Colombia: The Peace Deal that Put Women First: What Colombia Taught the World

Jul 10, 2025 | UN Women
UN Women
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“We did not want peace to be made for us. We wanted to be the peacemakers,” says Marina Gallego. She works with Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres (Women’s Route to Peace), a grass-roots organization in Colombia.

Women are the beating heart of peace in Colombia and peace is a story that’s still evolving. 

Until 2016, war was all that generations of Colombians knew, as the internal armed conflict stretched back an interminable 52 years. Some women joined insurgent forces. Many more, especially in marginalized rural areas, lived with constant insecurity and fear. They suffered sexual violence and the deaths of family members. Some lost their land and livelihoods.

And they persevered. If peace felt like an impossibility, women’s movements never gave up. In the 2010s, when a peace process finally began to coalesce, women were ready to act. With UN Women’s support, they mobilized across the country to gain a place and a voice at the peace table. As talks moved forward, they demanded equal representation and brought forward first-hand testimonies about the violations of their rights and the devastation in their communities.