Julieta Lanteri
Encyclopedia
Julieta Lanteri was an Italian Argentine physician, leading freethinker, and activist for women's rights in Argentina as well as for social reform generally.
, Italy
(today La Brigue
, France
). Her parents, Mattea Guido and Pierre-Antoine Lanteri, emigrated to Argentina with their two daughters in 1879, and she was raised in Buenos Aires
and La Plata
.
She became, in 1891, the first woman to enroll at the Colegio Nacional de La Plata
, a public college preparatory school. Earning a degree in Pharmacology
at the University of Buenos Aires
in 1898, Lanteri enrolled in the university's School of Medicine with permission from the Dean, Dr. Leopoldo Montes de Oca. She would encounter opposition to her career as both a student and a professional by conservatives; objections included the broader concept of allowing women to pursue a career, as well as more petty ones such as that a woman should not examine a cadaver
. These experiences led Lanteri and Dr. Cecilia Grierson
(the first woman to earn a Medical Degree in Argentina) to co-found Asociación de Universitarias Argentinas, the first university student association for women in the country, in 1904. Following an internship at the women's ward at San Roque Hospital
, Lanteri became, in 1907, only the fifth woman in Argentina to earn a Medical Degree
, and the first Italian Argentine
woman to do so.
Lanteri worked for a decade in the Public Assistance Bureau of Buenos Aires and in the Emergency Hospital and Dispensary. She campaigned actively for greater access to medical care for the poor early on, and founded a periodical, Semana Médica, for the purpose. She established the Argentine Association of Free Thought in 1905, and remained active in women's rights
causes, having joined Grierson, Alicia Moreau de Justo
, and others in the establishment of the Center for Feminism at the 1906 International Congress of Free Thought, held in Buenos Aires.
She founded the National League of Women Freethinkers and its journal, La Nueva Mujer. She helped organize the first International Congress of Women
in 1910, and later helped organize the first National Child Welfare
Congress. Her application for a faculty position at her alma mater's Medical School was denied on grounds that she was a still a resident alien
, prompting her to apply for Argentine citizenship. Single immigrant women, however, were not generally granted citizenship in Argentina. Lanteri married Dr. Alberto Renshaw in 1910, and following an eight-month long lawsuit, she was granted citizenship in 1911. The marriage was in itself controversial, as he was 14 years younger than the bride. The same pretext was used to deny her enrollment in the Psychiatry
course at her own alma mater's School of Medicine.
Armed with detailed knowledge of Law 5.098, which specified numerous requisites for the right to vote while remaining moot on a woman's right to do so, Lanteri persuaded the precinct chair to accept her vote in the July 16, 1911, elections for the Deliberative Council
, thus becoming the first woman to vote in South America
; women were not granted the right to vote in Argentina nationwide until 1947. Electoral Law was amended that year to require military service
(something required of all male Argentine citizens) in order to vote, again eliminating women. Lanteri instead joined her lawyer, Angelica Barreda, in forming a political party, the National Feminist Union, in 1918, and she ran for a seat in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies
in every election thereafter until the 1930 military coup
.
Her political party's platform called for universal suffrage
, equality of the sexes under the Argentine Civil Code, and a wide array of progressive
social legislation, including: legislation regulating working hours; equal pay; pensions
; maternity leave benefits; labor law reforms regarding women and child labor
ers; professional training for women; the legalization of divorce
; specialist care for juvenile delinquents; prison reform
; the abolition of capital punishment
; investments in public health
and kindergarten
s; greater work safety regulation in factories; bans on the manufacture and sale of alcohol
, preventive medicine
against infectious diseases, and bans on regulated brothel
s. She was unsuccessful, however, garnering 1,000 to 1,730 votes in each election; among her supporters was the nationalist writer Manuel Gálvez
who, opposed to both the Conservatives and the ruling UCR
, opted to vote for the "intrepid Dr. Lanteri."
