I don’t know about you, but I love what filmmakers have been doing for future generations of women. Before I refused to let my daughter see Snow White in cartoons, it showed a princess who passively cared for and did the office for seven dwarfs, singing, while waiting for a prince to come on his steed to rescue her; what a purpose of life …
And it is that the last films have left aside the princesses whose fundamental purpose is to wait to be rescued and have focused on autonomous, independent, determined young people, who seek something more, an objective even higher than themselves. Confident, skillful, risky and intelligent young women. They harness their potential without trampling or destroying others. Comprehensive, intuitive and generous. Feminine qualities that empower us to influence in a positive, purposeful and empathetic way. Strong and competent women. In FrozenThey really surprised me when the famous “act of true love” came from one sister to another, a filial and unconditional love. Then came Moana, one of my favorites, presents a young woman capable of listening, above all else, to her heart and embarking on a journey to save her people. And let’s not even talk about the latest version of Fa Mulán. Wonderful. She is a young woman who even pretends to be a man, facing the challenges imposed by the army on equal terms and later assuming her own inner strength. This is how we see Captain Marvel, powerful and determined. A Raya, who after being betrayed decides to learn to trust to generate unity. Wanda, who tries to recover a wonderful dream of love, but who finally ends up finding herself stronger than ever. Merida from Brave, which as the name of the film says, that was: brave.
Cinema reflects a new feminine reality, one in which women listen to themselves and in which we can achieve our dreams, working as a team, but without depending. A situation that is real for many of us, but that is still not so true for many others. According to United Nations data, about 650 million women in the world were married or had joined a union as girls or before reaching the age of 18, the diagnosis of the National Planning Department-DNP on child marriage indicates that more than 60 percent of Latin American women have been married before the age of 18, who belong to low-income population groups, and 36 percent live in rural areas. In our country, that reality is not alien, the same DNP report indicates that in total in the age range of 15 to 19 years, the number of women united and married is 13.3 percent. While in men it is 2.9 percent.
Regarding gender violence, women continue to face a complex situation. According to data from ECLAC’s Gender Equality Observatory, for the year 2019 of 15 Latin American countries and 4 Caribbean countries, 4,555 women were victims of femicide. In the case of Colombia, according to the records kept by the Femicide Observatory, in January 2021 there were 55 femicides where 36 percent of the alleged murderers were the partner or ex-partner. Turning to the ability of women to be independent from their income, ECLAC estimates that by 2019 almost a third of women in Colombia did not receive income for themselves and depended on third parties for their subsistence, “which makes them vulnerable from the economic point of view and dependent on the income earners ”.
That is why I celebrate that from the seventh art they inspire new generations to believe in themselves, because it is a massive message. It is a message that helps the youngest to believe that for us it is also possible to break down barriers, create, produce and grow. I would say happy women’s day or month, but no, really what I wish you all is that you can build, with your ‘coming and going’, a wonderful life. That they enjoy their femininity with all its nuances and that they be who they want to be with no limits other than not destroying others. Advance women that what is at stake is not a day or a month, it is our life itself.
Patricia Rincon
Technical Undersecretary of the General Secretariat of the Mayor’s Office
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