Magdalena León de Leal

Magdalena León (, León Gómez; pen name, Magdalena León de Leal; Barichara, Santander, June 30, 1939) is a Colombian feminist sociologist specializing in social research and women's studies. Trained with the founders of Colombian sociology, Orlando Fals Borda and Camilo Torres Restrepo, she transferred the rhetorical and discursive framework to the analysis of empirical reality using the survey, systematization, and data analysis to learn the reality on the ground, not only of Colombia but also from Latin America.

She has worked in the formulation of policies aimed at the advancement of women. She is the author of La mujer y el desarrollo en Colombia (English: Women and development in Colombia) (1977) recognized as the work that inaugurated the issue of women and development in Colombia from a national perspective both for its incidence in the academic field and for its impact on public policy formulation. Also noteworthy is her research establishing a gender approach on redistribution policies that allowed the recognition of women's work in the rural and agrarian world, claiming land ownership for women as a key to development and the fight against poverty.

Early life and education Magdalena León Gómez was born in Barichara, Santander, Colombia, June 30, 1939. She was the fifth of nine siblings, seven girls and two boys. Her father was Juan Francisco León, a liberal merchant who owned a fabric store. She had the affection and care of two mother-figures, her mother, Lola Gómez de León and her aunt, Tata, Magdalena explains, recalling her early life. She also remembers the violence in her home town and, as a consequence of threats, the transfer of her family to Bucaramanga when she was seven years old.

She began the third year of elementary school at the Franciscan nuns' school and graduated from high school there. There, in her fifth year of high school, she met Monserrat Ordóñez, a future writer, with whom she struck up a friendship. Educated in Barcelona and with a large library, Ordóñez made it easy for León to connect with books and libraries, awakening her passion for knowledge. She initially decided on studying economics until she was recruited by Orlando Fals Borda and Camilo Torres Restrepo, a pioneer of Liberation theology and co-founder of the first sociology faculty in Latin America. it was recognized as the work that inaugurated the issue of women and development in Colombia from a Colombian national perspective due to its incidence in the academic field as well as its impact on the formulation of public policies. was also the first joint work that was followed by numerous collaborations in research on rural women between León and Carmen Diana Deere.

In 1981 and 1982, León compiled and published the three-volume collection, Debate sobre la mujer en América Latina y el Caribe (English: Debate on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean) (1982). In the article, "Política agraria en Colombia y debate sobre políticas para la mujer rural" (English: Agrarian policy in Colombia and debate on policies for rural women), León pointed out the achievements and limitations of the policy for rural women formulated in 1984.

In 1986, León published the study, La mujer y la política agraria en América Latina (English: Women and agrarian policy in Latin America) in which she makes the work of rural women visible, recognizes them as agricultural producers, and characterizes the peasant economy in Latin America as a family farming system, a thesis contrary to that of Boserup who interpreted it as a masculine agricultural system.

After 15 years of research, in 1989, she left the ACEP and returned to the National University of Colombia participating in the "Grupo Mujer y Sociedad" (English: Women and Society Group), and in 1990, she returned as a full professor. In 1994, she created the "Fondo de Documentación Mujer y Género: Ofelia Uribe de Acosta" (English: Women and Gender Documentation Fund: Ofelia Uribe de Acosta), which she directed until 1999. She also promoted the creation of study networks: in 1995 "Red de Masculinidad" (English: Network of Masculinity) was created, and in 1996, "Red de Mujeres y Participación Política" (English: Network of Women and Political Participation), which brought together academic women, trade unionists, politicians, NGOs, and grassroots leaders.

Awards and honors

2003, Bryce Wood Book Award for Property, and Empowerment: Land, State, and Market in Latin America, Latin American Studies Association (LASA) (co-written with Carmen Diana Deere)

Selected works

Las clases medias y la dependencia externa en Colombia (1971) Leal, Magdalena León de (1977). La Mujer y el desarrollo en Colombia. Asociación Colombiana para el Estudio de la Población. Deere, Carmen Diana; Leal, Magdalena León de (1980). Mujer y capitalismo agrario: estudio de cuatro regiones colombianas. Asociación Colombiana para el Estudio de la Población. Deere, Carmen Diana; Leal, Magdalena León de (1982). Women in Andean agriculture: peasant production and rural wage employment in Colombia and Peru. International Labour Office. . Leal, Magdalena León de; Deere, Carmen Diana; Marulanda, Nohra Rey de (1982). Debate sobre la mujer en América Latina y el Caribe: Sociedad subordinación y feminismo. Asociación Colombiana para el Estudio de la Población. Leal, Magdalena León de; Batli, Srilatha (1997). Poder y empoderamiento de las mujeres. UN, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas. . Leal, Magdalena León de (1998). Mujer rural y desarrollo: reforma agraria y contrarreforma en el Perú : hacia un análisis de género. Ediciones Flora Tristán. Leal, Magdalena León de; Deere, Carmen Diana; Elizabeth García; V, Julio César Trujillo (1999). Género y derechos de las mujeres a la tierra en Ecuador. Consejo Nacional de las Mujeres. Leal, Magdalena León de; Feijoó, Mariá del Carmen; Sociales), Programa Latinoamericano de Investigación y Formación sobre la Mujer (Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias (1993). Tiempo y espacio: las luchas sociales de las mujeres latinoamericanas. CLACSO. Leal, Magdalena León de; Alvarez, Sonia E. (1994). Mujeres y participación política: avances y desafíos en América Latina. TM Editores. . Deere, Carmen Diana; Leal, Magdalena León de (1999). Mujer y tierra en Guatemala. AVANCSO Asociación para el Avance de Ciencias Sociales en Guatemala. Deere, Carmen Diana; Leal, Magdalena León de (1 de enero de 1999). Towards a gendered analysis of the Brazilian agrarian reform. Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, University of Connecticut. Deere, Carmen Diana; Leal, Magdalena León de (1997). Women and land rights in the Latin American neo-liberal counter-reforms. Women in International Development, Michigan State University. Deere, Carmen Diana; Leal, Magdalena León de (2001 - 2014). Empowering Women: Land and Property Rights in Latin America. University of Pittsburgh Pre. . Deere, Carmen Diana; Leal, Magdalena León de (2002). Género, propiedad y Empoderamiento: tierra, estado y mercado en América Latina. PUEG. . Leal, Magdalena León de; Baldez, Lisa (2005). Nadando contra la corriente: mujeres y cuotas políticas en los países andinos. UNIFEM. Leal, Magdalena León de; Sáenz, Eugenia Rodríguez (2005). Ruptura de la inequidad?: propiedad y género en la América Latina del siglo XIX. Siglo del Hombre Editores. .