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, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. 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, 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 (b. Juigalpa, 1866 – d. Managua, 1962) and by the President of the Nicaraguan Feminist League, 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, with Dame Angelica, also known as the "First Lady of Liberalism" being the prime mover behind the attainment of worker's legal rights, as early as in 1936, an effort which led to the approval of the first legal code in 1946. In Colombia, work towards the enfranchisement of women was led by María Currea Manrique, Josefina Valencia and Esmeralda Arboleda, the last of whom working hand in hand with the

Inter-American Commission of Women The Inter-American Commission of Women (, , ), abbreviated CIM, is an organization that falls within the Organization of American States. It was established in 1928 by the Sixth Pan-American Conference and is composed of one female representative ...

(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 ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

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

Tlaxcala Tlaxcala, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala, is one of the 32 federal entities that comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Tlaxcala, 60 municipalities and t ...

, 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