Visitación Padilla Irias (* Talanga, Francisco Morazán, July 2, 1882 – February 12, 1960, Comayagüela, DC) was an

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

and

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 ...

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

. Padilla organized the mutual aid societies of

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

, strengthened anti-alcohol leagues and fervently organized the rights of Honduran women.

Life

Visitación Padilla was born in Talanga, a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

of the Departamento of

Francisco Morazán José Francisco Morazán Quesada (; born October 3, 1792 – September 15, 1842) was a liberal Central American politician and general who served as president of the Federal Republic of Central America from 1830 to 1839. Before he was president ...

, in the Republic of Honduras. She graduated and became a teacher in 1909, then in 1913 became a member of the organization named “Ateneo de Honduras” together with writers Rafael Heliodoro Valle y Froilán Turcios, introducing her organizational qualities. In 1917, she founded the liberal newspaper “Juan Rafael Mora” in

Tegucigalpa Tegucigalpa ( )—formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District ( or ''Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.''), and colloquially referred to as ''Tegus'' or ''Teguz''—is the capital and largest city of Honduras along with its sister city, Comaya ...

. During the Civil War of 1924, Padilla expressed her ideas in ''Boletín de la Defensa Nacional,'' and at the same time founded "Sociedad Cultural Femenina", a group of women from Tegucigalpa led by Padilla.

Graciela Amaya de García Graciela Amaya de García (11 January 1895 – 11 October 1995) was a Central American feminist and Union organizer, labor organizer. Born in El Salvador and trained as a teacher, she moved to Honduras at the age of twenty. Joining the socialist ...

, Antonieta, Jesús, Mariana y Ceferina Elvir, María Luisa Medina, Eva Sofía Dávila, Goya Isabel López, Flora Suazo, Ángela y Genoveva Andino, Natalia Triminio, Rosita Amador, Juana Ochoa, Sofía Vega, María López, Adriana Hernández, Florencia Padilla, Rosa Flores In 1926 the group received governmental funding from the doctor Miguel Paz Barahona to decree the “day of the mother”. Padilla retired from teaching in 1929. The following year (1930) she was invited to the commemoration of the foundation of the newspaper La Gaceta. In 1934 she formed the group “Zelaya Sierra” to pay tribute to the Honduran artist and teacher Pablo Zelaya Sierra. During this time it was rumored that the dictator Doctor and general Tiburcio Carias Andino would leave their governmental position and the

dictatorship A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no Limited government, limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, ...

that had reigned since 1936; Padilla expressed her opinions in the newspapers “''Orientación''” and “''Ciudadano.''” A year later, Carias retired from his position in government and allowed the election of generals that would be won by Juan Manuel Gálvez. A formal act was passed on January 25, 1954, when the president of the time, the accountant Julio Lozano Díaz, recognized the rights of women and allowed them to vote for the first time in the Republic of Honduras. Padilla, the tireless activist, was there.

Other publications

In addition to being a columnist for the newspaper “El Nacional”, wrote the children's book Azucenas and the essay Pasatiempos e Historias de la Educación Pública Hondureña.

Acknowledgements/recognitions

* Her images appear in sello postal de Lps 0.02. * She declared 2010 as "Año de Visitación Padilla"

Legacy

The ''Movimiento de Mujeres por la Paz'' (

Honduran Women's Committee for Peace "Visitación Padilla" Honduran may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Honduras * Hondurans, persons from Honduras or of Honduran descent * Honduran population, see Ethnicity in Honduras * Honduran Spanish, the language spoken in Honduras * Honduran cuisine * ...

) was founded in 1984 and named after Padilla, in order to advocate for gender equality, work against gender violence and support women's participation in public life. Involved from its beginning, the one-time Secretary was the late political activist

Gladys Lanza Gladys Lanza (1942 – 17 September 2016) was a feminist and human rights activist from Honduras. Biography Lanza was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in 1942. Trade unionism Lanza's political activism began as part of the Honduran trade union ...

Notes

References

Bibliography

Dictionary of Personalities of Honduras/Padilla, Visitación. {{DEFAULTSORT:Padilla, Visitacion 1882 births 1960 deaths People from Francisco Morazán Department Honduran feminists Honduran women activists Honduran educators Honduran suffragists