Rosa Castañeda de Mora

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Rosa Castañeda de Mora
Member of Congress
In office
1956–1958
ConstituencyZacapa

Alma Rosa Castañeda de Mora was a Guatemalan social activist and politician. She was elected to Congress in 1955, becoming its first female member.

Biography[edit]

Castañeda did not receive a formal education, only learning to read through lessons by a visiting teacher. She subsequently worked at a legal firm owned by a brother-in-law. In 1925 she married Carlos Federico Mora Portillo (1889–1972),[1] a physician, academic, minister and diplomat. The couple had three children, Federico, Ángela and Cordelia Rosa.[2]

She established the Casa del Niño in 1920 and the National League Against Tuberculosis. She also published El Cuidado del Niño (The Care of Children), which was used by several generations.[3] In November 1955 she was the inaugural winner of the Presna Libre Woman of the Year award.[3]

The following month she was elected to Congress, becoming its first female member.[4] She took office on 15 March 1956,[5] serving until 1958.[6] Her niece Blanca Luz Molina Castañeda later also served in Congress.[7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Carlos Federico Mora Portillo UFM Faculty of Medicine
  2. ^ Percy Alvin Martin (1940) Who's who in Latin America: A Biographical Dictionary of the Outstanding Living Men and Women of Spanish America and Brazil, p338
  3. ^ a b En 1955 fue primera elección de Mujer del Año Prensa Libre, 3 November 2016
  4. ^ Lo que hemos ganado las mujeres guatemaltecas en los últimos 60 años Nómada, 5 December 2018
  5. ^ Inter-American Commission of Women News Bulletin, Issues 11–28, 1956, p42
  6. ^ Joyas de libros desatendidos La Hora, 27 September 2008
  7. ^ Eunice, primera mujer colegiada El Periodico, 21 November 2019