Women in Puerto Rico

The recorded history of Puerto Rican women can trace its roots back to the era of the ''Taíno'', the indigenous people of the Caribbean, who inhabited the island that they called "Boriken" before the arrival of Spaniards. During the Spanish colonization the cultures and customs of the Taíno, Spanish, African and women from non-Hispanic European countries blended into what became the culture and customs of Puerto Rico.

In the early part of the 19th Century the women in Puerto Rico were Spanish subjects and had few individual rights. Those who belonged to the upper class of the Spanish ruling society had better educational opportunities than those who did not. However, there were many women who were already active participants in the labor movement and in the agricultural economy of the island."Introduction, Puerto Rican Labor Movement"
Retrieved October 3, 2013

After Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States in 1898 as a result of the Spanish–American War, women once again played an integral role in Puerto Rican society by contributing to the establishment of the University of Puerto Rico, women's suffrage, women's rights, civil rights, and to the military of the United States.

During the period of industrialization of the 1950s, many women in Puerto Rico found employment in the needle industry, working as seamstresses in garment factories. Many Puerto Rican families also migrated to the United States in the 1950s.

According to the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, women who are born to Puerto Rican parents in the United States or elsewhere, are considered to be Puerto Rican citizens. On November 18, 1997, the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, through its ruling in ''Miriam J. Ramirez de Ferrer v. Juan Mari Brás'', reaffirmed the standing existence of the Puerto Rican citizenship.Ley Orgánica Foraker del 12 de Abril de 1900
(Spanish). LexJuris Since 2007, the Government of Puerto Rico has been issuing "Certificates of Puerto Rican Citizenship" to anyone born in Puerto Rico or to anyone born outside of Puerto Rico with at least one parent who was born in Puerto Rico.Enrique Acosta Pumarejo
"La eficacia y alcance del Certificado de Ciudadanía Puertorriqueña"
Microjuris. August 30, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2013.

Currently, women in Puerto Rico and outside of Puerto Rico have become active participants in the political and social landscape in both, their homeland and in the continental United States. Many of them are involved in the fields that were once limited to the male population and have thus, become influential leaders in their fields.

Pre-Columbian era (up to 1493)

Puerto Rico was originally called "Boriken" by the Taínos, which means: "La tierra del altivo Señor", or "The Land of the Mighty Lord", The Taínos were one of the Arawak peoples of South America and the Caribbean, who inhabited the island before the arrival of the Spaniards.

The Taíno women

The Taíno women cooked, tended to the needs of the family, their farms and harvested crops. According to Ivonne Figueroa, editor of the "El Boricua: cultural magazine", women who were mothers carried their babies on their backs on a padded board that was secured to the baby's forehead. Women did not dedicate themselves solely to cooking and the art of motherhood; many were also talented artists and made pots, grills, and griddles from river clay by rolling the clay into rope and then layering it to form or shape. Taíno women also carved drawings (petroglyphs) into stone or wood. The Taína's were also warriors and could join the men in battle against the Caribs. According to the Spanish conquistadores, the Carib Indians were cannibals who regularly ate roasted human flesh. Archaeological evidence indicates that they limited the consumption of humans to ceremonial occasions. Even though the men were allowed to have more than one wife, most of them didn't. The cacique (tribal chief) was the only person who could afford to sustain multiple wives. It was a great honor for a woman to be married to a cacique. Not only did she enjoy a materially superior lifestyle, but her children were held in high esteem.Francine Jacobs, ''The Tainos'', Putnam Juvenile, According to an observation made by doctor Diego Alvarez Chanca, who accompanied Columbus on his second voyage:

The Naguas were a long cotton skirt that the woman made. The native women and girls wore the Naguas without a top. They were representative of each woman's status, the longer the skirt, the higher the woman's status. The villages of the Taínos were known as "Yucayeque" and were ruled by a cacique. When a cacique died, the next in line to become a chief was the oldest son of the sister of the deceased cacique. Some Taíno women became notable '' caciques'' (tribal chiefs).Ivonne Figueroa
"Taínos"
/ref> According to Puerto Rican folklore such was the case of Yuisa (Luisa), a cacica in the region near Loíza, which was later named after her.

Spanish colonial era (1493–1898)

The Spanish Conquistadores were soldiers who arrived on the island without women. This contributed to many of them marrying the native Taína. The peace between the Spaniards and the Taínos was short-lived. The Spaniards took advantage of the Taínos' good faith and enslaved them, forcing them to work in the gold mines and in the construction of forts. Many Taínos died as a result either of the cruel treatment that they had received or of smallpox, which became an epidemic in the island. Other Taínos committed suicide or left the island after the failed Taíno revolt of 1511. Some Taino women were raped by the Spaniards while others were taken as common-law wives, resulting in mestizo children.

