Margarita Nelken
| Margarita Nelken Mansberger | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Margarita Nelken 1894 Madrid |
| Died |
1968 (aged 74) Mexico |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Occupation | Art critics, writer |
Margarita Nelken (1894–1968) was a Spanish feminist and writer. She was a well known intellectual and a central figure in the earliest Spanish women's movement in the 1930s.
Early life and education
Nelken was born in Madrid in 1894.[1] Her parents were of German-Jewish origin and owners of a jewelry store.[1] She studied music, painting and languages.[1] Her sister, Carmen Eva Nelken, was actress and writer.[2]
Career and views
Nelken wrote books of fiction with a socio-political orientation in the 1920s, including La trampa del arenal (The sand trap, 1923).[3] Her other works include La condición social de la mujer en España (The social condition of women in Spain, 1922)[4] and La mujer ante las cortes constituyentes (1931).[5] She also wrote books about Spanish women writers and Spanish women politicians as well as short stories.[4] She held militant perspective of feminism, claiming that exploitation of women workers had negative effects on both male workers and women.[6]
In 1931 she became a member of the Socialist Party and run for office in the partial elections in October 1931 as a candidate for the Agrupación Socialista in Badajoz.[2] She was elected to the Constitutive Parliament.[7] She also won the elections of November 1933 and February 1936.[2] Although she was a feminist, she rejected the Spanish women's right to vote, arguing that they were not ready for it.[7] She served at the parliament until 1939 and as a Republican and socialist she and her sister exiled to Mexico at the end of the Spanish civil war.[2] There she worked as an art critic.[1][4] She also wrote a book entitled Los judíos en la cultura hispánica in Mexico, which was republished by AHebraica in Spain in 2009.[2]
Death
Nelken died in Mexico in 1968.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Janet Pérez; Maureen Ihrie (2002). The Feminist Encyclopedia of Spanish Literature: N-Z. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 439. ISBN 978-0-313-32445-1. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "An essay by Margarita Nelken published for the first time in Spain". Routes of Sepharad (5). March 2010. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
- ↑ Harriet Turner; Adelaida L Pez De Mart Nez (11 September 2003). The Cambridge Companion to the Spanish Novel: From 1600 to the Present. Cambridge University Press. p. 167. ISBN 978-0-521-77815-2. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Catherine Davies (1 December 2000). Spanish Women's Writing 1849-1996. Continuum. p. 110. ISBN 978-0-567-55958-6. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
- ↑ "First-Wave Spanish Feminism". PSU. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
- ↑ Ackelsberg, Martha A. (1991). Free Women of Spain: Anarchism and the Struggle for the Emancipation of Women. Oakland: AK Press. ISBN 1-902593-96-0.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "The Second Republic: The conquery of women’s vote". Comenius Project. 2006-2007. Retrieved 13 July 2013.