Today, the world celebrates women and their rights — and here at Colombia One, we celebrate the Colombian woman. Whether she has curly or straight black hair, light-skinned or dark-skinned, wealthy or working-class, the Colombian woman is the sum of the country’s diversity and human beauty. A woman of iron will and fierce determination, a family woman, a woman full of love, life and joy — or as they say in Colombia, de mucho sabor.
She is ambitious and hardworking, and more often than not, she takes on roles traditionally assumed by men. To describe her fully would be impossible — especially for me, as a foreigner — and so I write these lines guided by the words, perspectives, and vision that Colombians themselves, both women and men, hold of the Colombian woman.
The Colombian woman, portrayed by Colombians
In a description as poetic as it is profound, Isabel, a 28-year-old woman from Angostura, Antioquia, portrays the Colombian woman as resilient and courageous, while maintaining an essence full of love and tenderness.
For her, “the Colombian woman is, in essence, a representation of life itself — as are all women in the world.” What sets Colombian women apart, however, is their resilience in the face of the country’s harsh conditions, its violence and the deep-rooted machismo that have historically characterized Colombian society, particularly in rural areas like the one Isabel herself comes from.
Full of facets, the Colombian woman can be “a mother, a worker, a wife, a caregiver, a farmer, an entrepreneur — or whatever other role life demands she take on”. She is a woman who “has known how to confront violence, defy the barriers imposed upon her, and transform pain into the fuel to move forward” — ultimately claiming her place within Colombian society and “her full right to be a woman.”
This observation is also shared by Carolina, a 45-year-old woman from Ricaurte, Cundinamarca. For her, “being a woman in Colombia is synonymous with courage, composure, and hope” — and even a source of pride as Colombian women must not only be women but actively assert themselves as such in an environment that so often works against them. “Being a woman in Colombia also means facing difficult realities — harassment on the streets, in the workplace, and even in everyday spaces where we should feel safe,” she laments.
Yet beneath the armor that life forces her to wear, the Colombian woman is also, in Isabel’s words, “love, tenderness, complicity, and warmth.” For Isabel, “Wherever there is a Colombian woman, there is devotion, strength, and sensitivity; there is capability and character, but also empathy and warmth. In her presence, you discover that love is not merely a feeling, but a constant action — one that manifests in every word, every effort, and every dream she pursues.”
As she so beautifully expresses it, to know a Colombian woman is “to understand the meaning of love in all its dimensions: firm and gentle at once, brave and compassionate, ordinary and extraordinary.”
This perspective, shared by a younger woman, is also that of an older generation. For María Angélica, a 70-year-old woman from El Espinal, Tolima, “the Colombian woman is a brave and warm-hearted human being, capable of loving and of feeling loved, sincere and at times deeply sentimental,” whose most beautiful virtue, in her eyes, is simply “her devotion to family.”
The Colombian woman is so remarkable that the men of her country can only sing her praises — as does José Antonio, a 36-year-old from Cali who, when asked about his feelings toward the women of his land, professes his wholehearted devotion to his wife.
“My appreciation for the Colombian woman must begin with the wonderful life partner I have. I can say that she is the most perfect imperfection I have ever had in my existence, with an enormous human warmth,” he says, proclaiming “I would choose her as many times as necessary. I love you, Colombian woman — I love her.”
Woven quietly through Isabel’s portrait, the Colombian woman’s story is also one of overcoming hardships — particularly in a city like Medellin. Hector, a man in his seventies from Riosucio, Caldas, who has lived in Medellin for decades, was a direct witness to the brutal transformations that shook the city and its women.
Pablo Escobar, the Medellin Cartel and its narcotraffickers did not only leave behind thousands of dead and a global public security crisis as their legacy, but also, as Hector recalls, deep scars on the behavior and social fabric of Colombian women. “Many lost their dignity in pursuit of money or social status,” he says, recounting the dark but true stories of teenage girls who became entangled with narcotraffickers and sicarios, sometimes becoming pregnant by them in search of a livelihood — ending up as single mothers or widows at 15, 16, or 17 years old, with no prospects and no way forward.
Even after the fall of Pablo Escobar and his associates, many women remained trapped — to this day — in the mindset of easy money, or, as Hector puts it bluntly but pragmatically: “Easy money if you have a**, tits or plastic on your face.”
