen eco a las discusiones que se darían entre las corrientes feministas en los
setenta y comienzos de los ochenta (ver el punto 1 de este trabajo).
60
. De la misma manera, el concepto de democracia más difundido era el de la democracia representativadelegatica. El concepto de democracia participativa no había aun permeado el conjunto.
61
. Entrevista Claudia Mejía , Febrero 24 del 2000.
62
. Entrevista con Olga Amparo Sánchez, Bogotá, 13 de Marzo de 2000.
35
63
. Por ejemplo, Análisis sobre sistemas de información para el empleado del SENA y del DABS
(Departamento Administrativo de Bienestar Social del Distrito)., Diseño del programa Mujer y Desarrollo
Empresarial, Programa de Desarrollo de Familias con Jefatura Femenina, Formulación, revisión y
acompañamiento de legislación: Ley 294/96 “Prevenir, remediar y sancionar la violencia intrafamiliar”;
Ley 311/96 “Protección familiar”; PL 182/97 “Transformación del ICBF en Ministerio de la Familia”; Ley
360/97 “Delitos contra la libertad sexual y la dignidad humana”, Campaña de cedulación de mujeres
campesinas emprendido con el Ministerio de Agricultura, Diseño de la Política de Equidad y Participación
de las Mujeres. Además, la DINEM impulsaría la realización de la Ruta Pacífica del Suroeste Antioqueño
por la Democracia y la No Violencia, 25 de Noviembre 1996.
64
. Entrevista Magdalena León, Enero 13 del 2000.
65
. Ibid.
66
. Entrevista a funcionario de PND, Enero 20 de 2000.
67
. Entrevista con Olga Amparo, Sánchez, 13 marzo 2000.
68
. En el caso de la DINEM, los recursos asignados correspondían en su último momento, al 0.007% del
presupuesto nacional. (Ramirez, 1997)
69
. En la entrevista con María Mercedes Cuellar, mujer con amplia trayectoria en las altas esferas
gubernamentales pero que no se declara feminista, mencionó cómo en su experiencia, en algunos casos
específicos, sí se encontró con ambientes burocráticos profundamente machistas –caso del Banco de la
República por ejemplo. Entrevista con María Mercedes Cuellar, marzo 16 de 2000.
70
. Tanto Laura Zambrano como yo somos conscientes que esta es la parte menos desarrollada del trabajo.
Desafortunadamente, el tiempo no permitió que realizáramos las entrevistadas que se tenían previstas con
mujeres líderes de sindicatos, ANMUCIC, Amcolombia, y otras organizaciones populares de mujeres. Es
necesario tener en cuenta que la Fundación Ford me contacto en Agosto de 1999 y que apenas para finales
de octubre estabamos definiendo términos de referencia y firmando contratos.
71
. Comentario fuera de la entrevista de Magdalena León.
72
Mujeres del proyecto de Promoción y Formación Ciudadana con Perspectiva de Género de diversos
municipios de Antioquia ; Corporación para la Vida Mujeres que Crean ; Corporación vamos Mujer ; unión
de Ciudadanas de Colombia ; Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres por la Resolución Negociada de los Conflictos.
73
DINEM, Fondo de Equidad y Género de la Embajada de canadá ; Consejería Presidencial para
Antioquia ; Consejería Departamental para la Mujer ; Administraciones Municipales del Suroeste
Antioqueño.
74
Declaración Final de Mujeres en Ruta Pacífica del Suroeste Antioqueño por la Democracia y la No
Violencia, 25 de Noviembre de 1996.
75
. Synergia, 1998
76
. Entrevista con Donny Meertens, 27 de marzo de 2000.
77
. Reunión de la Confluencia de Redes de Mujeres de evaluación, 20 de septiembre de 1999.
78
Notas del I Congreso Nacional de Mujeres por la Ampliación y el ejercicio de la ciudadanía y la igualdad
de oportunidades, Diciembre 1-3 de 1999, hotel Bacata, Bogotá.
79
Aquí combino las voces de Claudia Mejía, Olga Amparo Sánchez, Yolanda Puyana y Magdalena león.
Cada voz fue agregando un matiz en un análisis más compartido que lo que las propias mujeres ellas
mismas podrían creer.
80
Estoy pensando aquí en la Red Mujer y Política que impulsó Magdalena León desde la universidad
nacional para circular avances teóricos e investigativos dentro del movimiento social de mujeres.
81
. Olga Amparo Sánchez, en los ochenta feminista perteneciente al ala “movimentista” de los feminismos,
aceptó asumir el reto de asumir la dirección de la recién creada DINEM.
36