Corporación Casa de la Mujer – Feminist Rights and Legal Advocacy, Colombia (1982–present)

Colombia's Corporación Casa de la Mujer was founded in Bogotá in 1982 by feminist lawyers and activists responding to the legal invisibility of women in a society already marked by armed conflict and widespread gender-based violence. Over four decades it has grown into one of Latin America's most prominent women's rights organisations, combining legal services, political advocacy, and popular education.

The organisation has trained and advised approximately 90,000 Colombian women across different ethnic backgrounds, geographic regions, and diverse sexual and cultural identities, strengthening their autonomy, rights recognition, and political participation. It has contributed to the organisational capacity of approximately 1,000 women's organisations across 20 of Colombia's 32 departments.

Casa de la Mujer played a key role in drafting Laws 294/1996 (family violence), 1257/2008 (non-violence against women, a landmark statute), and 1448/2011 (victims' reparation and land restitution). It provides direct legal assistance to survivors of physical and sexual violence and to families of femicide victims, and leads coalition work through the National Roundtable on Women.

UN Women Colombia recognises Casa de la Mujer as a pivotal contributor to the national women's rights architecture. A 2020 OECD assessment situates Colombia as a frontrunner in the Latin American and Caribbean gender equality legal framework, noting that civil society organisations like Casa de la Mujer contributed directly to this position. No independent cost-effectiveness evaluation or systematic outcome measurement of training impact has been published.

Read the full analysis: https://casmujer.com/