Elena Caffarena Morice (; March 23, 1903 - July 19, 2003) was a Chilean lawyer, jurist and politician. Contemporary historians and humanists consider her to be one of the most important 20th-century public figures in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Biography

Elena Caffarena was born in

Iquique Iquique () is a port List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Pampa del Tamarugal, which is part of the At ...

, Chile, to Ana Morice and Blas Caffarena, an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

immigrant. When Caffarena was young the family moved to Santiago from Iquique. Caffarena attended the

University of Chile The University of Chile () is a public university, public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

, and her time there was very influential in her career. When at college in her sophomore year she worked at Defensa Jurídica Gratuita (English: Free Legal Defense). During this work she met her husband, Jorge Jiles. Caffarena devoted much of her life to the struggle for women's emancipation. Her granddaughter is the journalist Pamela Jiles. Caffarena died on July 19, 2003, at the age of 100.

Career and MEMCh

Caffarena and Olga Poblete were the founders of

Movimiento Pro-Emancipación de las Mujeres de Chile Pro-Emancipation Movement of Chilean Women () (often known as MEMCh or MEMCH) was both a historic women's rights organization, which pressed for equality between 1935 and 1953 and a current umbrella organization reorganized in 1983 to organize other ...

(MEMCh) (English: Pro-Emancipation Movement of Chilean Women) in 1938 and were honored as "founding matriarchs" by MEMCh 1983. The MEMCh fought for many different women's rights issues including, workers rights, abortion rights, breastfeeding and also decreasing infant mortality rates. The main motivations of Caffarena and MEMCh were to increase democracy in Chile this is within and outside of the home. The MEMCh's goal was not to completely over through the social system but to point out the flaws in the system. MEMCh created a monthly bulletin called La Mujer Nueva that covers a range of topics from discussing the issues faced during daily life of women to international politics. Caffarena herself was a major advocate for women to be financially independent from their husbands. Caffarena was very curious about what the possible reason could be to keep women out of politics. During the

Pinochet Dictatorship An authoritarian military dictatorship ruled Chile for seventeen years, between 11 September 1973 and 11 March 1990. The dictatorship was established after the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende was overthrown ...

(1973–1990), Caffarena ran a series of organizations out of her own house, which was within a Seminary. Two of the organizations she founded and ran Comité de Defensa de los Derechos del Pueblo (CODEPU) (English: Committee in Defense of the Rights of the People), and

Fundación para la Protección de la Infancia Dañada por los Estados de Emergencia Fundación is a town and municipality of the Colombian Department of Magdalena. Its people are known as Fundanenses. The primary economic activity is livestock-raising, for production of both meat and milk. Other crops are: corn, yuca, or ...

(PIDEE) (English: Foundation for the Protection of Children Damaged by States of Emergency). Both of these organizations goals was to help the repressed under Augusto Pinochet. Her work let her interface with politicians. An example of this is when President González Videla was speaking to the Second National Congress of Women, Caffarena and her followers were in attendance. At one point during his speech he mentioned that he would use the army against the Chilean people for order to remain. At this point in the speech Caffarena interrupted and voiced her concerns, left in protest with a large group of women flowing her out.

Selected works

* ''Capacidad de la mujer casada en relación a sus bienes'' (1944) * ''Regímenes matrimoniales en Latinoamérica'' (1948) * ''Un capítulo en la Historia del Feminismo. Las sufragistas inglesas'' (1952) * ''El recurso de amparo frente a los regímenes de emergencia'' (1957) * ''Diccionario de Jurisprudencia Chilena"'' (1959)

References

External links

*
Elena Caffarena, La emancipación de la mujer

Caffarena Morice, Elena (1903 - 2003)

Elena Caffarena de Jiles, jurista

Corinne A. Pernet, "El Movimiento Pro Emancipación de la Mujer Chilena en provincia: Mobilización femenina y sus obstaculos, 1935-1942," in Lorena Godoy, Elizabeth Hutchison, Karin Rosemblatt and Soledad Zarate (eds.), Disciplina y desacato: Construcción de identidad en Chile, siglos XIX y XX, Santiago, SUR/CEDEM, 1995, p. 287-329.

Corinne A. Pernet, "El MEMCh hizo Historia", Santiago: Fundación Biblioteca y Archivo de la Mujer, 1997.
*Elena Caffarena
Un Capítulo en la Historia del Feminismo. Las Sufragistas Inglesas
(in Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Caffarena, Elena 1903 births 2003 deaths People from Iquique Chilean women in politics Chilean suffragists Chilean feminists Chilean people of Italian descent Chilean women writers Chilean women centenarians 20th-century Chilean lawyers 20th-century Chilean women lawyers