Fenia Chertkoff de Repetto (7 October 1869 – 31 May 1927) was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

-born Argentine feminist, intellectual, educator, political activist, and sculptor. She was married to

Nicolás Repetto Nicolás Repetto (21 October 1871 – 29 November 1965) was an Argentine physician and leader of the Socialist Party of Argentina. Biography Nicolás Repetto was born in Buenos Aires in 1871 and enrolled at the prestigious Colegio Nacional de Bue ...

, an Argentine physician and leader of the

Socialist Party of Argentina The Socialist Party ( es, Partido Socialista, PS) is a centre-left political party in Argentina. Founded in 1896, it is one of the oldest still-active parties in Argentina, alongside the Radical Civic Union. The party has been an opponent of ...

Life

Chertkoff was born in Odessa, in the

Kherson Governorate The Kherson Governorate (1802–1922; russian: Херсонская губерния, translit.: ''Khersonskaya guberniya''; uk, Херсонська губернія, translit=Khersonska huberniia), was an administrative territorial unit (als ...

of the

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(present-day

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) in 1869. Her sister, Mariana, was the first wife of argentine socialist party founder, Juan B. Justo; and Adela, who married the socialist theorist, Adolfo Dickman. In 1887, she graduated as a teacher from a school in her hometown; she studied music, theater and dance. Because of her political involvements, she was forced into exile with her family. Chertkoff was invited to the

University of Lausanne The University of Lausanne (UNIL; french: links=no, Université de Lausanne) in Lausanne, Switzerland was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second oldest in Switzer ...

, Switzerland, where she specialized in pedagogy between 1897 and 1898, completing her studies at the

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a year later. She married the socialist Gabriel Gukovsky, with whom she had a daughter, Victoria Gucovsky, before he died in Europe. In Argentina, she lived at Santa Clara, a colony established by Eastern European Jews, where she founded a school and developed a library. Chertkoff and her sisters became citizens of that country. She moved to Buenos Aires where she lived in the Dickman home before she married Nicolas Repetto, a member of the Socialist Party. In 1903, he participated as a delegate in Congress of the Socialist Party, which proposed, among other issues, gender equality, equality before the law for legitimate and illegitimate children, the enactment of divorce law, and paternity investigation. A Socialist, she co-founded the Socialist Women's Center in 1920, and the Trade Union of Women, with her sisters and Gabriela Laperriere and Rachel Messina. She participated in the first strikes of the workers and the trade union organization of workers in different industries, such as telephone, textiles, trade, and factories, contributing to enact laws for making Sunday a day of rest. She also denounced labor exploitation of minors, poor sanitary conditions in factories, and long working hours. In poor health for her last 20 years, she died in Buenos Aires in 1927, at the age of 59.

Life

References

Further reading