Figueroa Gajardo, Ana (1907–1970)
Figueroa Gajardo, Ana (1907–1970)
Ana Figueroa Gajardo (b. 19 June 1907; d. 8 April 1970), Chilean career diplomat, journalist, women's rights activist. After graduating from the Instituto Pedagógico, Universidad de Chile, in 1928, Figueroa was a high-school teacher and principal. In 1946 she attended Columbia University and a summer institute at Colorado State University. From 1947 to 1949, she was general supervisor of the Chilean high-school system. In 1948 she became president of the Federación Chilena de Instituciones Femeninas (FECHIF) and was appointed director of the Chilean Women's Bureau. In 1950 she served as Chilean delegate to the Inter-American Commission of Women; from 1950 to 1952 she was the Chilean minister plenipotentiary to the Third General Assembly of the United Nations; and from 1952 to 1959 she served on the Security Council, UNESCO, and the UN Commission on the Juridical and Social Condition of Women. From 1950 to 1967, Figueroa was the first woman to serve as director-general of the International Labor Organization. She was also on the board of directors of the international YWCA.
See alsoFeminism and Feminist Organizations; United Nations.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Inter-American Commission of Women, Libro de oro (1980).
Additional Bibliography
Hutchison, Elizabeth Quay. Labors Appropriate to Their Sex: Gender, Labor, and Politics in Urban Chile, 1900–1930. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001.
Corinne Antezana-Pernet
Francesca Miller