Art and symbolism in the triple gender resistance in the armed conflict in Colombia

Abstract

The article develops a theoretical framework to understand the relevance of art and symbolism for women as tools and strategies to resist the continuum of gender violence and its exacerbation in the armed conflict. Within the subordinate position that women occupy in society, the feminist / women's movement in Colombia has not only worked for peace, but has had to resist the gender impacts of war and to denounce the continuum of violence against them in the private, public and armed conflict spheres, having to develop what I have called a triple gender resistance to cultural, structural and direct violence respectively. The case of Colombia has been studied, first of all describing the reality of women in the country in terms of the axes of decision-making, economic and physical autonomy, and then describing their organization in response to war and gender violence, as well as their use of symbolic language and the arts as means of collective healing, empowerment and political agency.