In 1993, I joined the Peruvian Army for the first time.  It was also the first time that women were able to enter the Armed Forces of Peru. We were a test. They wanted to know if we could do the jobs that men did.  It was a year of testing, and those who trained us wanted us to give up.  Thank God we never gave up.  We did all the assignments they required to accept more women each year. It was not easy, but neither was it impossible.  We showed that not only could we do the things of the home, as they thought, but we could do more than they imagined.  We also completed the paratrooper course, jumping out of an airplane the same way the men did.  We earned our “Paratrooper” wings. By our two years of hard work, we cleared the way for women to join the Peruvian Armed Forces.   Now we have many high-ranking women occupying different positions across Peru, and that makes me happy and very proud. 

– Rosa Velasquez

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant