Historical Context:

Zoila Aurora Caceres Moreno's (1877-1958) life was intertwined with the history of Peru. She was the daughter of a colonel in the army and an eventual two term president Andres Avelino Caceres. During her lifetime, the War of the Pacific, between Peru-Bolivia and Chile began and ended with her father fighting on the frontlines. As a result, she gained interest in politics and the feminist movement of Peru. Through letters addressed to presidents and her founding of feminist groups she worked toward women's suffrage and saw the fruits of her work toward the end of her life. Women's right to vote in Peru was granted relatively late compared to some other countries. The struggle for women's suffrage in Peru began in the early 20th century and culminated in the recognition of women's right to vote in 1955. The women's suffrage movement in Peru gained momentum in the 1920s and 1930s when several feminist organizations emerged. These organizations, such as the Peruvian Feminist Center and the National Feminist Party, advocated for women's rights, including the right to vote.

In 1936, under the government of President Oscar R. Benavides, the Constitution was amended to grant women the right to vote in municipal elections. This was an important step forward, although it was still limited to local elections only. It took nearly two more decades for women to gain full suffrage in national elections. In 1955, during the presidency of General Manuel A. Odría, women's right to vote was extended to include national elections as well. This marked a significant milestone for gender equality in Peru. Over the years, more women have been elected to political offices, including the presidency, highlighting the progress made in promoting gender equality in the country.

"The Rights of Women" ("Los Derechos de la Mujer," Peru, 1938) by Zoila Aurora Caceres Moreno

Translated by Abel Guzman

English:

The right and left of the constituent assembly acknowledge the importance of the work toward social justice that they are carrying out by granting the political vote to women. As we set out to revitalize the Constitution, it would be unfortunate to uphold the remnants of medievalism that have erected a monument of ignorance, since biological science explains that women’s sexual difference does not make her inferior to men, but, rather, something like an intermediary between man and the irrational.

The obfuscation of the times of obscurantism, operated the prodigy of transforming the biblical rib into a flag that they beat, scattering the shadows that could have been the precursors to fatal darkness, if our Mother Eve had not revealed from the first moment that she was created by a breath more divine than her partner, demonstrating the vividness of penetration, sharpness of understanding, which constitutes a female predominance. There were protagonists in all civilizations, at all times. Ethical Theology, despite the severity that corresponds to it, has not rejected women from its altars, and due to sociological evolution it has had to archive, in part, the anathematized epistle of Saint Paul. There was a woman who was not satisfied with the ideal kingdom of Heaven and perhaps aspired to human glory, was enthroned with the Vatican: in the beautiful Italian mosaic medallions that adorn the church of San Pablo, is that of Pope Joan .

Without taking into account the sexual difference, which of course implies cerebral differences, the woman, due to the exquisite sensitivity that the gestation of motherhood generates in her, has sentimental supremacy, being self-sacrificing in love and resigned in suffering. It is not appropriate to dwell on what the wise Bacofen, Bale's jurisconsult, has already elucidated

It is impossible to ignore that among women powerful personalities have stood out that are enough to vindicate their sex.

 Up to what human summit, no matter how high it may be, has not the woman reached, from millennia to modern times? Without going back to the time of the gynecocracy, pondered by Cleyre Yvelin, she is seen as an Amazon with the warriors, a fortune teller in the ramblings of oracles, wise like Pericles, a Queen with the Kings, a martyr with the Fathers of Catholicism, an unsurpassed artist in all the arts. Although it is true that in music she did not excel, it must be kept in mind that this art is considered among the inferior ones.

Doing a historical search, we find next to all famous men a woman who is equal to them, when she does not surpass them, and at least inspires them. Since the time of the Ptolemies, Queen Hatasu of great ambitions can be referenced. Berenice, the wife of Evergetus, son of Philadelphus, Artaxerxes had his mother Parisatis. Alejandro, his mother Olympias. Pythagoras, his wife and sister Theano and Themistocles. Darius his wife Atossa who gave the throne to his son Xerxes taking it away from Darius. Even meek Rebekah showed ingenuity in dressing Esau in Jacob's clothing. Praxiteles was inspired for his Ana Agomena by the Beccian Fringe.

Next to Sophocles figure Theoria, Aristotle, Herillis and that of Epicureo, Leontiuma; However, the one that acquires greater prominence in antiquity is the philosopher Hypatia, the last defender of Paganism, skilfully celebrated by Maurice Barres.