Women from Spain

Spain encouraged the settlement of Puerto Rico by offering and making certain concessions to families who were willing to settle the new colony. Many farmers moved to the island with their families and together with the help of their wives developed the land's agriculture. High ranking government and military officials also settled the island and made Puerto Rico their home. The women in Puerto Rico were commonly known for their roles as mothers and housekeepers. They contributed to the household income by sewing and selling the clothes that they created. Women's rights were unheard of and their contributions to the island's society were limited.

The island, which depended on an agricultural economy, had an illiteracy rate of over 80% at the beginning of the 19th century. Most women were home educated. The first library in Puerto Rico was established in 1642, in the Convent of San Francisco, access to its books was limited to those who belonged to the religious order. The only women who had access to the libraries and who could afford books were the wives and daughters of Spanish government officials or wealthy land owners. Those who were poor had to resort to oral story-telling in what are traditionally known in Puerto Rico as Coplas and Decimas.Luis M. Díaz Soler, ''Puerto Rico: desde sus orígenes hasta el cese de la dominación española'', Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1994; Original from University of Texas; , retrieved October 3, 2013

Despite these limitations the women of Puerto Rico were proud of their homeland and helped defend it against foreign invaders. According to a popular Puerto Rican legend, when the British troops lay siege to San Juan, Puerto Rico, the night of April 30, 1797, the townswomen, led by a bishop, formed a ''rogativa'' (prayer procession) and marched throughout the streets of the city singing hymns, carrying torches, and praying for the deliverance of the city. Outside the walls, particularly from the sea, the British navy mistook this torch-lit religious parade for the arrival of Spanish reinforcements. When morning arrived, the British were gone from the island, and the city was saved from a possible invasion.

Women from Africa

The Spanish colonists, feared the loss of their Taino labor force due to the protests of Friar Bartolomé de las Casas at the council of Burgos at the Spanish Court. The Friar was outraged at the Spanish treatment of the Taíno and was able to secure their rights and freedom. The colonists protested before the Spanish courts. They complained that they needed manpower to work in the mines, the fortifications and the thriving sugar industry. As an alternative, the Friar, suggested the importation and use of black slaves from Africa. In 1517, the Spanish Crown permitted its subjects to import twelve slaves each, thereby beginning the slave trade in their colonies.

According to historian Luis M. Diaz, the largest contingent of African slaves came from the Gold Coast, Nigeria, and Dahomey, and the region known as the area of Guineas, the Slave Coast. However, the vast majority were Yorubas and Igbos, ethnic groups from Nigeria, and Bantus from the Guineas.

Most African women were forced to work in the fields picking fruits and/or cotton. Those who worked in the master's house did so as maids or nannies. In 1789, the Spanish Crown issued the "Royal Decree of Graces of 1789", also known as "El Código Negro" (The Black code). In accordance to "El Código Negro" the slave could buy his freedom. Those who did became known as "freeman" or "freewoman"."El Codigo Negro"
(Spanish) (The Black Code). 1898 Sociedad de Amigos de la Historia de Puerto Rico. Retrieved July 20, 2007 On March 22, 1873, the Spanish National Assembly finally abolished slavery in Puerto Rico. The owners were compensated with 35 million pesetas per slave, and the former slaves were required to work for their former masters for three more years.

The influence of the African culture began to make itself felt on the island. They introduced a mixture of Portuguese, Spanish, and the language spoken in the Congo in what is known as "Bozal" Spanish. They also introduced what became the typical dances of Puerto Rico such as the Bomba and the Plena, which are likewise rooted in Africa. African women also contributed to the development of Puerto Rican cuisine that has a strong African influence. The melange of flavors that make up the typical Puerto Rican cuisine counts with the African touch. Pasteles, small bundles of meat stuffed into a dough made of grated green banana (sometimes combined with pumpkin, potatoes, plantains, or yautía) and wrapped in plantain leaves, were devised by African women on the island and based upon food products that originated in Africa.

One of the first Afro-Puerto Rican women to gain notability was Celestina Cordero, a "freewoman", who in 1820, founded the first school for girls in San Juan. Despite the fact that she was subject to racial discrimination for being a black free women, she continued to pursue her goal to teach others regardless of their race and or social standing. After several years of struggling her school was officially recognized by the Spanish government as an educational institution. By the second half of the 19th century the Committee of Ladies of Honor of the Economical Society of Friends of Puerto Rico (Junta de Damas de Honor de la Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País) or the Association of Ladies for the Instruction of Women (Asociacion de Damas para la instruccion de la Mujer) were established.

