16 Facts About Marta Vergara

Marta Vergara Varas was a Chilean author, editor, journalist and women's rights activist.

Marta Vergara pushed Doris Stevens to broaden the scope of international feminism to include working women's issues in the quest for equality.

Marta Vergara Varas was born on 2 January 1898 in Valparaiso, Chile to Clotilde Varas Valdovinos and Pedro Vergara Silva, the youngest of three sisters.

In 1933, Marta Vergara was supposed to represent Chile at the 1933 Pan-American Conference in Montevideo, Uruguay, Before the conference, she and Stevens had a split in philosophical ideas and Marta Vergara withdrew.

Marta Vergara believed that the US vision was predominating the CIM and that working class women's needs were being omitted from the agenda.

In 1935, Marta Vergara joined with Elena Caffarena, Flora Heredia, Evangelina Matte, Graciela Mandujano, Aida Parada, Olga Poblete, Maria Ramirez, Eulogia Roman, and Clara Williams de Yunge to found the Pro-Emancipation Movement of Chilean Women.

Marta Vergara became the editor of the monthly bulletin of the organization, La Mujer Nueva, which published articles on various women's issues and information on international meetings and conferences.

On 17 November 1936, Marta Vergara married Marcos Chamudez Reitich in Santiago, Chile.

Rather than the idea that the individual was a "fundamental political unit", as the Americans' advocated, Marta Vergara thought that the family was the ideal political unit and worked toward social solidarity through protecting family rights.

Marta Vergara's husband, was a communist at that time, though he later rejected the communist party.

Marta Vergara joined the communist party after their marriage, yet she often disagreed with his politics.

Marta Vergara resigned from MEMch in 1937, along with Caffarena, when it became apparent that the Communist members were trying to remake the organization to focus solely on the issues faced by working class women.

Marta Vergara spent time with her sister's family, who were living in Paris.

Marta Vergara was responsible for the CIM's 1949 report which recommended all member states of the Organization of American States to commit to civil, economic and political equality for women.

Marta Vergara published her autobiography Memorias de una mujer irreverente in 1962, which was awarded the Santiago Municipal Literature Award.

Marta Vergara continued to write until she lost her sight and was confined to the Israelita Nursing Home.