Prudencia Ayala
EL SALVADOR
(1885–1936) Prudencia Ayala was a Salvadoran Afro-indigenous writer, social activist, and early campaigner for women's rights in El Salvador and first woman to run for president in El Salvador and Latin America. She dropped out of school in second grade and was largely self-taught. She learned to sew and worked as a seamstress. In 1913, after publishing opinion pieces in the newspaper, Ayala became recognized as an activist. She was vocal in many political and social movements, including anti-imperialism, feminism, Central American reunification, and against the U.S. invasion of Nicaragua. Ayala published poems and several books. She also had a reputation for fortune telling, and her predictions were published in Santa Ana’s newspapers. In 1930, Ayala attempted to run as a Unionist presidential candidate in El Salvador despite the nation barring women from voting. Her platform included the support of unions, transparency in government, the limitation of the distribution and consumption of liquor, respect of freedom of worship, and the legal recognition of children born out of wedlock. Her presidential nomination was rejected by the Salvadoran Supreme Court, but the debate that followed helped spark the feminist movement that permitted women’s suffrage to be reconsidered in 1939 and finally approved in 1950. Learn more about Prudencia Ayala in this animated video from Museo de la Palabra y la Imagén.
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