Rosa Amelia Guzmán

Rosa Amelia Guzmán was a Salvadoran journalist, feminist and suffragette. She later became the second wife of former Salvadoran president Arturo Araujo and was one of the first three women elected to serve in the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador.

Activism

As early as 1935, leading intellectual women in El Salvador, including Guzmán, Tránsito Huezo Córdova de Ramírez, Claudia Lars, Matilde Elena López, María Loucel, Ana Rosa Ochoa and Lilian Serpas, were broadcasting programs over El Salvador's first private radio station, La Voz de Cuscatlán discussing social and political issues.^[1] In 1945, Guzmán and Ana Rosa Ochoa founded the journal Tribuna Femenina (Feminist Tribune) as the official voice of the Association of Democratic Women of El Salvador.^[2] The goal of the Association was to attain suffrage for all women in a democratic society.^[3] In 1947, Guzmán, Ochoa, Huezo Córdova and others joined with Graciela de Alfaro Jovel, Marina de Barrios, Luz Cañas Arocha, Lucila de González, Salvadora de Marroquín, Clara Luz Montalvo, Olivia Montalvo, María Cruz Palma (later de Yáñes), Ada Gloria Parreles, Laura de Paz, Estebana Perla, Soledad de Rivera Escobar, María Solano de Guillén and Faustina Villegas to form Liga Femenina Salvadoreña (LFS) (Salvadoran Feminist League).^[4] Later that same year, Guzmán and Ochoa were the representatives of the LFS at the Primer Congreso Interamericano de Mujeres, held in Guatemala City, Guatemala to discuss international peace initiatives, regional suffrage and civil liberties strategies.^[5]

In 1950, Guzmán and the LFS pressed Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, head of the Constituent Assembly to grant women the right to vote. Upon their success, they then pressed for ordinances to protect the rights of children, including those born out of wedlock, orphans, or delinquents.^[4] In the same year, the Tribuna Femenina changed its name to Heraldo Femenino and widened its scope to include economic parity for women.^[6] Around this time, Guzmán's name began appearing as Rosa Amelia Guzmán de Araujo, as she had married former president Arturo Araujo, who was an engineer. They had one child, Armando Araujo.^[7] In 1956, Guzmán de Araujo, Blanca Ávalos de Méndez and María Isabel Rodríguez, were elected to serve as the first female Deputies in the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador.^[8][9]

References

1. Navidad Salvador & Opico Rivas 2014, p. 27.
2. "Homenaje a Fraternidad de Mujeres" (in Spanish). San Salvador, El Salvador: Ecumenical. 11 May 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
3. Navidad Salvador & Opico Rivas 2014, p. 30.
4. Navidad Salvador & Opico Rivas 2014, p. 31.
5. 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.
6. Navidad Salvador & Opico Rivas 2014, p. 32.
7. Meza, Kevin (2 December 2011). "Ingeniero Arturo Araujo" (in Spanish). El Salvador Historico. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
8. "Asamblea Legislativa realiza conversatorio sobre "Mujer y Participación Ciudadana"" (in Spanish). San Salvador, El Salvador: Asamblea Legislativa de República de el Salvador. 22 November 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2015. las primeras tres Diputadas electas el año 1956: Rosa Amelia Guzmán de Araujo; la actual Ministra de Salud, María Isabel Rodríguez y Blanca Ávalos de Méndez.
9. García Guevara 2007, p. 257.

Sources

• García Guevara, Aldo V. (2007). Military Justice and Social Control: El Salvador, 1931--1960. ProQuest. ISBN 978-0-549-26663-1.
• Navidad Salvador, José Gilberto; Opico Rivas, José Ulices (April 2014). La Construcción del Rol en el Personaje Femenino de la Narrativa de Guerra y Posguerra Civil Salvadoreña (PDF) (Thesis) (in Spanish). San Salvador, El Salvador: Ciudad Universitaria. Retrieved 28 September 2015.