The same Tarquin, the Proud, bowed before Cibella of Cumae. And was it not due to Voluninia, mother of Marcio Cayo Coriolano, and Virgilia, his wife, as well as Valeria, the sister of General Publicola that the siege of Rome was lifted? But few women acquired greater prestige and political dominance than Livia Drusilla, mother of the Emperor Tiberius, and Agrippina, who granted herself equal honors to those of her husband; Rene Gagnat recounts that she presided over the line, dressed in military clothing, and that more than a wife she was a colleague.

Feminism, in fact, existed whenever a woman wanted to impose herself and dominate. Cicero did not ignore it when he says: "The ancients wanted to put the woman under the power of a tutor, and the lawyers have put the tutor under the power of the woman." 

As a result of the surveys published daily in Peru and some parliamentary opinions, it can be deduced that the criterion of legal guardianship still exists among us, that is to say that it has not evolved in this sense following the world movement; and that what has already been sanctioned is unknown here.

Despite the fact that my program of principles of "Peruvian Feminism Z.A.C," synthesizes the unjustifiable inequality of the Civil Code between men and women, there has been no shortage of those who believe that this said equality obeys a protective spirit. Accepting this past ideology results in the present, lapidary of feminine energies and vitality.

The protectionist concept implies the tacit knowledge of an inferiority that does not exist, since the needs of modern life place women and men in the same economic conditions. Hunger is one of them and does not exonerate women; and legislative inequality, far from producing protectionist results, strangles woman subdued by the moral slavery to whom they are subjected.

The salary constitutes pressing city of the majority of the human beings; More than a quarter of a century ago, I founded the "Centro Social de Señoras," designed to prepare women for the struggle to live that already had victims in Peru, since the only field of work in which it operated was reduced to sewing, the telegraph and pedagogical teaching.

 I am pleased to remember the doctor, Miss Rodríguez Dulanto, who due to her own efforts, fulfilled part of the program I had written at that time, founding the first School of Nurses in Lima, "La Cruz Blanca."

 Misery was not unknown to the women of the French Revolution, when they demanded rights for women. Those who made this voice of conscience resound deserved the gallows. Fortunately, Peru does not have Guillotines, the democratic concept of social justice prevailing.

 It is not a musical motif that repeats sentimental melodrama to sweetly captivate.

 A tragic reality, a pressing anguish has produced violent revolutions; The concepts, and institutions have evolved, and consequently, legislation must also evolve. The Tutored, the home and the shoulder that supports it, is a fable imagined by the beautiful illusions of those who ignore the economic demands of life and what the helpless woman fights for. The shoulder that feeds the children with the product of their work, and the women of their family, was a distant reality in the stationary times of the lords who walked in plumed carriages, listening to the sad quenas that invoked the adoration of the Sun.

Today, even the harems have disappeared, not because a new morality has transformed oriental sensualism, but by virtue of a forced economic necessity.

 In order not to succumb to competition, every producer needs legislative equality, equal political rights, and to work on the same social plane as men, so as not to disappear drowned by favoritism, all the more disastrous since the law is enthroned. Only with the right of citizenship that constitutes the fundamental, the unique basis of individual freedoms, can women facilitate the conquest of civil rights.

The Nation that does not know justice and that favors false and pedantic students, extends a shroud in which it voluntarily wraps itself hiding energies and productive vitality.

 The "Peruvian Feminism Z.A.C,"  that leads us, cannot pronounce itself because of the unrestricted vote, because its principles have the breath of bounty which inspires them.

There is no doubt that, in Peru, most of the forces of revindication have humble cradles, accompanied since they listened to the song of the sewing machine wheel.

 The pain and misery that do not abate demonstrates the vitality of a propelling race of national enlargement. But when an act of good is carried out, it should not be restricted, because it does not have classes or social differences, and within all of them, the rich or poor, bourgeois or proletariat, the predestined personality toward the great work of social justice emerges.

Español:

Derechas e izquierdas de la Asamblea Constituyente, reconocen la magnitud de la obra de justicia social que realizan al conceder el voto político a la mujer. Triste concepto habrían merecido si al rejuvenecerse la Constitución, subsistiese el rezago medieval que levantó el monumento de la ignorancia, cuando se dilucidó, dentro de la ciencia biológica, si debido a la diferencia sexual, la mujer no formaba una especie inferior al hombre, algo así como intermediaria entre el hombre y los irracionales.