Women from non-Hispanic Europe

In the early 1800s, the Spanish Crown decided that one of the ways to curb pro-independence tendencies surfacing at the time in Puerto Rico was to allow Europeans of non-Spanish origin to settle the island. Therefore, the Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 was printed in three languages, Spanish, English and French. Those who immigrated to Puerto Rico were given free land and a "Letter of Domicile" with the condition that they swore loyalty to the Spanish Crown and allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church. After residing in the island for five years the settlers were granted a "Letter of Naturalization" that made them Spanish subjects.Archivo General de Puerto Rico: Documentos
, retrieved October 3, 2013

Hundreds of women from Corsica, France, Ireland, Germany and other regions moved and settled in Puerto Rico with their families. These families were instrumental in the development of Puerto Rico's tobacco, cotton and sugar industries. Many of the women eventually intermarried into the local population, adopting the language and customs of their new homeland. Their influence in Puerto Rico is very much present and in evidence in the island's cuisine, literature and arts.

A good example of their contributions to the culture of Puerto Rico is Edna Coll, a Puerto Rican of Irish descent. She was an educator, author and one of the founders of the Academy of Fine Arts in Puerto Rico."Tras las Huellas de Nuestro Paso"; by: Ildelfonso López; Publisher: AEELA, 1998 The cultural customs and traditions of the women who immigrated to Puerto Rico from non-Hispanic nations blended in with those of the Taino, Spanish and African to become what is now the culture, customs and traditions of Puerto Rico.

Early literary, civil, and political leaders

During the 19th century, women in Puerto Rico began to express themselves through their literary work. Among them was María Bibiana Benítez, Puerto Rico's first poet and playwright. In 1832, she published her first poem ''La Ninfa de Puerto Rico'' (The Nymph of Puerto Rico). Her niece, Alejandrina Benitez de Gautier, has been recognized as one of the island's great poets. The two female contributors to ''Aguinaldo puertorriqueño'' (Ode to Puerto Rico) (1843), are Alejandrina Benitez de Gautier and Benicia Aguayo. It is the first book dedicated exclusively to Puerto Rican authors. Other notable Puerto Rican female writers of the 19th century include poet Fidela Matheu y Adrián (1852-1927), poet Ursula Cardona de Quiñones, who mentored Lola Rodriquez de Tio, playwright Carmen Hernández Araujo (1832-1877) who wrote her first drama at the age of fifteen, novelist Carmela Eulate Sanjurjo, and social labor organizer and writer Luisa Capetillo. These women expressed their patriotic and social demands through their writing.

Puerto Rican women also expressed themselves against the political injustices practiced in the island against the people of Puerto Rico by the Spanish Crown. The critical state of the economy, together with the growing repression imposed by the Spaniards, served as catalysts for rebellion. Submission and dependence were key ingredients in the colonial formula. In order to guarantee colonial order, it was made sure that women obeyed the laws of the church and the state. Elite women were not allowed to actively participate in politics under colonial rule.

Some women embraced the revolutionary cause of Puerto Rican independence. There was also an emergence of women's organizations in an attempt to face the island's economic uncertainty. Laundresses organized on several occasions to demand proper working conditions, which presented a potential threat to the colonial establishment. Literary discussion groups for women emerged, convening in the homes of intellectual women, Tensions rose in 1857 when there was a dispute between the laundresses and the mayor of the now defunct town of San Mateo de Cangrejos The town of San Mateo de Cangrejos was annexed by the City of San Juan in 1862

In the 19th century, the number of magazines and publications published and distributed by, about, and for elite and professional women increased in San Juan. These publications included ''La Guirnalda Puertorriqueña'' (1856), ''Las Brisas de Borinquén'' (1864), and ''La Azucena'' (1870). These publications were the origin of the relationship between elite women, bourgeois feminism, and journalism.

After the abolition of slavery, the recently freed women of African heritage moved to urban areas with little tolerance for social and labor control. The first Puerto Rican woman who is known to have become an ''Independentista'' and who struggled for Puerto Rico's independence from Spanish colonialism, was María de las Mercedes Barbudo. Joining forces with the Venezuelan government, under the leadership of Simon Bolivar, Barbudo organized an insurrection against Spanish rule in Puerto Rico.Mercedes – La primera Independentista Puertorriquena
, retrieved October 3, 2013 However, her plans were discovered by the Spanish authorities, which resulted in her arrest and exile from Puerto Rico.

In 1868, many Puerto Rican women participated in the uprising known as ''El Grito de Lares''. Among the notable women who directly or indirectly participated in the revolt and who became part of Puerto Rican legend and lore were Lola Rodríguez de Tio and Mariana Bracetti.

