Meet the Graduates 2023: Carolina Barraza Puerta

Carolina Barraza Puerta is a recent graduate from Sciences Po in International Development and Advanced Certification in Gender Studies awardee. In this interview, she tells us more about her dive into gender studies following a work experience in lockdowned Bogotá, Colombia and her student experience at Sciences Po.

What brought you to gender studies?

I have always been interested in gender affairs, but witnessing the effects of the pandemic on women was what really drove me to pursue gender studies in my formal education. COVID-19 caught me working for a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) programme in Colombia that supported migrant and marginalised communities. One of the first things we noted as soon as lockdowns started was that this health crisis was having tremendous gendered effects, with women being disproportionately and negatively affected. From losing their jobs to seeing increased school dropout rates among girls, women disproportionately bore the brunt of the health crisis. As I planned my graduate education, I knew I wanted to dig deeper into gender studies to better understand how different feminists have approached the question of promoting equality and social justice.

What do you want to remember from your graduate education?

Something I appreciated from my time at Sciences Po was the opportunity to delve deeper into subjects that truly interest me through my coursework. Particularly in my gender courses: there was almost always room to take the main subject and explore through it more specific themes that are relevant to my professional interests. I often ended up researching gender through the context of Colombia’s armed conflict and 2016 Peace Agreement. I found that, both in class and through my assignments, my own experiences with conflict and peacebuilding offered entry points to discuss gender issues in relation to real life situations. Being able to discuss my own experiences as well as to focus my research on more specific contexts made me feel more empowered in my choice to pursue gender studies.

Is there a particular class you will remember?

A class that really inspired me was “Women's Resistance”, which moved beyond victimhood to recenter women as agents of change. The class had two professors coming from different backgrounds who brought together their experiences to form a compelling course on how women from different walks of life rise above their circumstances to bring about transformative change for them and their communities. The course as a whole reminded me of a beautiful line from Legacy, a Rupi Kaur poem, “I stand on the sacrifices of a million women before me, thinking what can I do to make this mountain taller so the women after me can see farther.”

What advice would you give to the next cohorts?

Go for it, but remember – like Rupi Kaur writes – that you also stand on the sacrifices of others that came before you, and that your job is also to help others rise above.

More

• The Advanced Certification in Gender Studies is open to all students in a second year of master programme at Sciences Po
• At the Sciences Po Undergraduate College, Bachelor students can apply for the Certification in Gender and Equality
• The Master degree in International Development at the Sciences Po School of International Affairs