Expertise
Conflict Resolution and Peace-buildingHuman Rights
LGBTQ Rights
Refugees, Migration, IDPs
Sexual Violence in Conflict
Social Movements & Non-violent Resistance
Transitional Justice
Violence against women
Women Human Rights Defenders
Women's Rights
Details
Media
As two women vie for Mexico’s presidency, why are there questions about their ability to govern? AP Apr 6, 2024
The gendered risks of defending rights in armed conflict: Evidence from Colombia Journal of Peace Research Feb 6, 2024
Gender-Based Violence In Mexico Linked To Organized Crime The Latin Times Jul 12, 2023
Mexico’s Rising Femicides Linked to Organized Crime Insight Crime Jul 11, 2023
Beyond Collateral Damage: Femicides, Disappearances, and New Trends in Gender-Based Violence in Mexico Wilson Center Jun 27, 2023
El Salvador’s “State of Exception” Makes Women Collateral Damage Carnegie Endowment May 4, 2023
‘Historic moment’ as El Salvador abortion case fuels hopes for expanded access across Latin America The Guardian Mar 24, 2023
Complex gendered agency in Mexico: how women negotiate hierarchies of fear to search for the disappeared Bristol University Press Feb 22, 2023
Why Are Rights Activists Being Targeted in Colombia? The Dialogue Feb 8, 2023
As the ELN resumes peace talks with the Colombian government, women’s participation is more important than ever LSE Blog Dec 1, 2022
‘They think we’re terrorists’: Colombia’s female former guerrilla fighters find no peace The Guardian Nov 6, 2022
Will Gustavo Petro live up to his promises to Colombia’s women? Al Jazeera Jun 21, 2022
Colombia needs a leader who’ll implement the peace accord. For women, it’s a matter of life and death Analysis CNN As Equals Jun 19, 2022
Roe Inspired Activists Worldwide, Who May Be Rethinking Strategy New York Times May 4, 2022
In Colombia, an activist, feminist lawyer is running for VP Washington Post Apr 29, 2022
A Colombian town’s spike in femicides is linked to armed groups The New Humanitarian Apr 12, 2022
Has the 2016 Colombia peace accord delivered on its promises to help women? BBC World Feb 12, 2022
The mothers on the front line of Colombia’s mass protests coauthor Al Jazeera May 26, 2021
Colombia: How armed gangs are using lockdown to target activists BBC May 21, 2020
‘Peace has a lot of enemies here’: Colombia’s female activists in the firing line coauthor The New Humanitarian Oct 28, 2019
‘Based in hatred’: violence against women standing in Colombia’s elections The Guardian Oct 1, 2019
Julia Zulver (@JZulver) is a political sociologist whose research focuses on how and why women pursue gender justice in high-risk contexts. She centres on the struggles of women’s rights leaders and community activists engaging in grassroots mobilization in Colombia, Mexico, and El Salvador. In other research projects, she has investigated the dynamics of gender-based violence in the Colombia-Venezuelan borderlands.
She is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow at the Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas (UNAM, Mexico) and the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies (Oxford, UK). Her three-year research project is entitled: High Risk Leadership in Latin America: Women’s Pursuit of Gender Justice in Violent Contexts.
She was named a Wallenberg Academy Fellow in 2024, joining the gender, peace and security team at the Swedish Defence University to begin a five-year project on feminist responses to patriarchal backlash in Latin America.
Her book High-Risk Feminism in Colombia: Women’s Mobilization in Violent Contexts was published in 2021 by Rutgers University Press. She won two awards from the International Studies Association, recognizing an original contribution to the field of peace and conflict studies and feminist theory and gender studies. She also won the Conflict Research Society’s book of the year award.
Julia is also a Senior Researcher at Ladysmith, a feminist research consultancy, where she has contributed to research and reports that collect, analyse, and take action on gender data.
She has published research in journals including International Feminist Journal of Politics, Third World Quarterly, Latin American Perspectives, Gender, Place, and Culture, and Gender and Development. She believes that it is important to use research and commentary to bring a feminist lens to debates about security and conflict. Examples of this work can be found in the Monkey Cage (The Washington Post), the Guardian, LASA Forum, NACLA Report on the Americas, Ms Magazine, and justiceinfo.net (Oxford Transitional Justice Research). She has undertaken research for the Centre for Reproductive Rights, the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, Impunity Watch, and the Overseas Development Institute.