“In this country, we are used to the macho man and the subservient woman,” says Cecilia Lorena Barraza Morelle, coordinator of public policy in the Presidential Office for Women’s Equality. “This idea that a man is more powerful than a woman is part of our cultural tradition.”

 

• The leader of Colombia’s churches has always been a man

• After the 1970s women were permitted to attend public universities

• Only after 1955 were women allowed to vote

• Only after 2006 was abortion allowed, but only in the case of rape, risk of death to the mother, or malformations of the fetus

• In 2012, there was an average of 7.5 cases of domestic violence against women per hour, according to the women’s rights organization Sisma Mujer

“Of course women are going to use beauty for power,” stats women’s rights activist Isabel Londoño.  “Having a chest is an instrument of domination, a way to defend yourself.”  “The problem is that the majority of women don’t take an interest in their own situation,” she continuous. “Women who have a voice in Colombia are wealthy and faring well and the rest feel fragile so they protect the system in place and don’t raise their voice.”

• There are acid attacks to keep women scared to fight for their rights

• In Colombia, women may be treated like an object, a thing, or a piece private property