Graciela Quan

Graciela Quan Valenzuela[2] (1911–22 January 1999) was a Guatemalan lawyer and activist. She campaigned for women's suffrage, writing a draft proposal for Guatemala's enfranchisement law. She was also a social worker, adviser to the President of Guatemala, delegate to the United Nations and the President of the Inter-American Commission of Women.[3]

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Quan and the second or maternal family name is Valenzuela.
Graciela Quan
Born
Graciela Quan Valenzuela

1911[1]
Guatemala
Died22 January 1999(1999-01-22) (aged 87–88)
Guatemala City, Guatemala
NationalityGuatemalan
Occupation(s)Lawyer, women's rights activist, suffragette, diplomat
Years active1943–1999

Biography

Graciela Quan Valenzuela was born in 1911 in Guatemala and graduated from the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala in 1942 as the country's first female attorney. She was the last woman to graduate before women were granted civil rights.[1]

Her thesis, "Ciudadanía opcional para la mujer guatemalteca" ("Citizenship is optional for Guatemalan women") proposed a draft law for granting enfranchisement to women.[4]

In 1944, Quan founded with a group of women, including Angelina Acuña de Castañeda, Elisa Hall de Asturias, and Irene de Peyré, among others, the Unión Femenina Guatemalteca Pro-ciudadanía (Union of Guatemalan Women for Citizenship) favoring recognition of their civil rights, including suffrage for literate women. After the 1944 Guatemalan coup d'état the new Constitution, promulgated on 1 March 1945 granted the right to vote to all literate citizens, including women.[5]

She was one of the organizers of the Primer Congreso Interamericano de Mujeres (First Inter-American Congress of Women) held on 27 August 1947 in Guatemala City, which had as one of its main themes equality of men and women.[6] That same year, she was one of the founders of the Altrusa Club Guatemala, an affiliate of the organization Altrusa International, Inc. The initial goal of the club was to provide impoverished girls with an education; it later expanded to assisting street children and founding the municipal children's library.[7]

Quan served as a delegate to the United Nations in 1956-57 as well as an adviser to President Carlos Castillo Armas on social issues.[8] Between 1957 and 1961 Quan served as Guatemala's representative to the Inter-American Commission of Women and the organization's president.[3][9]

In 1978, she was recommended as a regional adviser to the Agency for International Development on women's issues in Latin America based upon her previous experience on the United Nation's Human Rights Commission and her pioneering social work in Guatemala.[10]

Death

Quan died on 22 January 1999 in Guatemala City, Guatemala.[11]

See also

References
  1. "Precursoras en la educación superior", lahora.gt; accessed 3 August 2017.(in Spanish)
  2. Wellmann Castellanos, Irmgardt Alicia María (8 July 2014). "¿Eres doctora en Guatemala?". Empoderamiento Feminista (in Spanish). Guatemala. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  3. Manley, Elizabeth S. (2008). Poner Un Grano de Arena: Gender and Women's Political Participation Under Authoritarian Rule in the Dominican Republic, 1928--1978. Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana. p. 284. ISBN 978-0-549-58277-9. Retrieved 22 July 2015.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. Borrayo Morales, Ana Patricia (April 2015). "Mujeres y Ciudadanía: Un Enfoque Histórico-Social: Los Inicios 1921 y 1944" (PDF). Tesis (in Spanish). Guatemala City, Guatemala: Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala Escuela de Ciencia Política: 48. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  5. Rodríguez de Ita, Guadalupe (March 2001). "Participación Política de las Mujeres en la Primavera Democrática Guatemalteca (1944-1954)". Participación política, persecución y exilio femenino al sur de la frontera mexicana (En la segunda mitad del siglo XX) (in Spanish). San Jose, Costa Rica: Universidad de Costa Rica. Chapter 8. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  6. Flores Asturias, Ricardo (6 June 2011). "Las Mujeres no Votan Porque Sí: Congreso Interamericano de Mujeres, 1947". Politica y Sentido Comun (in Spanish). Guatemala City, Guatemala: Ricardo Flores Asturias. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  7. "Bilbioteca Infantil "Cristobal Colón"". Municipalidad de la Ciudad de Guatemala (in Spanish). Guatemala City, Guatemala. 8 May 2008. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  8. Way, J. T. (2012). The Mayan in the Mall; Globalization, Development, and the Making of Modern Guatemala. Durham: Duke University Press. p. 238. ISBN 978-0-822-35131-3. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  9. Eads, Jane (9 July 1957). "Training Plan Being mapped by Women's Group". Bryan, Texas: The Eagle. Retrieved 22 July 2015 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  10. Updike, Jean Linton (April 1978). "Feasibility Study for a Social/Civic Participation Program in Latin Ameirica" (PDF). USAID. Washington, DC: United States Government. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  11. "Honor a Graciela". La Cuerda (in Spanish). Guatemala City, Guatemala. Año 1 (9). January–February 1999. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
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