Amarilis Fuentes (1894–1955) was an Ecuadorian teacher and suffragist, who became one of the first women in the country to hold public office. She was instrumental as a teacher and pressed for the founding of libraries in Guayaquil. There are both a school and a street which bear her name in her hometown.

Early life

Amarilis Fuentes Alcívar was born in 1894, in

Guayaquil , motto = Por Guayaquil Independiente en, For Independent Guayaquil , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Ecuador#South America , pushpin_re ...

, Ecuador to Mercedes Alcívar and Miguel Clemente Fuentes. She began her early education with her mother and then studied at the school run by Débora Lamota, and other schools to earn her teaching credentials.

Career

Fuentes began teaching in 1908 and worked for seven years, before moving to

Quito Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley o ...

to further her education. She enrolled in the Manuela Cañizares Normal School and studied methodology and

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

. In 1916 she earned a certification as a

normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to Teacher education, train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high s ...

teacher and that same year attended the first conference devoted to pedagogy in the country. Returning to Guayaquil, Fuentes worked at several different schools before she was appointed Deputy Director of the Rita Lecumberri School in 1919. Later that year, the school was reorganized as a normal institution and Fuentes was promoted to Director given the task of completing the restructuring of the school. She was one of the founding members of the Women's Legion of Popular Culture, established by Rosa Borja de Ycaza. Beginning in 1924, women in Guayaquil began agitating for the right to vote and participate on local councils. When Matilde Hidalgo received a ruling from the ministerial council that she could vote, working women in Guayaquil began to take part in municipal elections. In 1925, when it was difficult for women to attain a post on a city council, Fuentes was elected to serve as a council member of the

Cantonal The 26 cantons of Switzerland (german: Kanton; french: canton ; it, cantone; Sursilvan and Surmiran: ; Vallader and Puter: ; Sutsilvan: ; Rumantsch Grischun: ) are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confe ...

Council, becoming the first woman to hold the position of councilor for a canton in the country. As a council member, she pressed to improvement of educational facilities and was instrumental in the development of libraries.

Death and legacy

Fuentes died on 19 February 1955 in Guayaquil. The year prior to her death, a trade school bearing her name, focused on accounting and administrative education was opened in her home town. The school was managed by the Guayas Province until 1992, when control of the institution passed to the state. There is also a street in the Centenario neighborhood, in the southern part of Guayaquil which is named in her honor.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fuentes, Amarilis 1894 births 1955 deaths People from Guayaquil 20th-century Ecuadorian educators Ecuadorian women educators Ecuadorian suffragists Ecuadorian women activists Ecuadorian women in politics