Elena Mederos

Elena Inés Mederos y Cabañas de González (13 January 1900 - 25 September 1981) was a Cuban human rights and women's rights activist, a feminist, and social reformer.[1] She was the first Minister of Social Work in Cuba.

Mederos founded several organizations including the School of Social Services at the University of Havana; the Foundation for Social Services, which developed programs for children's organizations in Cuba; "Of Human Rights" (New York City, 1961);[2] and a Cuban exile lobby that worked for the release of political prisoners. A suffragist,[3] Mederos was a co-founder of the Alianza Nacional Feminista,[4] a suffragist organization active in Cuba during the 1920s. She was the founding vice president of the National Association of Cuban American Women (NACAW).[5] Mederos is "considered the most prominent Cuban woman of the 20th century".[6]

Biography

Mederos was born in Havana on 13 January 13, 1900. Her father, a well-to-do tobacco merchant, gave Mederos and her sister tobacco estates, which allowed each of the daughters to live a comfortable life without dependence on a husband for financial support. Her education included a Ph.D. in pharmacology. She married Hilario González Arrieta, a young lawyer, in 1924.[7]

The Sixth Pan American Union conference was held in 1928 in Havana. Attended by a large assembly of Cuban women led by Mederos, the conference established the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM).[8] Representing Cuba, Mederos was a member of the first CIM conference which met in Havana in 1930.[9] In September 1959, Mederos served for five months as first Minister of Social Work in Cuba,[5] under Fidel Castro's provisional government.[10] She arrived in the US in 1961 where she worked for UNICEF. Mederos died 25 September 1981 in Washington, DC.[11] The Elena Mederos Award was established in her honor by the NACAW.[6]

References

  1. Stoner 1991, p. ix.
  2. Ruiz & Korrol 2006, p. 22.
  3. Pedraza 2007, p. 62.
  4. Stoner 1991, p. 143.
  5. 1 2 Nardone, Christine (15 March 2002). "Being honored National Cuban women's association gives UC educator award". Hudson Reporter. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  6. 1 2 US Congress 2011, p. 7593.
  7. Stoner 1991, pp. 45-46.
  8. Stoner 1991, p. 187.
  9. Smith 2008, pp. 595-596.
  10. Pedraza 2007, p. 110.
  11. "Elena Mederos Papers". University of Miami Cuban Heritage Collection. Retrieved 9 September 2015.

Bibliography

External links

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