Dr. Lanteri was inducted into the Argentine Medical Association
. She continued to practice medicine, and provided psychiatric and mental health nursing
to needy women and children. She founded the first primary school in the town of Sáenz Peña, Buenos Aires
, and lectured extensively in Europe. She ventured into other activities, introducing a hair restoration
tonic in 1928. Her work for women's suffrage
took a novel turn when, in 1929, she applied for military service on the rationale that, since military service was required for all citizens, women should be permitted military service and, accordingly, the vote. The case reached the Argentine Supreme Court, where it was stricken down, however.
Lanteri walked along Diagonal Norte Avenue, in downtown Buenos Aires, on February 23, 1932, when a motorist struck her. The driver fled, and following two days in the hospital, the noted physician and activist died at age 58; over 1,000 people attended her funeral.
The incident, ruled an accident by the police, was called into question at the time by El Mundo writer Adelia Di Carlo. The news daily published details of the incident, including the fact that the police report had had the driver's name and vehicle tags blotted out; that the man, David Klapenbach, was a member of the right-wing paramilitary
group, the Argentine Patriotic League
; and that Klapenbach himself had committed numerous murders. Di Carlo's home was ransacked by the Argentine Federal Police following the publication of these details.
Investigative journalists Araceli Bellota and Ana María De Mena published biographies of Lanteri (Julieta Lanteri: La pasión de una mujer and Palomita Blanca, respectively), in 2001. A street in the newest district of Buenos Aires, Puerto Madero
, was named in her honor.
Life and times
Julie Madeleine Lanteri was born in rural Briga Marittima, in the Province of CuneoProvince of Cuneo
ayr is a province in the southwest of the Piedmont region of Italy. To the west it borders on the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur ....
, Italy
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
(today La Brigue
La Brigue
La Brigue is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.Brigue became part of France after the World War II, when Italy was forced to hand it over in September 1947 under the terms of the 1947 Peace of Paris. Before the hand over, it was part of Province of Cuneo...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
). Her parents, Mattea Guido and Pierre-Antoine Lanteri, emigrated to Argentina with their two daughters in 1879, and she was raised in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
and La Plata
La Plata
La Plata is the capital city of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and of La Plata partido. According to the , the city proper has a population of 574,369 and its metropolitan area has 694,253 inhabitants....
.
She became, in 1891, the first woman to enroll at the Colegio Nacional de La Plata
Rafael Hernández National College
The Colegio Nacional Rafael Hernández is one of the four public high schools that are part of the National University of La Plata, in the City of La Plata, Argentina. The Colegio Nacional aegis denotes a school belonging to the system of national secondary schools...
, a public college preparatory school. Earning a degree in Pharmacology
Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the branch of medicine and biology concerned with the study of drug action. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function...
at the University of Buenos Aires
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos...
in 1898, Lanteri enrolled in the university's School of Medicine with permission from the Dean, Dr. Leopoldo Montes de Oca. She would encounter opposition to her career as both a student and a professional by conservatives; objections included the broader concept of allowing women to pursue a career, as well as more petty ones such as that a woman should not examine a cadaver
Cadaver
A cadaver is a dead human body.Cadaver may also refer to:* Cadaver tomb, tomb featuring an effigy in the form of a decomposing body* Cadaver , a video game* cadaver A command-line WebDAV client for Unix....
. These experiences led Lanteri and Dr. Cecilia Grierson
Cecilia Grierson
Cecilia Grierson was an Argentine physician, reformist, and prominent Freethinker. She had the added distinction of being the first woman to receive a Medical Degree in Argentina.-Early life:...
(the first woman to earn a Medical Degree in Argentina) to co-found Asociación de Universitarias Argentinas, the first university student association for women in the country, in 1904. Following an internship at the women's ward at San Roque Hospital
Hospital Ramos Mejía
Hospital Ramos Mejía is a hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina....
, Lanteri became, in 1907, only the fifth woman in Argentina to earn a Medical Degree
Medical degree
A medical degree is, broadly defined, any academic degree which places its holder in a position to engage in the practice of medicine. BBC has reported that Medicine related degree programs such as MBBS, BDS and PharmD are the most difficult degree programs of all the other Bachelor degree programs...
, and the first Italian Argentine
Italian Argentine
An Italian Argentine is a person born in Argentina of Italian ancestry. It is estimated up to 25 million Argentines have some degree of Italian descent...
woman to do so.
