Rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). RICARDO MAZALAN / AP/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.
After almost one year of progress in the peace process between the FARC and the Colombian government, in the second semester of 2013 the Negotiating Table in Havana was formed by almost exclusively male voices. It had, by the time, only one woman among the negotiators. She was Judith Simanca Herrera, alias “Victoria Sandino”, who started to be part of the Negotiating Table in April 2013. However, the scenario changed considerably in the two following years.
There are some factors that place the negotiating process of Havana as a model in relation to the participation of women in the peace talks and the opening of areas in which women can have an impact when planning post-conflict and peace construction. These factors are the actions performed by women to increase their influence in the peace talks; the presence of actors who can influence the decision making in the negotiations and who take on the role of women allies; and finally the formal mechanisms set to guarantee the participation of civil society. Colombia has become one of the few cases, together with countries such as the Philippines, Guatemala and North Ireland, in which it has been possible to find these factors that change the disparity in terms of gender found in this kind of decision-making areas.
