Precursors 's
La Aljaba, edited on November 12, 1830, and "dedicated to the Argentine fair sex". Between 12 November 1830, and 14 January 1831—during the first government of
Juan Manuel de Rosas—
Uruguayan-born journalist
Petrona Rosende de Sierra published what is considered to be the first Argentine publication written by and for women:
La Aljaba (English:
The Quiver). In addition to art, literature and friendship, the newspaper dealt with topics such as the
intellectual formation of women, their role in society and their position in relation to men. Rosende de Sierra advocated the adoption of European educational theories, claiming that the government should provide
primary and
secondary education to women, who must have faith in their own capacity and prove their ability to overcome the resistance to female education. In one of the issues, the writer questioned her readers: "Until when the female sex will be seen plunged into the darkness in which it was locked by the oppressive system of those who denied the simplest knowledges?" Dress reform was a controversial issue at the time, and despite her emphasis on the importance of modesty in dress, Guerra was harshly criticised by influential Catholic women and the Church. She believed women were born to suffer for love, with female self-sacrifice being a constant theme in her work. , regarded as a pioneer of feminism in
South America. Born in
Buenos Aires on 26 June 1819,
Juana Manso was a writer, translator, journalist, teacher and precursor of feminism in South America. In fact, she is considered by many as the first feminist of Argentina. Manso lived in
Rio de Janeiro from 1849 to 1853, where she published ''The Women's Journal
(Portuguese: O Jornal das Senhoras
), a periodical modeled on an English magazine of the same name that, "argued against discrimination against women and supported equal education for Latin American women." Back in Buenos Aires, she founded the Ladies' Album
(Spanish: Álbum de Señoritas''), with a very similar theme to the Brazilian journal.
First-wave newspaper
La Voz de la Mujer, January 8, 1896. Feminism in the country emerged at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, during the consolidation of the modern Argentine State. There was not a homogenous feminist movement, rather individual struggles carried out by women inserted in diverse political identities and different social classes. Women from the
upper and
upper middle class made important advances in the public space, although they did it fundamentally from the academic field.
Working class women were organized under
socialism and
anarchism. A group of anarchist women headed by
Virginia Bolten founded
La Voz de la Mujer in 1896, the first feminist newspaper in Argentina. It defined itself as
anarcho-communist and was released under the motto "
No God, no master, no husband". As one of the first recorded instances in
Latin America of the fusion of feminist ideas with a revolutionary and
working class orientation,
La Voz de la Mujer differed from the feminism found elsewhere in the region at that time, which focused on educated middle-class women and their concerns. By the end of the 19th century, these anarchists raised issues as
free love, divorce and allegations of domestic violence, which would gain public prominence decades later. becoming the first Latin American woman to vote in 1911. From the turn of the century on, a different variant of feminism emerged, that of the
Socialist Party, with women such as
Cecilia Grierson,
Alicia Moreau de Justo and
Juana Rouco Buela; who "launched the struggle for equal rights, better educational opportunities, and reform of the civil code, and in so doing they radically redefined the politics, strategy, and terrain of feminist struggle." Her
thesis, written in 1901 and titled "The feminist movement" (Spanish: "
El movimiento feminista"), is considered a local landmark and meant the issue's entry into the Argentine academic field. On the occasion of the
Argentina Centennial of 1910 and on the initiative of Lanteri, this association organized the First International Women's Congress (Spanish:
Primer Congreso Femenino Internacional) in order to bring the situation of women and their rights to public debate. On 16 February 1906, Rawson de Dellepiane founded the Feminist Center (Spanish:
Centro Feminista) in Buenos Aires, joined by a group of prestigious women.
1920s as part of a mock election campaign carried out by feminist activists. The feminist movement during the 1920s was especially relevant, as activists achieved greater organization, perseverance and scope of membership to push for the rights that women were getting in other countries. The end of
World War I ushered in a new period of political restlessness among urban Argentines. The feasibility of female suffrage was reinforced by news of
women's activities in the war and the debate that was taking place in the
United States, the
United Kingdom and France. In this context, the
National Congress received several bills of women's suffrage in the decade, although all of them were shelved and disregarded. In 1920, the associations led by Moreau decided to carry out a mock election campaign in Buenos Aires simultaneously with the congressional elections that were taking place in March. The mock election for women was held through the cooperation of rival feminist groups, including the Comité Pro Sufragio Femenino, the Partido Feminista Nacional, the Unión Feminista Nacional and the Asociación Pro Derechos de la Mujer. While Dr. Moreau wanted a "well conducted, dignified campaign", Lanteri—who was running for office with the National Feminist Party—sought more exposure and received attention from the North American and South American press, as well as Buenos Aires newspapers. Since she worked with many women from the British community, the
Buenos Aires Herald followed her campaign closely, dubbing her "the
Pankhurst of Argentina".
Working-class Argentine women One of the main running themes of Argentine feminism has been the female industrial working class and their growth. The validity of the female working class of Argentina was something that most, if not all, Argentine feminists agreed on, therefore making them one of the bases of the Argentine feminist movement. Working class women were some of the first women in Argentina to fight against the men who wanted to limit them. Many of them did this by joining neighborhood associations and unions in order to fight for improved living and working conditions. These organizations made huge advancements in Argentine feminism as it showed that these women were not submissive and were going to fight for what they believed in. This, along with women becoming more and more educated, helped shine a light on women and the issues they faced in both the workplace and in their daily lives. As the fight for working class women grew throughout Argentina, Congress began to pass laws and regulations that specifically attended to the demands from female workers. She wrote: I confess I was a little afraid the day I found myself facing the possibility of starting on the "feminist" path. What could I, a humble woman of the people, do where other women, more prepared than I, had categorically failed? Be ridiculous? Join the nucleus of women with a grudge against woman and against man, as has happened to innumerable feminist leaders? I was not an old maid, nor even ugly enough for such a post... which, from the time of the English sufraggettes down to today, generally belongs, almost exclusively, to women of this type... women whose first impulse undoubtedly had been to be like men. [...] And if what the world requires is a woman's political and social movement... how little will the world gain if the women want to save it by imitating men!