La ofuscación de los tiempos del obscurantismo, operó el prodigio de transformar la bíblica costilla en bandera que batían esparciendo sombras que pudieron ser precursoras de tinieblas funestas, si la madre Eva no se hubiese revelado desde el primer instante como creada por un soplo más divino que su compañero, demostrando la viveza de penetración, agudeza de entendimiento, que constituye un predominio femenino. Hubo protagonistas en todas las civilizaciones, en todos los tiempos. La eticoteología a pesar de la severidad que lo corresponde, no ha rechazado a la mujer de sus altares, y debido a la evolución sociológica ha tenido que archivar, en parte, la epístola anatematista de San Pablo. Hubo mujer que no se conformó con el reino ideal del Cielo y aspirado tal/vez a la gloria humana, se entronizó con el Vaticano: en los bellos medallones de mosaicos italianos que ornamentan la iglesia de San Pablo, se encuentra el de la Papisa Juana.

Sin tomarse en cuenta la diferencia sexual, que desde luego nos implica diferencia cerebral, la mujer, debido a la exquisita sensibilidad que genera en ella, la gestación de la maternidad, tiene la supremacía sentimental, siendo abnegada en el amor y resignada en el sufrimiento. No es del caso extenderse sobre lo que ya dilucidó el sabio Bachofen, jurisconsulto de Bale.

Es imposible desconocer que entre las mujeres se han destacado poderosas personalidades que bastan para reivindicar a su sexo.

¿Hasta qué cumbre humana, por elevada que sea, no ha llegado la mujer, desde los tiempos milenarios hasta los modernos? Sin remontarse a la época de la ginecocracia, ponderada por Cleyre Yvelin, se le ve Amazona con los guerreros, pitonisa en las divagaciones de los oráculos, sabia con Pericles, Reina con los Reyes, mártir con los Padres del Catolicismo, Artista insuperable en todas las artes; si bien es cierto que en la música no sobre-sale, se debe tener presente que éste arte se considera entre los inferiores.

Haciendo una búsqueda histórica encontramos al lado de todos los hombres célebres una mujer que les equivale, cuando no les supera, ya por lo menos les inspira. Desde la época de los Ptolomeos ya se puede citar a la reina Hatasu de las grandes ambiciones; a Berenice, la esposa de Evergeto, hijo de Filadelfo. Artajerjes tuvo a su madre Parisatis; Alegandro, a su madre Olimpias; Pitágoras a su mujer y hermana Theano y Temístocla; Darío a su esposa Atossa, quien dio el trono a su hijo Jerjes quitándoselo a Darío; y hasta la mansa Rebeca reveló ingenio al vestir a Esaú con la ropa de Jacob. Praxíteles se inspiró para su Ana Agomena en la becciana Friné.

Al lado de Sófocles figura Teoría, al de Aristóteles, Herillis y al de Epi-cúreo, Leontiuma; no obstante, la que adquiere mayor relieve en la antigüe-dad, es la filósofa Hipatia, la última defensora del Paganismo, hábilmente celebrada por Maurice Barres.

El mismo Tarquino, el Soberbio, se inclinaba ante la Cibela de Cumas. ¿l no fue debido a Voluninia, madre de Marcio Cayo Coriolano, y a Virgilia, su espo-sa, de igual modo que a Valeria la hermana del General Publícola, a quienes se debió que se levantase el sitio de Roma? Pero pocas mujeres adquirieron mayor prestigio y dominio político que Livia Drusilla, madre del Emperador Tiberio, y Agripina, la que hizo que le otorgasen iguales honores que a su marido; René Gagnat cuenta que presidió las Revistas, vestida de militar, y que más que esposa era la colega.

El Feminismo, de hecho, existió siempre que una mujer quiso imponerse y dominar.

Cicerón no lo desconoció cuando dice: "Los antiguos quisieron poner a la mujer bajo el poderío de un tutor, y los jurisconsultos han puesto al tutor

bajo el poder de la mujer"

Como resultado de las encuestas publicadas diariamente en el Perú y de algunas opiniones parlamentarias, se deduce que aún entre nosotros subsiste el criterio del tutorado jurídico, vale decir que no se ha evolucionado en éste sentido siguiendo el movimiento mundial; y que lo ya sancionado se desconoce aquí.

No obstante que mi programa de principios del "Feminismo Peruano

Z.A.C." sintetiza la desigualdad injustificable del Código Civil entre el hombre y la mujer, no ha faltado quien opine que ésta desigualdad obedece a un espíritu protector. Aceptando ésta ideología pretérita resulta en el presente, por anticuada, lapidaria de las energías y vitalidad femeniles.

