This March 8, as every year since 1975, Women’s Day is commemorated, a date on which thousands of women take to the streets to demand the vindication of the rights that they have seen violated. And it is that facts such as that men could vote and women do not demonstrate the historical debt that there is towards this genre.
It is necessary to remember, then, when was the first time that a woman was able to vote.
The story goes back to the town of Cerro Chato, Uruguay, in 1927. At that time the inhabitants discussed whether the territory belonged to the jurisdiction of Florida, Treinta y Tres or Durazno, so the discussion was taken to a local plebiscite addressed to all “people without distinction of nationality and sex.”
That is to say, men and women could participate.
(Keep reading: Uruguay: 240,000 people suffer from rare diseases).
There were a total of 357 votes and although no agreement was reached (Cerro Chato is still divided today) it did mark a historic milestone. As ‘CNN’ recalls, the first woman to vote was curiously a Brazilian. It was Rita Ribeira, a 90-year-old black woman.
Those neighbors left us an example. May the past be put in favor of the future
“The Cerro Chato Plebiscite singled us out in America because, beyond the motivation and purpose that mobilized its promoters, institutional mechanisms were put into play based on the most expensive traditions of the country, giving citizens an authentic lesson of mutual tolerance, of a real and profound desire for coexistence. But in addition, it had a special significance, since the right to vote for women was exercised in said instance, for the first time in Uruguay and in South America. Those neighbors left us an example. May the past be put in favor of the future,” wrote Saúl Moisés Piña in a document from the State Insurance Bank.
However, It was not until 1938 that women participated in national elections in that country and the key figure is Paulina Luisi (1875-1949), a physician, teacher, and feminist activist, who was also the first woman to earn a bachelor’s degree.
‘BBC’ describes her as a highly respected person: “She represented Uruguay at various international conferences on women and was the first female government delegate from Latin America to the League of Nations, the forerunner of the UN” .
In addition, she founded the magazine Acción Femenina, in which she touched on health and sexuality issues.
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Daisy Contreras
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