When Women Lead: How Women Are Shaping Venezuela's Political Struggle

Venezuela's Fall into Crisis 

The political and socioeconomic situation in Venezuela has steadily worsened since Nicolas Maduro's victory in the 2013 presidential election. Under his leadership, the ruling party, United Socialist Party of Venezuela, has established increasingly centralized control over state institutions, the judiciary, and the electoral system. The opposition's success in the 2015 parliamentary election should have marked a turning point in the country’s trajectory, but instead led to further democratic erosion as Maduro's government deprived the National Assembly of its powers through Supreme Court manipulation. By 2018, the economic situation had become catastrophic, with the economy shrinking by 18 percent and inflation reaching its highest point ever, further exacerbated by the government's rejection of international humanitarian aid, falling oil prices and widespread corruption. These conditions have led to mass migration, with over seven million Venezuelans fleeing the country by 2024.

Venezuela's Struggle and the Effects on Women

Venezuela's economic collapse has fundamentally shifted women's social roles and vulnerabilities. With restricted domestic decision-making power and traditionally limited household responsibilities, women are facing compounding challenges as the crisis deepens. Economic pressures have forced women to become major income earners, while maintaining their traditional caregiving roles. Mothers and families are navigating household survival under extreme inflation, food scarcity, and  a failing health system. This situation has severely impacted Venezuelan women and girls, resulting in increased poverty, barriers to political participation and limited access to reproductive healthcare, justice and support in cases of gender-based violence. As a result, many Venezuelans are attempting to escape by crossing borders, exposing themselves to further violence, extortion, robbery, exploitation, and other dangers. 

The situation in Venezuela, and the resultant refugee and migrant crisis in the region, involve highly gendered dynamics that have placed a significant burden on women, girls, and LGBTQI+ individuals in the country, as well as those traveling through Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru in search of temporary or permanent destinations. Venezuelan refugees and migrants struggle to meet their basic needs and roughly three quarters of Venezuelans in Latin America and the Caribbean are unable to access health, education and social services. Additionally, Venezuelan women and children are increasingly vulnerable to abuses such as human trafficking, forced labor, and gender-based violence. Further observations indicate that limited access to formal employment is an  ongoing challenge, and approximately 82 percent of Venezuelans working in the region are forced into informal, unskilled, and poorly paid employment due to discrimination in hiring processes in which women are disproportionately affected. 

Voices of Resistance: Venezuelan Women's Activism

Yet the transformation of women's roles has also paradoxically created new pathways to political and social leadership. Women have translated their survival skills into community organizing and political participation, emerging as key forces in Venezuela's struggle for democratic change. Women's political activism in Venezuela has deep roots, dating from nineteenth-century suffrage movements to mobilized resistance against military dictatorships. However, today's movement marks a distinct evolution in both scale and approach. With the present crisis, women have emerged as transformative political actors despite systemic barriers to their participation. 

The formal political process, including peace negotiations and dialogue initiatives, has largely excluded women's voices and civil society perspectives, hindering sustainable reconciliation efforts. But it has unexpectedly become a source of political influence. The Women for Dialogue and Peace in Venezuela initiative exemplifies this new approach. The organization has united women across political divides to advance specific commitments to women's rights. The movement has achieved what formal negotiations could not: building trust across ideological barriers in a deeply polarized society. This success demonstrates how shared concerns about women's rights and security can overcome traditional political divisions. Women now lead approximately 70 percent of grassroots political structures, transforming Venezuela's political landscape from the ground up. Their leadership approach combines practical crisis response with principled democratic advocacy, offering a distinct alternative to traditional opposition tactics. This approach has proven particularly effective during economic hardships and government sanctions, as women balance immediate community needs with longer-term democratic goals.

Maria Corina Machado best represents this evolution in women's political leadership. Rising from civil society activism as founder of Sumate, a democratic volunteer civil association, to opposition leader, Machado’s journey reflects the broader transformation of women's political engagement in Venezuela. Machado won 90 percent of votes in the 2023 opposition primary, in defiance of heavy government pressure. Despite having been barred from participating in the 2024 presidential election, Machado has continued advocating for democratic reform and economic recovery, and is still widely viewed as the true representative for the opposition. Following their election loss - widely contested as illegitimate -  Machado decided to remain in Venezuela and has organized protests, reaching out to international allies and conducting media interviews to keep the momentum alive. In a recent interview she shared, “I stay in Venezuela under these conditions because I trust the Venezuelan people, and I have no doubt that the result of our fight will be the liberation of Venezuela… And our people want and need to know that I'm here with them,” exemplifying the resilience that characterizes her leadership in Venezuela's struggle for democracy. This burgeoning transformation of Venezuela's political resistance, led by women's contributions and new leadership approaches, offers a promising path toward sustainable democratic change.