El concepto proteccionista implica el reconocimiento tácito de una inferioridad que no existe, desde que las necesidades de la vida moderna, colocan a la mujer como al hombre, en las mismas condiciones económicas. El hambre es uno y no exonera a las mujeres; y la desigualdad legislativa lejos de producir resultados proteccionistas, estrangula a las mujeres doblegadas por la esclavitud moral a que están sometidas.

El salario constituye apremiante necesidad de la mayoría de los seres humanos: hace más de un cuarto de siglo fundé el "Centro Social de Se-ñoras" destinado a preparar a la mujer para la lucha por la vida que ya tenía víctimas en el Perú, puesto que el único campo de trabajo en el que actuaba se reducía a la costura, el telégrafo y la enseñanza pedagógica.

Pláceme recordar a la doctora en medicina, señorita Rodríguez Du-lanto, quien debido a su propio esfuerzo cumplió parte del programa que escribí en ese entonces, fundando la primera Escuela de Enfermeras de Lima, "La Cruz Blanca".

No desconocieron la miseria aquellas mujeres de la Revolución fran-cesa, cuando reclamaron los derechos de la mujer; las que hicieron resonar esta voz de la conciencia, merecieron el cadalso. Afortunadamente el Perú no tiene Guillotinas, prevaleciendo el concepto democrático de la justicia social.

No se trata de un motivo musical que se repite en melodrama sentimental para cautivar dulcemente.

Una realidad trágica, una angustia apremiante ha operado violentas revoluciones; han evolucionado los conceptos, las instituciones, i por consiguiente guiente, la legislación también debe evolucionar. El Tutorado, el hogar con el hombro que lo sostiene, es una fábula imaginada por el bello ensueño de los que ignoran las exigencias económicas de la vida y lo que por ella lucha la mujer desamparada. El hombro que alimenta a los hijos con el producto de su trabajo, y a las mujeres de su familia, fue una realidad lejana en los tiempos estacionarios de los señores que caminaban en literas empenachadas, escuchando las tristes quenas que invocaban la adoración del Sol.

Hoy, hasta los serrallos han desaparecido, no porque una nueva moral haya transformado el sensualismo oriental, sino en virtud de una forzosa

necesidad económica.

Todo ser productor para no sucumbir a la competencia, necesita igualdad legislativa, igualdad de derechos políticos, actuar en el mismo plano social que el hombre, para no desaparecer ahogada por el favoritismo, tanto más funesto desde que lo entroniza la ley. Solo con el derecho de la ciudadanía que constituye la base fundamental, única de las libertades individuales, podrá facilitarse la mujer la conquista de los derechos civiles.

La Nación que desconoce la justicia y que favorece tutorados falsos y pedan-tescos, extiende un sudario en el que se envuelve voluntariamente sepultando energías y la vitalidad productora.

El "Feminismo Peruano Z.A.C.", que presido, no puede pronunciarse por el voto irrestricto, porque sus principios tienen la amplitud de la bondad en que se inspiran.

Es indudable que, en el Perú, la mayoría de las fuerzas reivindicacionistas tienen cunas humildes, acompañadas desde las que escuchaba la canción de la rueda de máquina de coser.

El dolor y la miseria que no se abaten, demuestra la vitalidad de una raza propulsora de engrandecimiento nacional; más cuando se realiza una obra de bien, no se debe restringir, porque no tiene clases ni diferencias so-ciales, y dentro de todas ellas, ricos o pobres, burgueses o proletarios, surge la personalidad predestinada a la magna obra de la justicia social.

Enero 1938.

Translator's Note - Abel Guzman

Being of Peruvian descent, the country's rich history has always fascinated me. When we began our research I was going to work on a piece like this one and help translate an important part of the feminist movement in Peru. This piece speaks in a very refined and elevated form of Spanish that shows Aurora Caceres’ elevated status in Peruvian society. I loved this piece despite its convoluted writing style. It was full of passion and showed how deep the injustice towards women has been since the creation of man. This translation was made by following the original manuscript found in the National Library of Peru. 

Citation:

Guzman Abel, Translator, "The Rights of Women, (Peru,1938) by Zoila Aurora Caceres Moreno," Spanish and Hispanic Studies Digital Gallery at HWS, Summer, 2024.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.