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Juana Manuela Gorriti | |
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First Lady of Bolivia | |
In role 6 December 1848 – 15 August 1855 | |
President | Manuel Isidoro Belzu |
Preceded by | Mercedes Coll |
Succeeded by | Edelmira Belzu |
Personal details | |
Born | Juana Manuela Gorriti Zuviría 15 June 1818 Rosario de la Frontera, United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata |
Died | 6 November 1892 Buenos Aires, Argentina | (aged 74)
Spouse | Manuel Isidoro Belzu |
Children | Edelmira Belzu Mercedes Belzu de Dorado |
Parent(s) | José Ignacio Gorriti Feleciana Zuviría |
Occupation | Writer |
Juana Manuela Gorriti Zuviria (15 June 1818 – 6 November 1892)[1] was an Argentine writer with extensive political and literary links to Bolivia and Peru. She held the position of First Lady of Bolivia from 1848 to 1855.
With the publication of La quena (1845), Gorriti became recognized as the earliest novelist in what would become Argentina.[2] In La quena, Gorriti challenged the notion of poverty, ignorance, tyranny, and the oppression of women, writing, "A day shall come in which man's science will discover those treasures; but by then men will be free and equal, and they shall use wealth to serve humanity! The reign of worries and despotism will have ended, and only man's genius will rule the world, it reside upon the head of a European, or upon that of an Indian."[3] Gorriti's commitment to women's issues sparked the interest of both women and men, including Abel Delgado. His essay, "La educación social de la mujer", ("The Social Education of Woman," 1892) discussed male and female spheres and justified women's participation in law and politics.[4]