Women in Uruguay
Paulina Luisi was a prominent Uruguayan feminist leader, and also the first Uruguayan woman to graduate as a physician. | |
| General statistics | |
|---|---|
| Maternal mortality (per 100,000) | 10 (2024)[1] |
| Women in parliament | 22.3% (2026)[2] |
| Women over 25 with secondary education | 50.6% (2010) |
| Women in labour force | 68% (2014)[3] |
| Gender Inequality Index[4] | |
| Value | 0.235 (2021) |
| Rank | 58th out of 191 |
| Global Gender Gap Index[5] | |
| Value | 0.711 (2022) |
| Rank | 72nd out of 146 |
| Part of a series on |
| Women in society |
|---|
Women in Uruguay are women who live in or are from the country. Their status has changed significantly throughout its history, and legislation aimed at advancing women’s rights began to be enacted in the early twentieth century. The country was one of the first in Latin America to grant women the right to vote, which was first exercised in national elections in 1938. Uruguayan legislation guarantees gender equality and provides protection against gender-based violence.
History
Early feminist movement
Paulina Luisi was a central figure in the early feminist movement in Uruguay. In 1909, she became the first woman in the country to obtain a medical degree.[6] During the early 20th century, she advocated for women’s civil and political rights, represented Uruguay at international women’s conferences, and travelled in Europe in support of gender equality.[7] In 1919, she helped organize the national movement for women’s rights. In 1922, the Pan-American Conference of Women named her honorary vice president of the meeting. She remained active in the campaign for women’s suffrage and legal reform until women in Uruguay obtained full political rights.[8]
20th century
In 1997, by executive decree of President Julio María Sanguinetti, women were formally admitted to the officer training academies of the Uruguayan Armed Forces, with the first cohort entering in 1998.[9] The reform enabled women to be commissioned as officers, including in combat branches.[10] The previous year, in 1996, the first female students had been admitted to the Liceo Militar General Artigas, marking an initial step toward their full integration into the military education system.[11]
Domestic violence
The offence of domestic violence was incorporated into the Penal Code in 1995 with the approval of the Citizen Security Law. In 2002, the Law on the Eradication of Domestic Violence was enacted; it also established the National Advisory Council for the Fight against Domestic Violence and mandated the drafting of a National Plan to Combat Domestic Violence.
In 2017, the Law on Gender-Based Violence against Women was approved, introducing the offence of femicide into the Penal Code.[12] The new legislation also eliminated provisions relating to so-called “crimes of passion,” following sustained political efforts that had begun in the early 2000s.[13][14]
According to a 2018 United Nations study, Uruguay has the second-highest rate of killings of women by current or former partners in Latin America, after Dominican Republic.[15]
Reproductive rights and health
Uruguay’s abortion law is considered among the most liberal in Latin America.[16] Although abortion was decriminalized for a brief period during the 1930s, it was not until 2012 that the country became the second in Latin America—after Cuba—to legalize elective abortion, permitting the procedure during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.[17]
As of 2024, the maternal mortality rate in Uruguay stood at 10 deaths per 100,000 live births, one of the lowest in the Americas.[18] In the same year, the country recorded a total fertility rate (TFR) of 1.19 children per woman, reflecting a low level of fertility, well below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman.[19]
Women in politics
In July 1927, within the Cerro Chato referendum, women voted for the first time in Uruguay, albeit at the municipal level. Uruguayan women obtained the right to vote and to stand for elective office in 1932 following the approval of Law No. 8,927, making the country one of the first in the world—and the first in Latin America—to grant women full political citizenship rights.[20] The 1934 Constitution subsequently incorporated women’s suffrage and established the principle of gender equality. Women first participated in national elections in 1938, in which Alfredo Baldomir Ferrari was elected president.
