Bogota, Colombia – Jennifer Pedraza has been one of the most important voices defending women’s rights in Colombia since she entered politics in 2022 at the age of 26.
Representing the left-wing Dignidad y Compromiso (Dignity and Dedication) party, she has helped push for legislation in recent years to ban child marriage, ban female genital mutilation (FGM) and combat human trafficking.
speaking Latin America Report Less than two weeks before hard-line outsider Abelardo de la Espriella was elected as Colombia’s new president, Pedraza was clearly critical of controversial hard-line views in her office in Bogota’s parliament building but nonetheless optimistic about the future of women’s rights in the country.
“(Espriella) refers to us as extensions of men (and) compares us to commodities. He said happiness in life lies in a bottle of French wine, an English car and a Colombian woman.”
Her views on Colombia’s feminist movement, supported by a parliament with 30% female representation, will continue to champion the hard-won progress towards gender equality in recent years.
“The women’s movement in Colombia is one of the most independent, most militant and most autonomous movements.” In her opinion, unlike other social movements, leftist Gustavo Petro did not rest on his laurels while in power.
“One of the movements that did not sleep under this government was the women’s movement.”
This is evident in the legislative changes that have taken place in recent years. In June this year, FGM, defined as the removal or injury of female genitalia for non-medical reasons and widely recognized as a human rights violation, was banned in Colombia, the only Latin American country where the practice has been recorded.
In 2007, the issue of FGM gained national attention after the death of a baby girl from the Emberá tribe.
“Emberá women, especially young women, have tried to fight within their communities to eradicate FGM, but they have done so alone. Therefore, the purpose of our law is for the state to support them on that journey (…) by funding prevention and education campaigns.”
She recognizes that those who commit female genital mutilation are “not monsters or monsters that appear in these communities, but rather traditional midwives (…) who go where the Colombian state cannot go and ensure that girls are born.”
Pedraza emphasizes that the bill “does not take a punitive approach, does not create criminal offenses (…) but, on the contrary, requires a cultural approach to eradicate these practices.”
The senator also played a pivotal role in passing a bill to ban child marriage in 2025, which closed a loophole that previously allowed children to marry as young as 14.
According to Pedraza, this practice has persisted in Colombia for a long time because of “patriarchal notions of love, where visions of romance take precedence over the protection of children’s rights.”
Pedraza also emphasized that since the age of sexual consent in Colombia is 14, many believe this means teenage girls are also ready for marriage.
According to the senator, having 30% women in Congress was instrumental in getting the bill passed, which took eight attempts. “This significant participation of women has paved the way for the passage of many bills that were previously blocked.”
Also passed this year was a new initiative, “Con la trata no hay trato” (There is no negotiation in human trafficking), which strengthened outdated anti-trafficking laws and pivoted to a victim-centered and gender-based approach.
“(Human trafficking) is a very serious problem because of the lack of employment opportunities for young women,” Pedraza said. “Unemployment in Colombia is very high. Among young people, especially young women, unemployment is very high.”
According to government statistics, the unemployment rate for the general population is 9.2%, while the female unemployment rate is still high at 11.7% and the youth unemployment rate is 16.5%.
The new plan also takes into account the very contemporary challenge of combating human trafficking amid the increasing use of social media to lure young women into dangerous situations.
“You see a job offer on TikTok with terms that no one else is offering, and when you need help (perhaps there are people who depend on you), you consider it,” Pedraza explained.
Other issues that fuel the human trafficking problem in Colombia include:
80% of victims are women. Its position as a major conduit for migrant or refugee women, including many from neighboring Venezuela, who have become victims of human trafficking.
With the new law, Pedraza hopes members of the judicial system will also be trained in human trafficking prevention and more government funding will be directed to this purpose.
Pedraza also emphasizes that “the fetishization of Colombian women abroad has created a favorable environment for sexual exploitation,” which accounts for the majority (almost 70%) of trafficking cases.
She said police representatives at a hearing to discuss the issue “said that security forces themselves have infiltrated human trafficking networks… (international human trafficking) requires the collusion of immigration authorities and security forces.”
Looking ahead to the next presidential term, Pedraza is optimistic that the women’s movement is resilient enough to face the potential challenges of Espriella’s presidency. Their public statements and actions toward women, as well as their focus on so-called traditional family values, have all faced criticism from feminists.
“I believe that Colombia has a solid institutional framework to defend the laws we have obtained,” Pedraza explained. “We have everything we need to defend the gains we have made.”
Featured image source: Jennifer Pedraza, via Facebook.