Alongside Machado stands a group of women activists fighting for Venezuela's freedom. Delcy Solórzano joined Venezuela's opposition movement against the government that has held power for over two decades. As a lawyer and former deputy in the Venezuelan National Assembly, she established the Encuentro Ciudadano party, which participated in opposition primary elections. In an interview, she shared her deeply personal mission: “I aspire to be the hope for the children of Venezuela to return home” – a reference to the millions who have fled the country's ongoing crisis. 

Similarly, Rocio San Miguel is an advocate for peaceful democratic transformation, a human rights activist​, and a specialist in military issues. San Miguel is also the president of the NGO Control Ciudadano, which protects citizens' national security and defense from armed forces. She has long been one of Venezuela's best-known security experts, a woman who risked her life to investigate her country's authoritarian government. In February 2024, San Miguel was detained by Venezuelan authorities, and her whereabouts remain unknown. Her arrest sent shockwaves through Venezuela's civil society – the small but resilient network of activists, aid workers, critics, analysts, and journalists who have persisted in their work despite years of repression and economic turmoil. For these individuals, her disappearance signals an even greater constriction of their already limited space to operate.

Yet even as political spaces narrow, women-led organizations continue to step forward to fill critical gaps in Venezuela's crumbling social infrastructure. These organizations include Funcamama, which initially focused on treating women's cancers but has expanded its services in response to Venezuela's growing community health needs, eventually evolving into a comprehensive health center. The dedicated women activists leading this organization provide extensive support through information-sharing, preventive care, treatment, and emotional support to reduce the social impact of health conditions. Another organization that supports health care needs in the country is Prepara Familia, providing assistance, support, and defense to girls, boys, hospitalized adolescents, and female caregivers.

There are also women-led humanitarian and civil rights organizations such as Centro de Justicia y Paz (Cepaz), a Venezuelan civil society organization that promotes and defends democratic values, human rights, and peace. Working both independently and in partnership with national and international organizations, they pursue initiatives centered on protecting human dignity and universal human rights. Cepaz has become particularly vital in documenting and addressing human rights violations during a period when government transparency has significantly declined. In 2019, responding to the absence of official statistics—a symptom of the broader breakdown in state institutions—Cepaz conducted groundbreaking research tracking femicides through digital media sources, revealing 45 murders of women in just six months. 

Long-term Implications on Venezuela’s Society and Politics

The rise of women as key actors in Venezuela's political struggle represents a complex dynamic in the country's fragile democratic movement. While their leadership approach emphasizes practical solutions alongside moral resistance, the process of transformation should be regarded with patience and pragmaticism. As Venezuela continues to face political challenges, women leaders confront deeply rooted power structures and institutional barriers. Through their expanding role in both grassroots movements and broader leadership, women are attempting to craft a new political narrative; still the struggle reveals the limitations of moral authority against established political structures. 

The substantial role of women-led activism in Venezuela, while significant, follows patterns seen in other resistance movements that have faced prolonged struggles, and despite the scale of their engagement, have not yet achieved systemic change. However, historical examples indicate a pathway for eventual success and systemic change. Women's leadership in Venezuela's resistance movement follows the path of effective political transitions in Liberia, where women's peace leaders and movements helped end civil conflict and establish democratic governance. Their approach of combining immediate crisis response with long-term vision has been demonstrated in Rwanda, Ukraine, and Sierra Leone, where women's movements played crucial roles in addressing the country's crises and shaping political change. Building on the experiences of successful women-led movements, Venezuela's female activists have established community support networks while advancing strategies and frameworks for democratic transition, showing how women's leadership can bridge immediate needs with systemic change in crisis situations. 

This struggle is not just about power; it's about transforming how politics is conducted and rethinking what leadership can look like in Venezuela. The increasing efforts led by women for political and social change in Venezuela suggests that any sustainable solution to the country's challenges will need to include their voices and perspectives.