Gloria Inés Ramírez

Gloria Inés Ramírez Rios (born 8 June 1956) is a Colombian politician, teacher and trade unionist, member of the Colombian Communist Party. Since 11 August 2022, she has held the position of Minister of Labour of her country, in the government of Gustavo Petro.

She was president of the Colombian Federation of Education Workers (FECODE) and a member of the executive committee of the Central Union of Workers of Colombia (CUT). Between 2006 and 2014 she served as a senator.

Early life
She was born on 8 June 1956, in Filadelfia, Caldas. She has a degree in physics and mathematics from the Technological University of Pereira.

In her life as an educator, she has performed her role in mostly public institutions, which led her to see the reality of the country in which she lived: the conditions in which the classes were taught, the state of health of the children, the infrastructure of campuses, etc. From a very young age she was linked to the left, thus militating in the Colombian Communist Party and the Patriotic Union.

In addition, he has held positions within trade unionism; being president of the Colombian Federation of Educators (FECODE), and member of the executive committee of the Central Union of Workers of Colombia (CUT). She has also been a defender of women's rights, female emancipation and gender equality.

Senator of Colombia
In the 2006 Colombian legislative elections, she was elected Senator of the Republic of Colombia with a total of 32,589 votes, representing the Alternative Democratic Pole (of which the Communist Party was a member at the time ). Later in the 2010 Colombian legislative elections, she was re-elected as senator with a total of 36,335 votes.

She defended projects that sought the vindication of workers, homosexual rights and the recognition of conscientious objection to compulsory military service, which was promoted by the National Association of Secondary Students.

Gloria Inés Ramírez is the author of the law that criminalized femicide in Colombia. she also promoted other projects such as the creation of the Congressional Legal Commission for Equity for Women and the inclusion of unpaid housework in the National Accounts System.

Minister of Labour
On 6 August 2022, President-elect Gustavo Petro announced the appointment of Gloria Inés Ramírez as the new Minister of Labour of Colombia. She officially began her duties as minister on 11 August.

On 29 August 2022, during the first official visit of President Gustavo Petro to Peru and the visit of Vice President Francia Márquez to the United States, Gloria Inés was appointed by the President as Minister Delegate, a position that performs the functions of the Head of State while the President is absent.