However, the first women elected to public office took their seats following the 1942 general elections. In those elections, Sofía Álvarez Vignoli of the Colorado Party was elected to the Senate, while Magdalena Antonelli Moreno of the Colorado Party and Julia Arévalo de Roche of the Communist Party were elected to the Chamber of Representatives.[21] Isabel Pinto de Vidal also assumed a Senate seat after the resignation of incumbent senator Luis Matiaude, who left office to join the Council of Ministers under President Juan José de Amézaga.[22]
Alba Roballo was the first woman to hold a ministerial position in Uruguay, assuming office as head of the Ministry of Culture in 1968. In 2000, the Women’s Bicameral Caucus (Bancada Bicameral Femenina) was established, bringing together female legislators from all political parties.[23] In 2009, the Law on Women’s Political Participation was approved, introducing gender quotas in electoral lists for all national and departmental elections.[24]
Since the 1990s, women have achieved increasing representation in Parliament. As of 2025, women hold 22.3% of parliamentary seats (29.2% in the Chamber of Representatives and 30% in the Senate), representing an increase compared to previous legislative terms.[25] At the municipal level, the first women were elected as departmental intendants in 2010: Ana Olivera in Montevideo, Patricia Ayala in Artigas, and Adriana Peña in Lavalleja.[26]
As of 2026, the office of President of Uruguay has not been held by a woman.[27] In 2017, the country had its first female Vice President, Lucía Topolansky, who assumed office through constitutional succession.[28] However, the first woman elected to the vice presidency was Beatriz Argimón—one of the founders of the Women’s Bicameral Caucus—in 2019.[29] She was succeeded in 2025 by Carolina Cosse.[30]
Sara Fons de Genta became the first woman to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Uruguay in 1981, during the civic–military dictatorship.[31] In 1985, Jacinta Balbela became the second woman appointed to the body and the first in the democratic period following the restoration of constitutional rule.[32][33] In 2022, the Supreme Court attained a female majority for the first time in its history, with women comprising three of its five members.[34]
See also
Further reading
Asunción Lavrin, Women, Feminism and Social Change: Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, 1890–1940 (Nebraska Press, 1995)
References
- ^ "Uruguay reduce muertes maternas en 2024 y lidera cifras en la región". Montevideo Portal. Retrieved 2026-02-17.
- ^ "El rezago de la representación femenina en el Parlamento de Uruguay". Diálogo Político. Retrieved 2026-02-17.
- ^ "Labor force participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15-64) (modeled ILO estimate) | Data". Data.worldbank.org. Retrieved 2017-04-26.
- ^ "Human Development Report 2021/2022" (PDF). HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORTS. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
- ^ "Global Gender Gap Report 2022" (PDF). World Economic Forum. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
- ^ "Paulina Luisi Janicki: la primera mujer médica de Uruguay". Universidad de la República. 2023-03-20.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Paulina Luisi (22/09/1875 - 17/ 07/1950)". Ministerio de Educación y Cultura (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-02-18.
- ^ "Letra de mujer: Paulina Luisi por Facundo Ponce de León". Biblioteca Nacional de Uruguay. 2021-03-11. Archived from the original on 2025-09-18. Retrieved 2026-02-18.
- ^ "Primera generación de oficiales mujeres | La Mañana" (in Spanish). 2021-03-13. Retrieved 2026-02-17.
- ^ "La mujer se abre paso en el duro mundo de los militares". EL PAIS. 2011-05-02. Retrieved 2026-01-30.
- ^ "El rol de la mujer en las Fuerzas Armadas de la República Oriental del Uruguay" [The role of women in the Armed Forces of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay] (PDF). El rol de la mujer en las fuerzas armadas : desde la óptica de los Colegios de Defensa Iberoaméricanos [The role of women in the armed forces: from the perspective of the Ibero-American Defense Colleges]. p. 380.
- ^ Ituño Costa, Cecilia (2022-08-01). "Cambios introducidos por la Ley 19.580 sobre violencia hacia las mujeres basada en género, a los procesos administrativos públicos y privados" [Changes introduced by Law 19.580 on gender-based violence against women to public and private administrative processes]. Montevideo: Revista de la Facultad de Derecho.
