National Council of Women (Spanish: ''Consejo Nacional de Mujeres de Chile'') was a women's organization in Chile, founded in 1919.Tétreault, Mary Ann,
Women and Revolution in Africa, Asia, and the New World
' It was one of the first women's organizations in Chile.

History

The National Council of Women was created by the merge of two women's organizations founded in 1915. The Women's Reading Circle or ''Círculo de Lectura de Senoras'', founded in Santiago by

Amanda Labarca Amanda Labarca Hubertson (; 1886–1975), was a Chilean diplomat, educator, writer and feminist. Her work was directed mainly at improving the situation of Latin American women and women's suffrage in Chile. She was born Pinto Sepúlveda in Santi ...

, and the ''Club de Senoras'' (Women's Club), a women's reading circle founded by upper-class women. Both promoted women's suffrage, and when the Women's Club asked the Conservative Party to support women's suffrage, they were threatened by the church with excommunication. After this, the two women's organizations merged to found the National Council of Women in 1919. It was not the only woman's organization, as the ''Civico Femeninio'' (Women's Civic Party) was founded the same year, but it was to be the dominant women's organization in Chile. It was also the first organized women's suffrage organization in Chile. It also worked for a change of the civil code to improve women's rights, particularly to abolish the ''patria potestad'', in which women were under the guardianship of their husbands. In 1925, it helped achieve the adoption of a legal decree known as the Maza Law (named after Senator José Maza) in the Civil Code that restricted the powers of custody of the father in favor of the mother. It enabled women to testify before the law and authorized married women to manage the fruits of their labor. It promoted a moderate and gradual progression toward equality. In accordance with this, they supported that the suffrage be introduced gradually, with municipal suffrage introduced before full national suffrage.

References

{{Reflist Organizations established in 1919 Women's rights organizations Women's organisations based in Chile 1919 establishments in Chile Feminist organisations in Chile Women's suffrage in Chile

History

See also

References