Herminia Colihueque

Herminia Aburto Colihueque (1910 – 1992) was a Chilean activist and politician. She was one of the first Chilean women and the first woman from Mapuche ethnic group to run for public office in 1935 - the country's first election in which women participated as voters and candidates.[1][2]

Background and career

Herminia Aburto Colihueque was born to a political family. Her father Manuel Panguilef was a politician, founder and president of Araucana Federation from 1920 to 1940. She was supported by her parents in learning how to read and write and became fairly educated among her peers who were not exposed to education at the time. Colihueque's education enabled her to join her father's federation and worked there as secretary and documentary editor from 1933 to 1938 before being appointed to the federation's board of directors.[3][4]

Following the implementation of women suffrage in 1935, Colihueque ran as an independent candidate in the municipal elections for a councillorship seat in the Temuco Council but was not elected.  She was the first and only woman from Mapuche to be on the ballot in the 1935 election.[5]  In 1937, she founded “Sociedad femenina Araucana Yafluayin” (dependent on the Mapuche Federation) and served as president of the organization focused on awakening women interest to participate actively in politics.[6] In 1939, the women organization joined Araucania National Congress and Colihueque was assigned to writing minutes of the meeting of the congress. She was a notable member of Mapuche women delegation who met with the Movement for the Emancipation of Women of Chile (MEMCH) supporting first generation of Chilean women to access higher education and public office.[7]

References
  1. "Se estrena el primer documental sobre Hermina Aburto Colihueque | Subdirección Nacional de Pueblos Originarios". www.pueblosoriginarios.gob.cl (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  2. mdelreal (2017-11-21). "Mujeres Bacanas | Herminia Aburto (1933-1940)". Mujeres Bacanas (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  3. "Pluralismo y despliegue territorial". Cultura, Patrimonio y Género (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  4. Bueno, Andrea Pequeño (2009). Participación y políticas de mujeres indígenas en América Latina (in Spanish). Flacso-Sede Ecuador. ISBN 978-9978-67-203-7.
  5. "Visión de mujeres Mapuche candidatas ante Concejos Municipales". Mapuexpress (in Spanish). 2016-10-20. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  6. "Sociedad Femenina Araucana "La Fresia" | Herminia Aburto Colihueque 1938 – Memoria Mapuche" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  7. Hernández, Publicado por Hortensia. "Herminia Aburto Colihueque primera mujer mapuche candidata a elecciones municipales". Retrieved 2023-09-23.
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