Female leaders in Colombia: We need to celebrate & support their work rather than mourn them.

Edenis Barrera, Francia Marquez, Carlota Salinas & Soraya Bayuelo

Human Rights are universal and inherent to all individuals, and they must be guaranteed and protected. Nonetheless, there have been and there continues to be many human rights infringements throughout the world. These infringements need to be reported and in Colombia, social leaders and human rights defenders are responsible for this work, among other tasks. Therefore, there is an emergence of leaders who are willing to stick up for their communities’ rights. According to the Center for Social Leadership (2013) “Social leadership means to devote one’s life and talents to improving society regardless of social standing, wealth, or privilege. Social leaders serve and bless others”. Furthermore, it is possible to categorize them according to the field in which their work focuses on (Corredor, 2018). For example, there are indigenous and Afro-Colombian leaders, defenders of the environment, union leaders, women’s rights activists, and LGBTIQ+ leaders, among other areas of activism (Corredor, 2018). Unfortunately, these human rights defenders are confronted by  several challenges. In some places, these leaders face resistance from the very authorities who should be ensuring rights are met: : “Governments detain human rights defenders, prevent them from raising funds, restrict their movements, place them under surveillance and, in some cases, authorize their torture and murder”. This tends to happen when the activism of the leader is somehow identified as an obstacle to certain interests. Moreover, “many companies either stand by as Governments employ tough law and order responses against defenders, or they aggressively target defenders who challenge their activities through legal or other means” (OHCHR, 2020, p.1). In Colombia, social leaders and human rights defenders are facing several risks, and their lives are being intensely threatened. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (2019) argues that these leaders perform a pivotal role within their communities because they act as mediators between the state and the people who want their voices to be heard and their necessities to be met. This article will focus on the activism developed by female leaders. In this case, a female leader seeks to eradicate stigmas and stereotypes related to gender roles and inequalities through social activism. Moreover, they could be also considered as feminist activists who “fight against a system that favors only men, that designs structures to achieve equal opportunities and that promotes values ​​such as autonomy and self-determination inside and outside her organization” (Sainz, 2017). Consequently, it is pivotal to empower these women for them to carry on fighting for the protection of their communities’ rights. While these women should be celebrated for the key role they assume in society, the danger surrounding any form of advocacy throughout many marginalized regions of Colombia means that what they need most urgently is protection.

Firstly, female leaders are being murdered in Colombia, and the national situation must be urgently addressed. Since 2016, around 131 female leaders have been assassinated (Noguera, 2020). According to El Espectador:  “During the first half of 2019, ten of the 59 homicides that were committed against social leaders corresponded to women. In this same period, 171 of them suffered some type of aggression, such as threats and attacks.” One example of this wave of violence is the case of Edenis Barrera Benavides.  According to La Paz en el Terreno (2018) , “she was last seen alive” on March 18th 2017 when attended first aid and social work training with the Civil Defense. The following day, she was found half naked and sexually assaulted (Fiscalia General de la Nacion) by some cyclists in San José de Bubuy (La Paz en el Terreno, 2018). This comes to show how even though the crime was classified as an aggravated femicide by “the First Criminal Circuit Court” (La Paz en el Terreno, 2018), the pattern repeats itself in terms of silencing leaders. It makes it easier for their killers to know their location, since they are public figures, so many people can easily track them down. Simply carrying out their work makes them an easy target in regions where there is little order apart from that administered by groups outside the margins of the law. 

However,  this certainly has not stopped strong and outraged female activists from carrying out this necessary task. One such leader is Francia Márquez, who has gained international recognition as the Goldman Environmental Prize winner in 2018 (Palomino, 2021) and as one of the BBC’S 100 most influential women in the world in 2019 (BBC, 2019). Currently, she is planning a campaign for the presidency of Colombia (Semana, 2020). In addition, her job focuses on working  alongside communities (mostly black and indigenous) and standing up to multinationals, illegal groups and those who threaten the environment and the communities which live in peripheral parts of the country. Marquez sees women as being crucial in bringing about necessary change at a community and an environmental level, and has spoken about the need to dismantle patriarchal structures in order to defend nature (France24, 2019). In 2014, she led a march of women from their home in Cauca to Bogotá to demand state action against illegal mining practices in their region. Given the precarious situation faced by social leaders and female activists in the country, it should come as no surprise that she has been threatened and even attacked for her work. But rather than being scared, she is angry, and has stated: “We are facing a criminal state, which by omission or intent, is permitting an ethnic, physical and cultural genocide of black, indigenous and rural communities…”(La Libertad Sublime, 2019). Even though her work focus is on Colombian territories, Francia has also forged links with activists throughout the rest of the world, showing how important it is to correlate the local ecosystems, environment and cultures to raise awareness of how the issues these communities and their women face are a matter of international interest. Therefore, it is necessary to start building a global agenda from the home lands and this can be done by telling and analyzing  the stories of those who dare to challenge the imposed order.  Consequently, women who dare to stand up and fight for their communities such as Edenis  or Francia  challenge the male chauvinism so deeply ingrained  in Colombian society. They become targets not only because of their leadership, but also because, with their activism, they are deconstructing the idea that only men can be leaders, and the only ones willing to fight and get angry. Leaders such as these also challenge the notion that certain  sectors be  excluded from the decision making process. They are a demonstration of what active participation in a democracy should look like. They can and they are making their voices heard too. This also highlights the need for this type of leader, so people stop reproducing these gender barriers, and the country can make progress on the path to becoming a more egalitarian society.

