CLARA CAMPOAMOR Spanish politician best known for fighting

CLARA CAMPOAMOR Spanish politician best known for fighting for women’ rights

FIRST YEARS Clara Campoamor (1888) was born in Madrid to a working-class family. She began working as a seamstress at 13 so that she guaranteed her entry into law school. She also worked as a typing teacher. When she started working as a politician, she had a second job in a liberal newspaper.

STUDIES After successfully taking the law She specialized in issues affecting school entrance exam and entering women and became a member of the University of Madrid School of International Federation of Women Law, she began writing political Lawyers she helped found in 1928. articles and joining women’ organizations. When she earned a degree, she started participating in debating.

HER WORK IN THE SPANISH CONSTITUTION IN 1931 Apart from trying to improve children’ labor electoral laws and changes, Campoamor helped to write the Spanish Constitution in 1931. She was elected to help elaborating it even though she could not vote in the election.

A WOMAN WHO DID NOT AGREE WITH HER PARTY During her speechs, she warned the male members of the assembly she participated in that the exclusion of women from voting was a violation of a natural law. However, they did not change their minds, and even a woman, Victoria Kent, did not agree with her, as she thought it was not the right time to push for equality. As a result, she left the party and continued to advocate for suffrage as an independent member of the assembly.

HER EXILE In 1936, when the Spanish Civil War began, she fled the country in fear for her life. After she moved to Switzerland, she discovered she could only go back to Spain if she gave up and publicly apologized for past statements against the Catholic Church. She continued writing about women’ rights and talking about her experiences in public even when she was abroad. She died in exile in 1972, and her ashes were buried in San Sebastian.

WRITTEN BY Laura Rodríguez Días Álvaro Rodríguez Sánchez Johana Sandoval Villanueva Andrea Sendín Pérez