Medellín, Colombia – Feminist organizations have criticized the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF) after an internal document called for the “exclusive” use of the term “boys and adolescents,” without mentioning girls.
The ICBF recently underwent a change in leadership, with the new director Carolina Restrepo appointed by right-wing President Abelardo de la Espriella, who was inaugurated last month.
Restrepo has since changed the guidelines to refer to the term “childhood”, but legal experts say this shift in language could have limitations when it comes to protecting minors.
In an internal document, Carlos Cabrera, the acting regional director for Huila, called for the “exclusive” use of the term “boys and adolescents,” without mentioning girls.
The move drew criticism from citizens and various sectors of civil society, including social, feminist, and human rights organizations.
Following the backlash, Restrepo released a statement saying the ICBF will now refer to childhood, rather than boys, girls, and adolescents.
“When we talk about childhood, we are referring to all boys and girls across the country, with full recognition of their dignity, their rights, and the special protections afforded to them under the Colombian Constitution and law,” wrote Restrepo.
But this shift in institutional language has also been controversial.
In hispanic countries like Colombia, feminist movements have long argued the importance of explicitly naming women and girls. In Spanish, even though there are feminine versions of words, the masculine has historically been imposed as the default, especially in the plural.
The wording “boys, girls, and adolescents” was established in 2006 under Article 12 of the Children and Adolescents Code, which provides for a differential approach that takes into account their distinct material circumstances, according to María Cristina Hurtado, a lawyer, university professor, and co-drafter of the Children and Adolescents Code.
“What is not named does not exist, and when we said ‘boys, girls, and adolescents,’ what we did was uphold their rights and recognize their differences,” said Hurtado.
“We have spent more than 40 years developing regulations and creating specific, differentiated care protocols to protect the lives, dignity, and integrity of girls and adolescent girls.”
In Colombia, forced marriage, forced abortion, early pregnancy, and female genital mutilation are forms of violence that primarily affect girls and women.
Colombia became the last country in Latin America to ban female genital mutilation in June 2026. It also ranks 20th worldwide for the highest proportion of girls who are married or in unions before the age of 15, according to a UNICEF report.
In cases of sexual violence, these crimes have different implications for boys and girls, requiring a specific approach that recognizes these differences. According to ICBF figures, 81% of reported cases of violence involve girls and female adolescents.
“Failing to name girls means putting them at risk — putting them at risk of being erased and of failing to recognize the violence they experience,” said Isabella Vargas, founder of the feminist collective Juana de Arco which protested the ICBF’s new policy.
But director Restrepo dismissed the criticism, stressing that the child welfare agency has far more serious problems to address than “to make it a priority to multiply words when there is already an expression that encompasses everyone.”
A broader battle over gender
Many critics of the ICBF’s exclusion of the word ‘girl’ have cited Restrepo’s conservative views and lack of experience in child welfare.
On her first day, Restrepo ordered the removal of a mural created by Resistencia Chiquita, an artistic collective of girls that was formed in response to the 2016 femicide of the seven-year-old girl, Yuliana Samboní. She argued that the mural amounted to the “instrumentalization” of children.
Hurtado views Restrepo’s actions at the ICBF under the umbrella of a “culture war” led by the new de la Espriella government, which supports traditional family values and opposes what it describes as “gender ideology”.
Contrary to the gender debate in Europe and North America focused on transgender rights, in Colombia it refers to women’s rights and the battle for female representation.
Carolina Echeverri, a political scientist specializing in human rights and international humanitarian law, explained that “gender ideology” has been used to distort the struggle for women’s rights by portraying the use of the word “girl” as an ideological matter and subjecting it to censorship.
Indeed, Restrepo painted the dispute as a political one, telling El Pais: “I am not interested in turning the ICBF’s language into a battleground for ideological disputes.”
Others argue the new guidelines promoting the use of the term ‘niñez’, or ‘childhood’, weakens legal protections for children.
“Twenty-first-century family and constitutional law does not confuse niñez, which is a stage of human development, with ‘boy, girl and adolescent’, who are the subjects of rights,” explained Luis Miguel Hoyos, a lawyer, professor, and consultant on inclusive policies, in a post on X.
“Legally, saying ‘protect childhood’ is not the same as saying ‘protect boys, girls, and adolescents.’”
What is not named does not exist
Though excluding the word ‘girl’ may seem like a minor matter, experts warn it could just be the tip of the iceberg.
Hurtado believes it is a case of upholding legal protections.
“It is not a whim; it is a matter of enforcing the law, and public officials are constitutionally, legally, and conventionally required to apply a sex- and gender-based approach,” explained the lawyer.
Others argue that the ICBF’s move could set a precedent for further affronts to women’s rights as seen in other countries in Latin America where authoritarian and far-right governments have come to power.
“We cannot go back to the past. We have already made very important and clear advances for women and girls, including naming violence, naming ourselves, and occupying spaces not only in the private sphere but also in the public sphere, which has been an achievement for all of us,” said Vargas.
Featured image: Carolina Restrepo Cañavera via X
