Carmen Sánchez de Bustamante Calvo was a Bolivian woman's rights advocate and the first Bolivian woman to serve on the OAS's Inter-American Commission of Women. She also served on the organizing committee from the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom for the Primer Congreso Interamericano de Mujeres. A Bolivian women's rights organization, the Carmen Sánchez Bustamante Foundation was named in recognition of her work to promote women's rights.
Carmen Sánchez Bustamante Calvo | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1891 |
| Died | La Paz, Bolivia |
| Other names | Carmen Sánchez Bustamante Calvo de Lozada Carmen de Lozada |
| Occupation | Women's Rights Advocate |
| Years active | 1940–? |
Biography
editCarmen Sánchez Bustamante Calvo was born in 1891 in La Paz, Bolivia to Daniel Sánchez Bustamante Vásquez-Bru and Cármen Calvo Molina.[1]
In 1929, Sánchez Bustamante married Enrique Sanchez de Lozada Irigoyen and had their first child Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada Sánchez Bustamante in Bolivia in 1930,[2] before her husband accepted a diplomatic posting to Washington, DC. Arriving in 1931 to accept the post as First Secretary, and at times chargé d'affaires, the family lived in Washington until 1936.[3] In 1937, the family relocated to Massachusetts, where Sanchez de Lozada accepted a posting as a professor of romance languages[4] at Williams College in Williamstown until 1941. The family then moved back to Washington, where during the war, Sanchez de Lozada was an adviser to Nelson Rockefeller who was Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs and in 1943 was appointed as "special confidential agent" of the Gualberto Villarroel regime after his coup d'état.[5]
In the 1940s Sánchez de Bustamante was selected as Bolivia's first representative to the Organization of American States' Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM).[6][7] She was still serving in that capacity in 1947[8] and that same year she served on the organizing committee of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)'s call for the Primer Congreso Interamericano de Mujeres held in Guatemala City, Guatemala. At the close of the conference, she was acknowledged as one of the highest ranking women of the conference.[9] After the conference, Heloise Brainerd, Sánchez de Bustamante, and Annalee Stewart worked to try to organize a follow-up conference, but reported scant progress and the need to reorganize, as well as the closure of the Guatemalan sponsor of the event.[10] She is also remembered for her return to Bolivia in 1946 where she inspired mob of feminists which contributed to the overthrow of president Gualberto Villarroel. [11]
She was honored in 1988 on the 60th anniversary of the CIM for her work for women's rights throughout the Americas. The Carmen Sánchez Bustamante Foundation (also known as the Carmen Foundation) was named in her honor. The foundation's mission is to "promote equity and social inclusion" in Bolivia.[6]
References
edit- ^ Rivero Lavayén, Rolando. "La familia Calvo y su descendencia en Bolivia" (PDF). Genealogias Bolivianas (in Spanish). Bolivia: Genealogias Bolivianas. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
- ^ Deardorff, Julie (16 June 1994). "Bolivian President More Comfortable Playing Soccer Than Watching". Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
- ^ "Michigan Jaycees to Meet Eminent Bolivian Diplomat". Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan: The Evening News. 16 October 1964. p. 1. Retrieved 12 July 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Capering Alumni Back on Williams Campus". North Adams, Massachusetts: The North Adams Transcript. 19 June 1937. Retrieved 12 July 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Bolivia Quiet as New Junta Takes Control". Tucson, Arizona: Tucson Daily Citizen. 22 December 1943. p. 14. Retrieved 12 July 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Remarks made by Ximena Iturralde de Sánchez de Lozada, First Lady of Bolivia, at the Second Regular Session of the Executive Committee of the CIM". Organization of American States. Washington, DC: Organization of American States. 17 July 2003. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
- ^ "Primera Dama de Bolivia Hace Llamado de Apoyo a la Mujer". Organización de los Estados Americanos (in Spanish). Washington, DC: Organization of American States. 15 July 2003. Archived from the original on 23 May 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
- ^ "Universal Declaration of Rights Part A" (PDF). biblio-archive.unog. New York: United Nations. 29 February 1948. p. 59. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
- ^ López, Matilde Elena (August 1947). "Balance del Primer Congreso Interamericano de Mujeres" (PDF). Balance del Congreso de Mujeres (in Spanish). Guatemala City, Guatemala: Instituto Universitario de la Mujer de la Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala. pp. 1–15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 June 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
- ^ Brainerd, Heloise (July 1948). "Women's International League for Peace and Freedom". Library of Congress Collections. Geneva, Switzerland: Library of Congress. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
- ^ Gisbert 2003
