Unión Femenina de Chile

Unión Femenina de Chile ("Chile's Women's Union") was a women's feminist organization in Chile, founded in 1928 and based in the city of Valparaíso.[1] It existed until 1935.[2][3]

It was founded by Graciela Lacoste Navarro in 1928 after having been suggested by her in 1927 at a celebration convened by Aurora Argomedo in order to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Amunátegui Decree in the city of Viña del Mar. The 1877 Amunátegui Decree had allowed women to study at Chilean universities.[4][5]

The organization campaigned for women's political rights and emancipation, women's social, financial and educational rights, as well as for women's suffrage, particularly influencing public opinion in Valparaíso. Presided over by the journalist and writer Isabel Morel, it was an organization largely composed of Valparaíso's elite professional women, though it aimed to bring together all women regardless of their economic or social status.[6] It published the newspaper Unión Femenina de Chile and the weekly Nosotras (feminine "Us"), both directed by Morel.[7][8]

Background

During the first decades of the 20th century, numerous civic feminist organizations were founded throughout Chile, seeking to improve women’s conditions in different aspects of social and political life at the time. Many of them emerged in the context of the social demands of the labour movement in Chile, such as the Belén de Zárraga Centers in Iquique or El Despertar de la Mujer in Valparaíso (1913),[9] while others arose among women of the emerging middle class, in intellectual circles generally progressive in character and with strong civic activity, such as the Club Social de Señoras ("Ladies' Social Club"), the Círculo de Lectura ("Reading Circle") in the city of Santiago, or the Liga de Mujeres Librepensadoras ("League of Free-thinking Women") in Valparaíso.[10]

Political participation

Together with other feminist groups, it formed broader associations to fight for women's suffrage. The association's newspapers contributed to women's insertion into national political life, even when they were not yet allowed to vote, by joining the electoral campaigns of the presidential candidates they supported, as occurred with the Radical candidate Juan Esteban Montero.[11]

Ideas and influences

The main focus of the Unión Femenina de Chile was the struggle for women’s political rights, particularly the right to vote in Chile. However, during its existence it also worked on various social causes such as improving health and subsistence conditions, always keeping women's situation as its main concern, organizing courses and lectures aimed at female audiences, as well as a women's production and consumer cooperative intended to alleviate times of scarcity.[12][13]

References

  1. ^ Illanes, M. Angélica (2006). Cuerpo y sangre de la política: la construcción histórica de las visitadoras sociales, Chile, 1887-1940 (1st ed.). Santiago: LOM. p. 161. ISBN 956-282-832-8.
  2. ^ Biblioteca Nacional de Chile. "Nosotras (1931-1935) y Unión Femenina de Chile (1934-1935)" [Nosotras (1931-1935) and Unión Femenina de Chile (1934-1935)]. Publicaciones periódicas femeninas (1865-1950) (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  3. ^ "Historia de la mujer en Chile. La conquista de sus derechos políticos en el siglo XX (1900-1952). – Critica.cl" [History of women in Chile: The conquest of their political rights in the twentieth century (1900-1952)] (in European Spanish). Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  4. ^ "Unión Femenina de Chile" [Unión Femenina de Chile]. BND: Sección Periódicos. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  5. ^ "Litoralpress - Texto de la Noticia" [Litoralpress - News text]. www.litoralpress.cl. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  6. ^ Müller, María Inés Winkler (2007). Pioneras sin monumentos: mujeres en Psicología [Pioneers without monuments: women in psychology] (1st ed.). Santiago, Chile: LOM Ediciones. p. 97. ISBN 978-95-6282-945-8.
  7. ^ "Nosotras (1931–1935) y Unión Femenina de Chile (1934–1935)" [Nosotras (1931–1935) and Unión Femenina de Chile (1934–1935)]. Memoria Chilena (Biblioteca Nacional de Chile) (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 March 2026.
  8. ^ "Nosotras". Prensa de Mujeres (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 March 2026.
  9. ^ Illanes, M. Angélica (2006). Cuerpo y sangre de la política : la construcción histórica de las visitadoras sociales, Chile, 1887-1940 [Body and blood of politics: the historical construction of social visitors, Chile, 1887-1940] (1st ed.). Santiago: LOM. p. 161. ISBN 956-282-832-8.
  10. ^ Senado. "Mujeres en política: los derechos con corsé, el voto femenino y su participación en cargos de poder - Senado - República de Chile" [Women in politics: rights with corset, women’s suffrage and participation in positions of power]. Senado (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 10 June 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  11. ^ Revista "Nosotras" (3 October 1931). "Por primera vez las mujeres de Chile actúan en la campaña presidencial" [For the first time the women of Chile take part in the presidential campaign]. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  12. ^ Kirkwood, Julieta (1986). Ser política en Chile: las feministas y los partidos [Being Political in Chile: Feminists and the Parties] (in Spanish). FLACSO.
  13. ^ Eltit, Diamela (1994). Crónica del sufragio femenino en Chile [Chronicle of Women's Suffrage in Chile] (in Spanish). SERNAM.
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