Elidà Amigó i Montanya (5 September 1935 – 9 September 2020) was an Andorran historian, archivist, activist, and

suffragist 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 vo ...

. A leader in the

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

movement that led to Andorran women gaining the right to vote in 1970, she was also an academic expert on the history and sociology of the

microstate A microstate or ministate is a sovereign state having a very small population or land area, usually both. However, the meanings of "state" and "very small" are not well-defined in international law. Some recent attempts to define microstates ...

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

. She has been described as "the first Andorran intellectual to bring critical awareness to the condition of women" in the principality.

Biography

Elidà Amigó i Montanya was born in the capital city of

Andorra la Vella Andorra la Vella is the capital and largest city of Andorra. It is located high in the east Pyrenees, between France and Spain. It is also the name of the parishes of Andorra, Andorran parish that surrounds the capital. , the city had a populati ...

in 1935. She went to study in

Lleida Lleida (, ; ; '' see below'') is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital and largest town in Segrià county, the Ponent region and the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, and then in 1957 became one of the first Andorran women to obtain a university degree, graduating in philosophy and letters from the

University of Zaragoza The University of Zaragoza, sometimes referred to as Saragossa University () is a public university with teaching campuses and research centres spread over the three provinces of Aragon (Spain). Founded in 1542, it is one of the List of oldest u ...

. After finishing university, she served as the archivist for the

General Council of Andorra The General Council (, ) is the unicameral parliament of Andorra. It is sometimes referred to as the General Council of the Valleys (Catalan: ''Consell General de les Valls'') because it was the historical name and to distinguish it from sim ...

until 1969. In this period she became involved in women's rights activism and was a leader in Andorra's suffrage movement, culminating in the 1970 decree that women would be able to vote in the principality. Amigó Montanya also taught history and French literature at the Sant Ermengol school. She was heavily involved in historical research in Andorra, helping to create the Comitè Andorrà de Ciències Històriques (Andorran Historical Sciences Committee) in the 1980s and serving as its first president. Her work as a historian included time spent working for the

International Committee of Historical Sciences The International Committee of Historical Sciences / Comité international des Sciences historiques (ICHS / CISH) is the international association of historical scholarship. It was established as a non-governmental organization in Geneva on May 1 ...

in Laussane,

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Notable among her written works is the 1971 book ''693 anys després'', co-authored with Antoni Morell Mora, which aimed to outline a sense of Andorran identity through an examination of the area's history. She was involved in producing ''Andorra Magazine'' from the first issue in 1970, later contributing to the magazine ''Posobra'' beginning in 1972. She also led the Fundació Clara Rabassa for 23 years, worked with the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

, and was on the jury for the literary prize from 1994 to 2009. A member of the Andorran Academy of Sciences, she was awarded the Àgora Cultural Prize by the Andorran General Council for her work as a human rights activist and historian in 2012. After a long illness, Amigó Montanya died in 2020, at age 85.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amigo i Montanya, Elida 1935 births 2020 deaths Andorran women writers Andorran writers 20th-century Andorran people Andorran women in politics Andorran activists Andorran academics People from Andorra la Vella University of Zaragoza alumni Andorran women academics 20th-century Andorran politicians