Lanteri worked for a decade in the Public Assistance Bureau of Buenos Aires and in the Emergency Hospital and Dispensary. She campaigned actively for greater access to medical care for the poor early on, and founded a periodical, Semana Médica, for the purpose. She established the Argentine Association of Free Thought in 1905, and remained active in women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
causes, having joined Grierson, Alicia Moreau de Justo
Alicia Moreau de Justo
Alicia Moreau de Justo was an Argentine physician, politician, pacifist and human rights activist.Born to French parents in London, United Kingdom, the Moreau family moved to Argentina while Alicia was still a child....
, and others in the establishment of the Center for Feminism at the 1906 International Congress of Free Thought, held in Buenos Aires.
She founded the National League of Women Freethinkers and its journal, La Nueva Mujer. She helped organize the first International Congress of Women
International Congress of Women
The name International Congress of Women was used by a number of feminist and pacifist events since 1878.-Paris, 1878:The First International Congress of Women's Rights convened in Paris in 1878 upon the occasion of the third Paris World's Fair. Seven resolutions were passed, beginning with the...
in 1910, and later helped organize the first National Child Welfare
Child welfare
Child protection is used to describe a set of usually government-run services designed to protect children and young people who are underage and to encourage family stability...
Congress. Her application for a faculty position at her alma mater's Medical School was denied on grounds that she was a still a resident alien
Resident Alien
Resident Alien is the debut album from the British glam rock band Spacehog. Released by Elektra Records on 24 October 1995, the album was certified as gold on 29 July 1996 and included the hit single "In the Meantime", which reached the top of the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in the United States,...
, prompting her to apply for Argentine citizenship. Single immigrant women, however, were not generally granted citizenship in Argentina. Lanteri married Dr. Alberto Renshaw in 1910, and following an eight-month long lawsuit, she was granted citizenship in 1911. The marriage was in itself controversial, as he was 14 years younger than the bride. The same pretext was used to deny her enrollment in the Psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
course at her own alma mater's School of Medicine.
Armed with detailed knowledge of Law 5.098, which specified numerous requisites for the right to vote while remaining moot on a woman's right to do so, Lanteri persuaded the precinct chair to accept her vote in the July 16, 1911, elections for the Deliberative Council
Buenos Aires City Legislature
The Buenos Aires City Legislature is a central part of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, as well as an architectural landmark in the city's Montserrat section.-History:...
, thus becoming the first woman to vote in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
; women were not granted the right to vote in Argentina nationwide until 1947. Electoral Law was amended that year to require military service
Military service
Military service, in its simplest sense, is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, whether as a chosen job or as a result of an involuntary draft . Some nations require a specific amount of military service from every citizen...
(something required of all male Argentine citizens) in order to vote, again eliminating women. Lanteri instead joined her lawyer, Angelica Barreda, in forming a political party, the National Feminist Union, in 1918, and she ran for a seat in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies
Argentine Chamber of Deputies
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress. This Chamber holds exclusive rights to create taxes, to draft troops, and to accuse the President, the ministers and the members of the Supreme Court before the Senate....
in every election thereafter until the 1930 military coup
1930 Argentine coup d'etat
The 1930 Argentine coup d'état also known as the September Revolution by supporters of it, involved the overthrow of the Argentine government of Hipólito Yrigoyen by forces loyal to General José Félix Uriburu...
.
Her political party's platform called for universal suffrage
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...
, equality of the sexes under the Argentine Civil Code, and a wide array of progressive
Progressive
Progressive is an adjectival form of progress and may refer to:-Politics:* Progressivism, a political ideology* Progressive Era, a period of reform in the United States Progressive is an adjectival form of progress and may refer to:-Politics:* Progressivism, a political ideology* Progressive Era, a...
social legislation, including: legislation regulating working hours; equal pay; pensions
Pension system
-Pension systems in various countries:*ANSES *Superannuation in Australia*Social Security *Canada Pension Plan*Chile pension system*Indian pension system*KiwiSaver *Social security *UK Pension Provision...