While the stories of leaders such as Edenis and Francia provide insight into the challenges faced by female leaders at the national level, in the Caribbean region, female activists are also encountering multiple challenges. Therefore, the growing statistics of murders and femicides must be a principal concern in this area.  According to Pares (2018), since the signing of the Peace Agreement until 2018, 20% of the killings have been perpetrated against female leaders. In this case, at least 3 belonged to the Caribbean region. Moreover, El Espectador affirms that in the first half of 2019, there were around 10 crimes against female leaders. In addition, several women received threats, mainly in the departments of Cordoba, La Guajira and Bolivar. One of the cases that truly represents the reality that female leaders have to go through, is that of Carlota Salinas. Carlota was a leader, a women’s rights defender and a mother of three, who directed her life towards working for the good of her community based in the department of Bolivar. Carlota was affiliated with the national women’s rights organisation Organización Feminina Popular. On the day of her death, Carlota had been volunteering to ensure there were necessary resources for the most vulnerable sections of her community as the country entered a nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic (La Libertad Sublime, 2020). Unfortunately, she was  killed on March 25th 2020 in front of her own house. This is just one example of several unacceptable  episodes, in which women are killed with no mercy. More must be done to bring justice to their families and better protection and safeguards must be established to protect leaders involved in such vital and worthy tasks. 

Despite the threats and the danger, there are other regional leaders who carry on defending their communities’ rights and promoting peace. A great example is Soraya Bayuelo, a journalist, cultural manager, writer, and researcher (La silla vacia, n.d.) In addition, Soraya is the founder and director of the Colectivo de Comunicaciones Montes de María Línea 21, an NGO which aims to develop alternative spaces to make possible the construction of citizenship, participation and identity (Montemariaaudiovisual, 2010). Montes de Maria is an agriculturally rich subregion in the departments of Bolivar and Sucre (Centro de Memoria Histórica, 2017), and a region which suffered greatly due to paramilitary violence during the worst years of the armed conflict. The region has since developed several worthy projects in relation to peacebuilding, community empowerment and construction of historical memory, with women in the community being central to it all. Soraya lives in the region, in the town of Carmen de Bolívar, and as such, she has a proper understanding of the issues that the region faces.  Furthermore,  she has been working for the establishment of peace, the preservation of memory and the celebration of people’s lives (DW, 2020). These examples are essential to raise awareness of the seriousness of this issue. Thus, it is pivotal to recognize the threats faced by female leaders and what strategies must be implemented to improve their situations. 

While statistically male leaders are more likely to be killed, women face additional risks due to sexism and chauvinistic attitudes in society, so it is necessary to design and implement strategies to address this issue. Indepaz affirms that since the signing of the Peace Agreement with FARC in 2016 until august 2020, around 1,000 social leaders have been assassinated. These statistics show that 86,8% of the killings were committed against men (Gonzalez, 2020). Nonetheless, there is a great concern in the case of female leaders due to the component of sexual violence. According to the Human Rights Council of the UN (2019), they not only face the challenges that social leadership brings, but also the risk of “femicide, rape, acid attacks, arbitrary arrest, detention, killings and enforced disappearances” (p. 9). Thus, this is an expression of the exclusion and degradation of women’s lives due to gendered social constructions and patriarchal values. Moreover, other perils confronted by women activists are the invisibilization of their work, their exclusion from the process of decision-making, public shaming and attacks on their reputation, threats to their families and intromission into their private sphere (UN Human Rights Council, 2019). One tragic example is represented by Nataly Salas, who was a 19 years-old student activist. She was raped and killed, and the man responsible has so far gotten away with this crime (Pares, 2018) . This is a concerning issue because it is indicative of  an internalized misogyny within Colombian society that must be eradicated. Therefore, it is necessary to effectively develop and implement a legal framework as well as policies in order to protect their rights and integrity. For example, the United Nations demands more state presence in these marginalized areas as well as the promotion of strategies to dismantle criminal groups (La Republica, 2021). Furthermore, the High Counselor for Human Rights of the Presidency, Nancy Gutierrez, affirms that in order to avoid more assassinations, it is necessary to understand the causes of violence and recognize the necessities of these communities (La Republica, 2021). In the case of women, it is essential to promote leadership and increase their participation in order to create a safer and more equal society for them. According to the OHCHR (2019) both the State and the International community have the responsibility of protecting them while respecting the principles of “confidentiality, (obligation to) do no harm, and the informed consent of a person”. Consequently, the protection of female leaders must be a collective responsibility and a joint effort involving state entities, NGOs and civil society.

To conclude, social leaders and human rights defenders are crucial actors within our communities. However, they are facing a tough and challenging  situation as they are being threatened and in far too many cases,  killed. In Colombia, the numbers demonstrate that the situation continues  and, unfortunately, is worsening. In this case, female leaders are also being threatened and killed within  this phenomenon. Female activists do not only face the dangers of being a leader, but also those related to violence based on their gender. It is pivotal to understand that female leaders are necessary in society because they truly comprehend women’s struggles and are agents of change in society. They are able to make impactful changes while working from their communities and improving people’s living conditions. However, they are not receiving enough recognition for their work. For example, Soraya and Francia are empowered women that must be recognized and embraced for their commitment with their communities. Despite facing multiple threats, they carry on managing their projects with passion and devotion. Consequently, it is vital to celebrate and support their activism and leadership, and that of all leaders standing up for women’s rights and in defense of their communities. Colombian communities do not want more martyrs, but strong female leaders able to ensure  justice and peace. As a result, it is recommended that authorities support female leadership in all fields, especially in power positions in order to eradicate gender stereotypes. Moreover, by promoting gender equality and addressing the issue of sexual violence, female leaders’ situation could improve greatly.

*Article written by Natalia Berrick, Valentina Montes & Maria Riedel

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