Colombia: Celebrating International Woman's Day

In Colombia, the celebration of International Woman's Day has become a tradition, and it is reflected online with netizens sharing different perspectives through websites, Twitter and blogs.

"Colombian Smile." Image by Flickr user marcovdz (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The digital magazine EquinoXio is featuring special coverage on the day with a number of posts [es], among which are a story [es] by Silvana Escobar, an article about women in “the Cínec” [es] (film adaptations of comics) by Dr. Comic, and other posts by Magda Liliana Escobar [es], Eisen Hawer [es], Focvs [es] and Fabio Villegas Botero [es].

The website of the International Committee of the Red Cross published a report [es] on a peasant woman from the Nariño department in southwestern Colombia:

Su vida se transformó cuando, una noche de un mes de septiembre, varios hombres irrumpieron en su hogar y la violaron: eran miembros de un grupo armado. Su esposo desapareció y Sandra se vio obligada a dejar su casa, su tierra y todo lo que había construido con su familia.

Her life was transformed when, one night of September, several men broke into her home and raped her: they were members of an armed group. Her husband disappeared and Sandra was forced to leave her home, her land and everything she had built with her family.

Bloggers have also been active in remembering International Woman's Day. Carlos Arturo Gamboa in his blog Tutor Virtual unveils the issue of displaced women [es]:

Quizás no exista un sujeto en esta dolorosa nación en cuyo epicentro se acumule tanta atrocidad; por eso es inevitable imaginar mujeres valientes abandonando poblados enteros, con sus hijos a cuesta, mientras al mirar hacia atrás el fuego de la barbarie consume sus hogares.

Perhaps there is no other subject in this sad nation in whose epicenter so much atrocity is accumulating; so it is inevitable to imagine brave women leaving entire villages, with their children in tow, while looking back at how the fire of barbarism consumes their homes.

Carlos Armando Cuervo in a post called “March 8, a century of emancipation and equality” [es] in his blog Pulso de Opinión calls readers to reflect on the struggles and achievements of women in the Middle East and Latin America. He also writes about the state of women’s rights and legislation on education, health and political participation:

De todas maneras al observar el lejano 1911 y el transcurrir de las décadas hasta llegar a este 2011, son muchos los cambios y avances que el batallar por la emancipación y la igualdad han logrado las mujeres con su ardua y valiente lucha; representadas en Colombia estas conquistas con eventos como el derecho al voto a partir de 1957 y el actual posicionamiento de la mujer en cargos de altísima investidura como la Dirección de la Fiscalía General y la Contraloría General, ya no más restándoles conseguir la presidencia de la república.

In any case, as we observe the distant 1911 [when the first International Woman's Day was observed] and the passing of decades to get to 2011, we see that women have achieved much through the struggle for emancipation and equality; these achievements are represented in Colombia with events like the right to vote since 1957 and the current place women hold in positions of high authority like the Direction of the Prosecutor General and the Comptroller General, now they only need to get to the presidency of the republic.

For their part, active Twitter users have mostly shared greetings and recognized women, like Juan Galeano (@JuanGaleano666), Camilo Alfredo (@kalicams) and Luis Daniel (@LUISdanielTAB). Luis Daniel says:

Mujeres no solo pueden, estan ya tomando decisiones importantes y fundamentales. En mi Familia, como en la de todos tenemos una Gran Mujer!!

Women are not only able, they are already making important and fundamental decisions. In my family, as in everyone else's, we have a Great Woman!

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