Julia Arévalo de Roche (1 July 1898 – 18 August 1985) was a

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

an politician. She was one of the first group of women elected to

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

, serving in the Chamber of Representatives from 1943 to 1947 and then the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

from 1947 to 1951.

Biography

Arévalo was born in Barriga Negra in

Lavalleja Department Lavalleja () is a department of Uruguay. Its capital is Minas. It is located in the southeast of the country, bordered to the north by the department of Treinta y Tres to the east with Rocha, to the south with Canelones and Maldonado, and to ...

in 1898. Her family moved to Montevideo when she was nine years old, and at the age of ten she began working in a match factory. She later worked in a cigarette factory. She joined the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

at the age of 15, and founded the Socialist Women's Group aged 16.Herstory: 10 Uruguayan Women Who Changed the Course of History
Remezcla In 1920 she was a founding member of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

,Espacio multicutural Julia Arévalo
City of Montevideo becoming one of its leaders in 1934. During the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

she travelled to Spain to fight on the republican side. In the 1942 general elections she was the party's vice presidential candidate alongside its presidential candidate Eugenio Gómez. Although the pair only received 2.5% of the vote, Arévalo was elected to the Chamber of Representatives from the Montevideo constituency, becoming one of the first group of four women elected to the General Assembly.Las mujeres uruguayas están en el Parlamento desde hace 68 años
''La República'', 9 March 2011 In 1945 she was one of the founders of the

Women's International Democratic Federation Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) is an international organization with the stated goal of working for women's rights. It was established in 1945 and was most active during the Cold War. It initially focussed on anti-fascism, worl ...

. In the 1946 elections she was elected to the Senate,Sandra McGee Deutsch (2017
Hands Across the Río de la Plata: Argentine and Uruguayan Antifascist Women, 1941-1947
/ref> serving from 1947 to 1951. She subsequently served had two spells as an ''edila'' for the Montevideo municipality between 1959 and 1967. Married with six children, she died in August 1985.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arévalo de Roche, Julia 1898 births People from Lavalleja Department 20th-century Uruguayan women politicians 20th-century Uruguayan politicians Members of the Chamber of Representatives of Uruguay Members of the Senate of Uruguay Communist Party of Uruguay politicians 1985 deaths Women's International Democratic Federation people