How the Antioquia Governor Is Working to Bring Female Empowerment to the Countryside

Earlier, I posted my positive reflections on Antioquia Governor Andrés Julián Rendon’s ambitions to bring more equality to the countryside, helping female empowerment with a sense of realism and pragmatism.

Even more recently, I had the opportunity today to sit with Carolina Lopera Tobón, director of gender equality in the governor’s office, to discuss the project in more depth and examine where the British Embassy in Colombia can support such a far reaching vision.

The governor has pushed this agenda since the beginning of the campaign and it is truly vital to support the women living in rural areas. On any metric, or according to any survey, women in the countryside work at least as hard — but are far from emancipated when it comes to wages and conditions.

The new governor’s office aims to improve that situation.

The goal is to create education centers, rural schools and productive farms, where women will receive the training and support that will give them them both the skills and, more essentially, the confidence to make their own way in the world. Thereby steering them away from the traditional role of homemakers and providing opportunities for a more independent life.

One of the largest challenges is convincing those women, be they teenagers or grandmothers, that they are capable of learning new skills and changing their lives as well as those of their families.

There is much to do and there is a sober realization that it will be hard work. Infrastructure needs to be built, studies need to be undertaken in order to align supply and demand.

But there is a clear ambition to change the rural environment.

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