This article brings the transformations of the relationship between men and women in Colombia into a socio-cultural context that shapes them and gives them their qualities. Difference in two historical moments; the first so-called ‘complementary oppositions’ is a particular to a system of domination characterised by the predominance of patriarchal law in the family. In this case, women, who have no attributes of their own, perform a complementary function which enables the attributes of the man to be realised. The second, referred to as peers or pairs, is specific to a system of domination governed by the rules. In this case, women need to be awarded special attributes, independent of those of man, resulting in changes in the role and status of both, which are conducive to the establishment of a horizontal relationship between the genders.