; maternity leave benefits; labor law reforms regarding women and child labor
Child labor
Child labour refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labour. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries...
ers; professional training for women; the legalization of divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
; specialist care for juvenile delinquents; prison reform
Prison reform
Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, aiming at a more effective penal system.-History:Prisons have only been used as the primary punishment for criminal acts in the last couple of centuries...
; the abolition of capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
; investments in public health
Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
and kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
s; greater work safety regulation in factories; bans on the manufacture and sale of alcohol
Temperance movement
A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...
, preventive medicine
Preventive medicine
Preventive medicine or preventive care refers to measures taken to prevent diseases, rather than curing them or treating their symptoms...
against infectious diseases, and bans on regulated brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
s. She was unsuccessful, however, garnering 1,000 to 1,730 votes in each election; among her supporters was the nationalist writer Manuel Gálvez
Manuel Gálvez
Manuel Gálvez was an Argentine novelist, poet, essayist, historian and biographer....
who, opposed to both the Conservatives and the ruling UCR
Radical Civic Union
The Radical Civic Union is a political party in Argentina. The party's positions on issues range from liberal to social democratic. The UCR is a member of the Socialist International. Founded in 1891 by radical liberals, it is the oldest political party active in Argentina...
, opted to vote for the "intrepid Dr. Lanteri."
Dr. Lanteri was inducted into the Argentine Medical Association
Argentine Medical Association
The Argentine Medical Association is the principal professional association of physicians in Argentina. It is a medical non-profit organization with headquarters in Buenos Aires.-Overview:...
. She continued to practice medicine, and provided psychiatric and mental health nursing
Psychiatric and mental health nursing
Psychiatric nursing or mental health nursing is the specialty of nursing that cares for people of all ages with mental illness or mental distress, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, psychosis, depression or dementia...
to needy women and children. She founded the first primary school in the town of Sáenz Peña, Buenos Aires
Sáenz Peña, Buenos Aires
Sáenz Peña is a town in Tres de Febrero Partido of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is located in the Greater Buenos Aires urban agglomeration on the border with Buenos Aires.-History:...
, and lectured extensively in Europe. She ventured into other activities, introducing a hair restoration
Hair restoration
Hair restoration includes the medical and surgical treatment of various forms of hair loss. The most common cause of hair loss is androgenetic alopecia , also known as male pattern baldness or female pattern baldness.-Medical hair restoration:...
tonic in 1928. Her work for women's suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
took a novel turn when, in 1929, she applied for military service on the rationale that, since military service was required for all citizens, women should be permitted military service and, accordingly, the vote. The case reached the Argentine Supreme Court, where it was stricken down, however.
Lanteri walked along Diagonal Norte Avenue, in downtown Buenos Aires, on February 23, 1932, when a motorist struck her. The driver fled, and following two days in the hospital, the noted physician and activist died at age 58; over 1,000 people attended her funeral.
The incident, ruled an accident by the police, was called into question at the time by El Mundo writer Adelia Di Carlo. The news daily published details of the incident, including the fact that the police report had had the driver's name and vehicle tags blotted out; that the man, David Klapenbach, was a member of the right-wing paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
group, the Argentine Patriotic League
Argentine Patriotic League
The Argentine Patriotic League was a Nacionalista paramilitary group, officially created in Buenos Aires on January 16, 1919, during the Tragic week events. Presided over by Manuel Carlés, a professor at the Military College and the Escuela Superior de Guerra, it also counted among its members the...
; and that Klapenbach himself had committed numerous murders. Di Carlo's home was ransacked by the Argentine Federal Police following the publication of these details.
Investigative journalists Araceli Bellota and Ana María De Mena published biographies of Lanteri (Julieta Lanteri: La pasión de una mujer and Palomita Blanca, respectively), in 2001. A street in the newest district of Buenos Aires, Puerto Madero
Puerto Madero
Puerto Madero, also known within the urban planning community as the Puerto Madero Waterfront, is a barrio of the Argentine capital at Buenos Aires CBD, occupying a significant portion of the Río de la Plata riverbank and representing the latest architectural trends in the city of Buenos...
, was named in her honor.