NETHIE JOHANA OCHOAColombia 2026: Power to the Women!

Nethie Johana Ochoa, La Pluma/Tlaxcala, 26/9/2025
Translated by Tlaxcala

“ ‘Anon’ was often a woman.” 

– Virginia Woolf

In Colombia’s history and political participation, it is men’s discourse, voices, and faces that stand out. The portraits, names, and texts we learn in school mostly belong to men. As if they alone had built the country. Yet, when looking at towns, neighborhoods, and villages, another reality emerges: a country sustained by the silent, persistent labor of women whose contribution is not acknowledged in history.

How is it possible that millions of women are at the forefront of social and community work, yet have so little representation in the highest decision-making posts?

In this article, I aim to critically analyze the causes of this great contradiction and highlight that it is time to transform the role of women in the country’s history.

The contrast between women’s broad participation in grassroots social leadership and their scarce presence in political power positions is striking. In municipalities like Bello, nearly 80% of Community Action Board presidencies are held by women, many with decades of voluntary work. Yet, this participation collapses when it comes to formal politics: in municipal councils it reaches only 15–20%.

Of the country’s 1,102 mayoralties, only 146 are held by women. In governorships, there are only 6 women among 32 departments. In Congress, after a long struggle, we’ve reached nearly 29%. And today, we celebrate as a milestone the fact of having a second vice-president.

Why, after more than two centuries of Republic, thirty-five presidents, and seventy years of women’s right to vote, has Colombia never had a woman president? If there are so many women leaders at the grassroots level, what explains that none has yet occupied the highest office?

The most evident explanation, among working and lower classes, is the burden of unpaid labor at home and in communities, which falls mainly on women’s shoulders. Women are usually the ones who care for the home, children, the elderly, the sick, and who manage basic services (drinking water, health, electricity, road repair).

According to DANE (2022), women devote on average twice as much time as men to domestic and caregiving work. But not everything can be explained by invisible labor: what about middle- and upper-class women? They have resources to outsource care work, and they also have time, education, and opportunities to participate in decision-making spaces. Yet even there, when such spaces open, women are often relegated to roles as secretaries, assistants, or advisors, while visible, hierarchical leadership ends up in men’s hands. The “glass ceiling” in politics is clear: an invisible barrier preventing women’s rise to power despite their preparation and experience.

Other factors include gender self-perception (many women tend to underestimate themselves, while men overestimate themselves), cultural stereotypes (pushing women to prioritize family over public life), and the absence of female role models (reducing aspirations to reach top positions).

According to UN Women and the Electoral Observation Mission (MOE), in Colombia over 60% of female candidates report having suffered gender-based political violence, ranging from sexist remarks to direct threats. They face harassment, ridicule, and intimidation in an environment dominated by male power networks controlling parties, electoral structures, and political financing, which remains biased against them.

Added to this is unequal political education: women have less access to training in leadership, negotiation, and influence networks. The media reproduce stereotypes that portray women candidates as less capable, reinforcing cultural resistance to female leadership and manipulating a public that still views politics as a “man’s business.”

Women are the majority in grassroots leadership and often better prepared than men, but men occupy the posts. ECLAC (2022) notes that Colombia is below the Latin American average in women’s participation in executive power. Other countries in the region have already had women presidents, while Colombia remains one of the few Latin American democracies without a female head of state.

It’s time to have a woman president

Despite all these barriers, exceptional women have managed to carve out a path in Colombian politics. Women who, with or without children, have studied, trained, confronted sexist violence, and survived political violence.

Carolina Corcho is one of these exceptional women. Coming from the grassroots, as a rural doctor, she fought in the streets for the fundamental right to health. At 42, she brings fresh air to Colombian politics: she stands out for her expertise in public health policies, her focus on social justice, and her progressive activism.

She comes from social and professional bases: as a doctor, she led the National Association of Interns and Residents (ANIR) and the Colombian Medical Federation. She learned about territory not from behind a desk, but by living in remote towns where the distance to a hospital can mean life or death. That experience now gives her the strength to defend a public health system that reaches the most distant corners of the country.

Carolina Corcho is a physician from the University of Antioquia, a psychiatrist from the National University, and holds a Master’s in Political Studies from the Pontifical Bolivarian University. She has also taught psychiatry and mental health.

She served as Minister of Health in Colombia’s first alternative government and has established herself as a well-rounded political intellectual. She endured political and media violence: during her tenure she was the constant target of attacks, many with gender bias, questioning her authority, her style, even her voice, while ignoring her proposals and technical arguments. Her resilience projects her as a leader with character and strength.

Currently, as a presidential candidate, she shines in debates: she knows the country, urban and rural, economically, socially, and environmentally, and shows deep understanding of regional realities and challenges.

Carolina Corcho is a prepared woman with a vision of state: she defends public and social issues with data and arguments, and when she speaks of rights, equity, and the protection of the most vulnerable, she does so with authority and coherence, because she is close to popular struggles. In every debate, the intellectual gap between Corcho and other candidates is evident.

Carolina Corcho is and will be an important role model for Colombian women leaders: a charismatic, intelligent woman, with impeccable rhetorical skill, who feels her country’s pain. She is a solid leader, persisting, resisting, showing that it is possible. And with her, all women remind us that Colombia is ready to have, for the first time in its history, a woman president.

The next Presidency of the social project we are building in Colombia will have to withstand strong attacks. Corcho has every capacity to endure them, and to carry forward the project to which so many have devoted their lives, including those no longer with us.

“They’re not afraid that I lack experience, they’re afraid that I won’t show them deference.” – Anonymous

Nethie Johana Ochoa is a Colombian artist, cultural manager, entrepreneur, and community leader, with a broad background in social, environmental, and educational processes. Her work has focused on linking art with environmental awareness, promoting projects that foster citizen participation, sustainability, and collective building. She has led collectives such as Guardianes del Quitasol and the Movimiento Ambiental del Norte del Valle de Aburrá (MANVA), and received the Betsabé Espinal award for rural women for her environmental contributions in Bello. As a member of the Pacto Histórico party, she has actively participated in political and electoral processes and was a candidate for the Bello Municipal Council in 2023. She also cultivates writing in various genres (poetry, short stories, articles) as a way of expressing and reflecting on the social and cultural reality of her environment. FB