1960s and 1970s The convulsed period between the early 1970s until the
1976 coup d'état was one of intense feminist activism, although "undeniably all the groups tended to dissolve, dissidences increased and there were migrations towards new formulas that, finally, were also extinguished." Two prominent groups of the period were the Unión Feminista Argentina (UFA; English: Argentine Feminist Union) and the Movimiento de Liberación Feminista (MLF; English: Feminist Liberation Movement), which were formed in 1970 and 1972 respectively.
1980s and 1990s going up the stairs of the
Congressional Plaza with her controversial banner during the first
Women's Day demonstrations held in Argentina since its return to democracy, 1984. The
1983 general election marked the return of democratic rule in Argentina and was accompanied by the surge of an intense feminist and women's movement. It was a period of "renewal of women's activities" and featured a greater incidence of social movements and unions, political parties, autonomous groups, research groups and professional associations. The event was organized by the Multisectorial de la Mujer (English: Multisectorial of Women), a space formed by members of women's groups, feminists, housewives and representatives of political parties and unions. (centre) marching alongside feminist activists in 1986. The post-dictatorship period saw the emergence of a new feminist journalism and
alternative media, led by women such as María Elena Oddone, Hilda Rais, Moira Soto,
María Elena Walsh and Cecilia Absatz. While one sector of feminist activism had a more institutional path and fought for laws such as shared parental authority, there was another, more "alternative" portion that was documented in magazines, newspapers and
zines such as
Brujas,
Cuadernos de Existencia Lesbiana and
Unidas. Despite its underground condition, the magazine introduced the latest intellectual debates from Europe, mainly from Spain, Italy and France. Its editors identified with the "
difference feminism" current, aiming to resignify "devalued" feminine values like motherhood and domesticity. Another renowned journal from that time was
Feminaria, directed by Lea Fletcher and first published in June 1988. It has been described as "an endeavor designed to integrate northern
feminist theory with
Southern Cone intellectual production." Unlike other publications they criticized for being too "unifocal", the writers of
Feminaria did not align with a single concept of feminism and instead aimed to "show the breadth and variety that there is in [it]." The foundation sets out to combat gender based violence and discrimination against women by promoting welfare, participation and empowerment in the political, economic, social and cultural spheres. From its inception Women in Equality promoted the use of the
new technologies intensively, being the first women's NGO in Argentina to have a website. Through such initiatives it has networked and created partnerships with NGOs and with the women's movement both at the national and international levels. During the 1990s, Argentine
LGBT activism took off, and the end of the decade saw the entry of
travestis into spaces of feminist discussion, marking the beginning of
transfeminism in Argentina. The inclusion in particular was that of
Lohana Berkins, one of the most prominent leaders of the travesti movement. Berkins got into feminism in the 1990s through meetings with
lesbian feminists such as Alejandra Sarda,
Ilse Fuskova, Chela Nadio and Fabiana Tron.
2000s and 2010s waving their green handkerchief in support of the legalization of abortion, 8 August 2018. The most recent wave of Argentine feminism has become one of the largest women's movements in Latin American history. Focusing on such issues as the access to legal and safe abortions, increasing access to contraceptives, the professionalization of women's work, the equalization of the salary disparity between men and women, lowering the rates of femicide, increasing women's representation in major institutions, expanding maternal leave, rethinking society with feminist theory in mind, and emboldening the voice of women. This new wave of feminist activism is sometimes referred as "the revolution of the daughters" (Spanish:
la revolución de las hijas). The term was coined by journalist Luciana Peker and refers to the preponderance of adolescents in the movement, which she considers to be the "fruit of a construction of more than thirty years of feminism, of a tradition of three decades of
Encuentros de Mujeres and of a horizontal, federal and autonomous way of doing politics." Prominent modern movements include the Ni Una Menos campaign and the pro-choice rallies.
Ni una menos stems from the killing of Lucia Perez, and the larger issue of femicide in Argentina. The modern pro-choice rallies generally stem from issues surrounding women's safety. For example, in late 2018, an 11-year-old girl was made pregnant and subsequently refused access to an abortion. The provincial health secretary, Gustavo Vigliocco, defended this decision, claiming that the girl and her family wanted the baby. Eventually, the young girl had to have an emergency cesarean section, 23 weeks into her pregnancy. Modeled after the past Mothers Movement's triangular headscarf, the green handkerchief or
pañuelo verde began as a symbol used in pro-choice rallies, but has expanded in meaning to be symbolic of the feminist movement as a whole. The use of the green handkerchief as a feminist distinction became immensely popular during 2018 and has become part of the country's
social imaginary. It is traditionally worn around the neck during feminist demonstrations, but can now be seen on a daily basis hanging from bags, backpacks, balconies or even used around the wrist or to tie hair. Given the heterogeneity of current Argentine feminism, conflicts and debates have arisen within the movement. One of the most prominent is the one referring to sex work and
prostitution. This debate has risen on the agenda due to the participation of key figures heavily invested on the issue: on one hand
sex worker activists and on the other, several prominent leaders of the LGBT movement that advocate the
abolition of sex work. ==See also==