Labarca Hubertson, Amanda (1886–1975)

Amanda Labarca Hubertson (b. 5 December 1886; d. 1975), Chilean educator and feminist. Born in Santiago to Onofre and Sabina Pinto, Labarca studied at the Pedagogic Institute of the University of Chile in Santiago, at Columbia University in New York, and at the Sorbonne in Paris. She married educator and politician Guillermo Labarca Hubertson, a Radical Party activist who was minister of justice and education during the first presidency of Arturo Alessandri. Amanda Labarca taught most of her life and was active in the Radical Party. Her books on women's issues include A dónde va la mujer? (Whither Women? 1934) and Feminismo contemporáneo (Contemporary Feminism, 1947). Labarca worked in the women's suffrage movement and was president of Mujeres de Chile (Chilean Women). A devoted secondary school teacher, she also served as director of a high school and later taught courses on education at the University of Chile. She wrote important books about education, including Realidades y problemas de nuestra enseñanza (Realities and Problems in Chilean Education, 1953), La esceuela secundaria en los Estados Unidos (Secondary Schools in the United States, 1919), and Historia de la enseñanza en Chile (History of Chilean Education, 1939). Labarca also wrote essays and fiction during her early years, including La lámpara maravillosa (1921) and Impresiones de juventud (1909). With a handful of Latin American women, Labarca played a prominent role in focusing attention on women's issues and was an active participant in international feminist congresses during the first half of the twentieth century.

See alsoFeminism and Feminist Organizations; Philosophy: Feminist.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Biblioteca Del Congreso, Chile, Amanda Labarca: Bibliografía selectiva (1983).

Roberto Munizaga Aguirre, Educatores chilenos de ayer y de hoy, vol. 5 (1983–1992).

Jordi Fuentes et al., Diccionario histórico de Chile, 10th ed. (1989).

Additional Bibliography

Boschetto-Sandoval, Sandra M. The Imaginary in the Writing of Latin American Author Amanda Labarca Hubertson (1886–1975): Supplements to a Feminist Critique. Lewiston, NY: E. Mellen Press, 2004.

Salas Neumann, Emma S. Amanda Labarca: Dos dimensiones de la personalidad de una visionaria mujer chilena. Santiago de Chile: Ediciones Mar del Plata, 1996.

                                     Georgette Magassy Dorn