The Unión de Mujeres Americanas (Union of American Women, UAW) was founded in 1934 by Mexican women's rights activist and suffragette, Margarita Robles de Mendoza. The purpose of the organization was to develop ties between women in the region to fight for the civic and political rights of women throughout the Americas and improve women's social and economic situations. She served as first chair along with an international board which initially had representatives from

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

, the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. The headquarters of the organization is in New York City, but there are branches of affiliates in almost every country of the Western Hemisphere. In the 1930s and 1940s much of the work of the organization was directed towards

enfranchisement Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

, in the widest sense of the word, but even more specifically, as in the case of Nicaragua, towards the attainment of women's rights, an advocacy led by educator

Josefa Toledo de Aguerri Josefa Toledo de Aguerri or Josefa Emilia Toledo Murillo (21 April 1866 – 27 April 1962) was a Nicaraguan feminist, writer and reform pedagogue. Regarded as a pioneer for education of women in Nicaragua, she is along with Dame Angélica Balla ...

(b. Juigalpa, 1866 – d. Managua, 1962) and by the President of the Nicaraguan Feminist League, also known as the "First Lady of Liberalism", Dame Angélica Balladares Montealegre de Arguello Vargas, (b. Chinandega, 1872 – d. San Marcos, 1973) both of whom named "Women of the Americas" (1950) and "Woman of Nicaragua" (1959), respectively, by the Union. As the years went by, the organization also looked at broader women's issues. As was the case with the

Inter-American Commission of Women The Inter-American Commission of Women ( es, Comisión Interamericana de Mujeres, pt, Comissão Interamericana de Mulheres, french: Commission interaméricaine des femmes), abbreviated CIM, is an organization that falls within the Organization of ...

(CIM), the organization was concerned with disparities of legal status for women, contained in as in their 1937 endorsement of a CIM project to clarify the legal status of married women and

illegitimate children Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as ''b ...

. In

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

the organization was tied to pacifist organizations, worked for racial parity, and against white-supremacist groups while in places like

Tlaxcala Tlaxcala (; , ; from nah, Tlaxcallān ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tlaxcala), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 60 municipaliti ...

, Mexico; Puebla, Mexico; and Venezuela"Friedman (2010)", p 72 women like Elvira Trueba and Paulina Ana María Zapata Portillo as well as another UAW laureate, Dame Amelia Benard de Lacayo, (1897-1987),in Nicaragua, were working for socioeconomic gains for women, as well as political gains. Today the organization functions under the direction of the CIM but derives its own funding from member dues and has its own board of directors composed of the president, four vice presidents, a treasurer and three secretaries (one for recording, one for internal affairs, and one for external affairs).

References

Obando Somarriba, Francisco "Doña Angélica Balladares de Argüello: La Primera Dama del Liberalismo" Tipografía Comercial, Managua, 1969 (page 44) {{DEFAULTSORT:Union de Mujeres Americanas Organizations based in New York City International diplomatic organizations International organizations based in the Americas United States–South American relations Organizations established in 1934 Women's rights organizations