María Lavalle Urbina

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María Lavalle Urbina (born May 24, 1908, in Campeche, Campeche) was a Mexican lawyer and politician who served as the first female president of the Mexican Senate.

[edit] Education and professional career

Lavalle Urbina, an elementary school teacher, was the first woman in her native Campeche to receive a bachelor's degree in law. She was the first female magistrate of the Superior Court of Justice of the Mexican Federal District. From 1954 to 1964 she worked in the Secretariat of the Interior. In 1964 Lavalle Urbina and Alicia Arellano, both from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), were elected the first women in the Senate of Mexico. In 1965 she became the first woman to preside over the Senate. From 1976 to 1980 she served as under-secretary of Public Education.

She was a member of different associations including Alianza de Mujeres de México, Academia Mexicana de Educación and Asociación de Derecho de la Familia de la Asociación Nacional de Abogados.

She was the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions including Woman of the year (1963), The United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights (1973), The Justo Sierra Medal from the state of Campeche (1981), The Belisario Dominguez Medal from the Mexican Senate (1985) and the René Cassin prize from the Mexican Tribuna Israelita.

María Lavalle Urbina died on April 23, 1996.