- ^ "Violencia doméstica: proponen derogar artículo 36, sobre "pasión provocada por el adulterio"". Archived from the original on 2016-03-06. Retrieved 2015-06-14.
- ^ "Nuestro Código exonera homicidio por adulterio". Diario La República.
- ^ "Muerte de mujeres ocasionada por su pareja o ex-pareja íntima". 11 January 2016. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
- ^ "A principios del siglo pasado, el aborto era legal en Uruguay". LARED21 (in Spanish). 2002-06-23. Retrieved 2026-02-18.
- ^ "Uruguay legalises abortion". Bbc.com. 17 October 2012.
- ^ "Morbilidad y Mortalidad materna en Uruguay". Ministerio de Salud Pública (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2025-08-06. Retrieved 2026-02-18.
- ^ "Uruguay tiene una de las tasas de fecundidad más bajas de la región y suma otro desafío demográfico". Ambito (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-02-18.
- ^ Pérez, Verónica. "Las Mujeres Uruguayas y la Representación Política. A 60 años de las Declaraciones Americana y Universal" [Uruguayan Women and Political Representation: 60 Years After the American and Universal Declarations] (PDF). Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de la República. Instituto de Ciencia Política.
- ^ "Dos legisladoras pioneras uruguayas tendrán su espacio libre en Parque Batlle". Junta Departamental de Montevideo. 2022-09-22.
- ^ "Las mujeres uruguayas están en el Parlamento desde hace 68 años". LARED21 (in Spanish). 2011-03-09. Retrieved 2026-02-17.
- ^ Johnson, Niki; Josefsson, Cecilia (2016-03-10). "A New Way of Doing Politics? Cross-Party Women's Caucuses as Critical Actors in Uganda and Uruguay". Parliamentary Affairs. 69 (4): 845–859. doi:10.1093/pa/gsw011. ISSN 0031-2290.
- ^ "Participación Política Femenina – IMPO" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2026-02-09. Retrieved 2026-02-17.
- ^ Carve, Radio; Linarez, Alejandra (2024-11-06). "Mujeres en el Parlamento a partir de 2025: más presencia pero lejos de la paridad | Radio Carve 850". Radio Carve 850 | Escucha todo el País (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-02-17.
- ^ "Intendentas: sólo tres mujeres en la historia llegaron a dirigir los gobiernos departamentales". la diaria (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-02-17.
- ^ "Authenticity is the key to success, VP of Uruguay tells students". Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
- ^ "Lucia Topolansky is Uruguay's first female vice president". BBC News. 2017-09-14. Retrieved 2026-02-17.
- ^ "Beatriz Argimón se convirtió en la primera mujer electa como vicepresidenta en Uruguay". EL PAIS. 2019-11-28. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
- ^ "Yamandú Orsi y Carolina Cosse asumieron este sábado como presidente y vicepresidenta de Uruguay". EL PAIS (in Spanish). 2025-03-01. Retrieved 2026-02-17.
- ^ Borges, Ana Inés Larre; Pereira, Cielo (1997). Mujeres uruguayas: Julia Arévalo; Dolores Castillo; Enriqueta Compte y Riqué; Melchora Cuenca; Luisa Luisi; Matilde Pacheco; Manolita Piña de Torres García; Concepción Silva; Susana Soca; Armonía Sommers (in Spanish). Fundación Banco de Boston. ISBN 9789974671089.
- ^ Sánchez, Santiago (2018-03-08). "La participación de las mujeres en el Poder Judicial decrece en las jerarquías más altas, aunque la tendencia se está revirtiendo". la diaria (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-05-07.
- ^ "La juezas al poder". Busqueda. January 19, 2017. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ^ en, Seguir (2022-02-09). "Por primera vez en la historia, la mayoría de los magistrados de la Suprema Corte de Uruguay son mujeres". infobae (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2026-02-17.