“With that lifestyle, some made it, others didn’t. They didn’t concern themselves with education,” Hector says, noting how that path left many women vulnerable to abuse and manipulation at the hands of the men of that era.
But after those dark years, a glimmer of hope emerged — and the light slowly returned. “A new generation arrived and reclaimed their dignity. They understood that they had to go out and build something for themselves,” says Hector. “Many went into teaching, into studying, into research. Some went very far — and those women carry an incalculable worth.”
Hector also reflects on the excesses of the feminist movement — which, in his view, lost its way by trying to prove that women could do the same things as men, or better, or even replace them altogether. And yet, he concludes on a note of cautious optimism: “Today, women are engaged in healthy competition through education” asserting that “Education is the duty of Colombia’s new generations of women.”
Doralba, a fiftysomething woman from Santa Fe de Antioquia, echoes the same sentiment, praising how far Colombian women have come in recent decades. “Young women today are professionals — they have forged a different path since the women’s liberation movement,” she says with pride.
Although we are mostly men here at Colombia One, we do have women on our team. For one of them — our writer Caroll, a 26-year-old costeña from Cartagena de Indias — the Colombian woman is synonymous with strength, hard work, and resilience. In her own words: “She is a woman who fights to get ahead and better herself, who takes care of her appearance because she likes to look good and project confidence — but above all, she demonstrates an extraordinary capacity for sacrifice and determination.” Caroll also points out how Colombian women are examples of courage and perseverance, especially single mothers who head their households alone.
Genesis, our 23-year-old community manager from Aracataca — Gabriel García Márquez’s hometown — echoes the same sentiment. “For me, the Colombian woman is a berraca (fierce) woman — resilient, who no matter the circumstances, always finds a way to push forward and support those she loves with love and determination.”
But it would be a cruel injustice to speak of Colombian women without evoking their great beauty. And that beauty, for Genesis, is defined first and foremost by its diversity. “We are profoundly diverse,” she explains. “A woman from the Caribbean coast is nothing like a woman from the Pacific, the Andes, or the Llanos. Each region has its own character, its own accent, its own history, and its own way of seeing the world.”
This observation resonates with Juan Manuel, a 30-year-old Colombian man from Medellín, speaking from the opposite perspective. For him, what stands out most about the Colombian woman is precisely her beauty and diversity. “Take a woman from Medellín and compare her to a woman from the Caribbean coast — they are different, yet both, in the end, are extraordinarily complete,” he says.
The 70-year-old María Angélica confirms the importance of appearance and beauty to Colombian women. “At the end of the day, we like to feel beautiful. Colombian women take great care of their personal appearance — it matters to them to feel and look their best.”
But while the Colombian woman is recognized and celebrated as one of the most beautiful in the world, Genesis affirms that this beauty runs far deeper than the physical. “Yes, we are beautiful women — but our beauty also lives in our energy, in our joy, in our intelligence, and in our ability to transform hardships into opportunities.”
As for the diversity that defines them, Genesis maintains that all Colombian women are nonetheless united by a common thread: strength, adaptability, and that fighting spirit that runs through their blood. “To be a Colombian woman is to carry history, courage, and hope in your heart.”
More than beauty, it is indeed this character, this ambitious temperament, and this capacity to push forward and rise above that both Colombian men and women most highlight and praise in them.
“The Colombian woman is capable of raising a child alone, of leading her household, of excelling in whatever work comes her way,” says proudly Luz, a woman in her forties from Quibdó, Chocó. “She is an entrepreneur, she works with whatever she is given,” she adds.
María Angélica also celebrates the fact that they are “capable of holding important positions in life, dedicated to their work and their homes, full of dreams and always looking toward the future“.
For her part, the younger Caroll points out that in recent years, Colombian women have become global female role models. From internationally recognized icons like Karol G, Shakira, Sofía Vergara, and Paulina Vega, to lesser-known but equally remarkable figures such as Adriana Ocampo, one of the most celebrated scientists in space exploration, and Diana Velásquez, an artist who made her mark with her acclaimed intervention at the Grand Palais in Paris.
After drawing this portrait of such complex beauty, I will close these lines by saying, whether they are rolas, paisas, costeñas, caleñas, llaneras — whether they carry African, indigenous, or Lebanese blood in their veins — ¡Que vivan la mujeres Colombianas!