Etelvina Villanueva y Saavedra

Etelvina Villanueva y Saavedra (1897–1969) was a Bolivian poet and educator[1] who founded an important feminist group, Legión Femenina de Educación Popular de America (Feminine Legion for American Popular Education), in the 1930s.[2]

This group sought to improve the status of women, regardless of social class, by advocating for changes in the legal code.[2] They provided assistance to the poor and defended unwed mothers and children.[3] They were able to do this because they argued that they were “natural” mothers and so this was a form of mothering but on a higher level and with a new term, "social mothering."[3] In addition to this, the organization allowed Bolivian women to enter the international feminist debates.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Mamani, Elías Blanco (2005). "VILLANUEVA Y SAAVEDRA, Etelvina". Enciclopedia Gesta de Autores de la Literatura Boliviana (in Spanish). Plural Editores. pp. 202–203. ISBN 9990563624.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Tétreault, Mary Ann (1994). Women and Revolution in Africa, Asia, and the New World. Univ of South Carolina Press. p. 324. ISBN 1-57003-016-2.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Stephenson, Marcia (1999). Gender and Modernity in Andean Bolivia. University of Texas Press. pp. 27–28. ISBN 0-292-78698-0.