The Gender Perspective in Colombian Constitutional Jurisprudence as a Guarantee of Women's Human Rights

Abstract

Introduction: Violence and discrimination against women are structural and historical scourges. The Colombian State establishes human dignity and equality as principles, values and rights. In addition, it has ratified international treaties on women's human rights. This implies the incorporation of the gender perspective in all spheres, understanding it as the process of assessing the implications for men and women of any planned action, be it legislation, policies or programs, in different scenarios, including the judicial.

Objectives: To analyze the influence of the gender perspective in Colombian constitutional jurisprudence in order to identify the measures adopted to guarantee women's human rights in the Colombian context.

Methods: This is a qualitative, jurisprudential and socio-legal study, focused on evaluating the application of law in the context of the issues addressed by the Constitutional Court of Colombia. It examines how legal norms contribute to the political purposes of the State, considering the social reality. Its objective is descriptive and it uses the analysis of emblematic rulings of the Court as a data collection technique. The criteria for selecting the rulings include cases on women's rights, their impact on legislation and public policies, and those that establish constitutional precedents.        

Conclusions: This paper examines how the gender perspective impacts constitutional jurisprudence in Colombia, in order to identify the measures adopted to safeguard women's human rights. Historically, male power has dominated society, generating inequalities and violence towards the feminine through institutions such as the family, education and religion. Since the 1991 Constitution, which establishes equality as a fundamental principle, laws and policies have been enacted to protect women's rights and combat gender-based violence. Despite this, the application of the gender approach by judges has been insufficient. The Constitutional Court has emphasized the importance of this approach to guarantee women's rights, playing a crucial role in transforming a patriarchal legal system into a more equitable one and seeking to impact both institutions and society in general.