Lola Rodríguez de Tio believed in equal rights for women, the abolition of slavery and actively participated in the Puerto Rican Independence Movement. She wrote the revolutionary lyrics to La Borinqueña, Puerto Rico's national anthem. Mariana Bracetti, also known as '' Brazo de Oro'' (Golden Arm), was the sister-in-law of revolution leader Manuel Rojas and actively participated in the revolt. Bracetti knitted the first Puerto Rican flag, the Lares Revolutionary Flag. The flag was proclaimed the national flag of the "Republic of Puerto Rico" by Francisco Ramírez Medina, who was sworn in as Puerto Rico's first president, and placed on the high altar of the Catholic Church of Lares. Upon the failure of the revolution, Bracetti was imprisoned in Arecibo along with the other survivors, but was later released.

American colonial era (1898–present)

Puerto Rico became an unincorporated territory of the United States or an American colony as defined by the United Nations decolonization committee after Spain ceded the island to the United States. This was in accordance with the Treaty of Paris of 1898 after the Spanish–American War.

Soon after the U.S. assumed control of the island, the United States government believed that overpopulation of the island would lead to disastrous social and economic conditions, and instituted public policies aimed at controlling the rapid growth of the population. To deal with this situation, in 1907 the U.S. instituted a public policy that gave the state the right "to sterilize unwilling and unwitting people". The passage of Puerto Rico Law 116 in 1937, codified the island government's population control program. This program was designed by the Eugenics Board and both U.S. government funds and contributions from private individuals supported the initiative. However, instead of providing Puerto Rican women with access to alternative forms of safe, legal and reversible contraception, the U.S. policy promoted the use of permanent sterilization. The US-driven Puerto Rican measure was so overly charged that women of childbearing age in Puerto Rico were more than 10 times more likely to be sterilized than were women from the U.S.

From 1898 to 1917, many Puerto Rican women who wished to travel to the United States suffered discrimination. Such was the case of Isabel González, a young unwed pregnant woman who planned to join and marry the father of her unborn child in New York City. Her plans were derailed by the United States Treasury Department, when she was excluded as an alien "likely to become a public charge" upon her arrival to New York City. González challenged the Government of the United States in the groundbreaking case ''Gonzales v. Williams'' ( 192 U.S. 1 (1904)). Officially the case was known as "Isabella Gonzales, Appellant, vs. William Williams, United States Commissioner of Immigration at the Port of New York" No. 225, and was argued on December 4 and 7 of 1903, and decided January 4, 1904. Her case was an appeal from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York, filed February 27, 1903, after also having her Writ of Habeas Corpus (HC. 1–187) dismissed. Her Supreme Court case is the first time that the Court confronted the citizenship status of inhabitants of territories acquired by the United States. González actively pursued the cause of U.S. citizenship for all Puerto Ricans by writing and publishing letters in The New York Times.

The Americanization process of Puerto Rico also hindered the educational opportunities for the women of Puerto Rico since teachers were imported from the United States and schools were not allowed to conduct their instruction using the Spanish language. Women who belonged to the wealthier families were able to attend private schools either in Spain or the United States, but those who were less fortunate worked as housewives, in domestic jobs, or in the so-called needle industry. Women such as Nilita Vientós Gastón, defended the use of the Spanish language in schools and in the courts of Puerto Rico, before the Supreme Court, and won. Nilita Vientós Gaston was an educator, writer, journalist and later became the first female lawyer to work for the Department of Justice of Puerto Rico.

Suffrage and women's rights

Women such as Ana Roque de Duprey opened the academic doors for the women in the island. In 1884, Roque was offered a teacher's position in Arecibo, which she accepted. She also enrolled at the Provincial Institute where she studied philosophy and science and earned her bachelor's degree. Roque de Duprey was a suffragist who founded "La Mujer", the first "women's only" magazine in Puerto Rico. She was one of the founders of the University of Puerto Rico in 1903. From 1903 to 1923, three of every four University of Puerto Rico graduates were women passing the teachers training course to become teachers in the island's schools.

As in most countries, women were not allowed to vote in public elections. The University of Puerto Rico graduated many women who became interested in improving female influence in civic and political areas. This resulted in a significant increase in women who became teachers and educators but also in the emergence of female leaders in the suffragist and women rights movements. Among the women who became educators and made notable contributions to the educational system of the island were Dr. Concha Meléndez, the first woman to belong to the Puerto Rican Academy of Languages, Pilar Barbosa, a professor at the University of Puerto Rico who was the first modern-day Official Historian of Puerto Rico, and Ana G. Méndez founder of the Ana G. Mendez University System in Puerto Rico.Ley 45 25 de Julio de 1997
retrieved October 3, 2013

Women's rights, in the early 1900s, opened the doors of opportunity for the women of Puerto Rico making it possible for them to work in positions and professions which were traditionally occupied by men, including the medical profession. The first female medical practitioners in the island were Drs. María Elisa Rivera Díaz and Ana Janer