16 Facts About Minerva Bernardino

Minerva Bernardino was a diplomat from the Dominican Republic who promoted women's rights internationally, and is best known as one of the four women to sign the original charter of the United Nations.

Minerva Bernardino's attention was drawn to issues of inequality and women's rights when she received a promotion within the civil service but no increase in pay because the government refused to pay any woman more than it paid her male co-workers.

One of the key public moves toward women's rights made by the regime occurred when the regime granted an invitation to the suffragist Doris Stevens, with whom Minerva Bernardino was close, to visit the country in 1938 and speak to the Senate.

Minerva Bernardino continued to work with the dictatorship through its demise in 1961.

Minerva Bernardino similarly supported the 12-years of continuismo of his successor Joaquin Balaguer.

Minerva Bernardino had asked for the floor on a procedural motion.

Minerva Bernardino worked mainly to advance political rights, and especially to improve women's suffrage in Latin American states.

Minerva Bernardino's achievements include the 1954 Convention on the Political Rights of Women, which asserted women's rights to vote, run for office and hold office.

Minerva Bernardino supported international law that would ensure the equality of women in marriage and divorce, such as the Montevideo Convention on the Nationality of Married Women of 1933.

Minerva Bernardino was involved in creating and later chairing the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, which was established in 1946.

Minerva Bernardino began her fight for women's rights as one of the leaders of Accion Feminista Dominicana, an organization she became involved in while she was still living in the Dominican Republic.

Minerva Bernardino maintained connections with Dominican Republic stayed away for several years because of her initial opposition to Trujillo's dictatorship.

Minerva Bernardino attended conferences as a representative of the Dominican Republic, including the 1945 San Francisco Conference, where she signed the original charter for the United Nations.

Minerva Bernardino was elected vice president of the Commission of the Status of Women in 1951 and president of the commission 1953.

Minerva Bernardino was the first vice president of the United Nations Economic and Social Council and the first vice president of UNICEF.

Later, Minerva Bernardino extended the scope of her work to include giving lectures at universities, writing a biographical archive of influential American women, and creating the Fundacion Minerva Bernardino which would continue the fight for women's rights in the Dominican Republic after her death.