Graciela Contreras

Graciela Contreras Barrenechea (1895–1974), also known as Graciela Contreras de Schnake, was a Chilean politician. She was the mayor of Santiago from 1939 to 1940, becoming the first woman to hold the office.

Graciela Contreras
Mayor of Santiago
In office
6 January 1939 – 19 March 1940
Preceded byOnofre Lillo Astorquiza
Succeeded byRafael Pacheco Sty
Personal details
Born
Graciela Contreras Barrenechea

1895 (1895)
Died1974 (aged 78–79)
Political partySocialist Party of Chile
Spouse(s)Óscar Schnake
OccupationPolitician

Biography

Born in Santiago in 1895,[1] Graciela Contreras was the daughter of José María Contreras Vergara and Tránsito Barrenechea Naranjo. On the maternal side, she was the niece of doctor and politician Manuel J. Barrenechea Naranjo, and was also the cousin of the father of writer and politician Julio Barrenechea. In 1923 she married Óscar Schnake and they had two children.[2] The couple later divorced.[1] Contreras was a member of the Socialist Party of Chile (PS) since its founding in 1933, specializing in the area of Social Women's Action.[1]

Contreras was appointed mayor of the commune of Santiago by President Pedro Aguirre Cerda, her nomination being supported by the Pro-Emancipation Movement of Chilean Women (MEMCH),[1] a position she assumed on 6 January 1939.[3] With this, she became the first mayor of Santiago[4] – after her, only three women have held that position: María Teresa del Canto (1953–1957), María Eugenia Oyarzún (1975–1976), and Carolina Tohá (2012–2016).[3][5] She was the second woman to take office as mayor in Chile after Alicia Cañas,[6] and was the only woman mayor of a national capital in the Americas at the time.[7]

She served as mayor until 19 March 1940.[3] During her term she coordinated relief efforts after the Chillán earthquake,[7] expanded playgrounds and sports programs in working-class neighborhoods,[8] opened a hostel for shoeshiners,[9] and was a delegate to the Inter-American Commission of Women, working to increase civil and political rights for women.[10]

References
  1. Mujeres chilenas inolvidables [Unforgettable Chilean Women] (in Spanish). Santiago: ConFin Ediciones. 2014. p. 78. ISBN 9789568995133. Retrieved 22 May 2019 – via issuu.
  2. "Oscar Alex Enrique Schnake Vergara" (in Spanish). Library of Congress of Chile. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  3. "Santiago y sus alcaldes" [Santiago and its Mayors] (in Spanish). Municipality of Santiago. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  4. Richard J. Walter (2005). Politics and Urban Growth in Santiago, Chile, 1891-1941. Stanford University Press. p. 221. ISBN 978-0-8047-4982-4. Retrieved 10 May 2019 – via Google Books.
  5. Sandoval N., Richard (5 November 2012). "Mujeres al poder, 78 años de autoridades femeninas en Chile" [Women in Power, 78 Years of Women Authorities in Chile]. soychile.cl (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  6. Baltra Montaner, Lidia (2006). "La mujer chilena en la política" [The Chilean Woman in Politics]. Señora presidenta: mujeres que gobiernan países [Madam President: Women Who Govern Countries] (in Spanish). Editorial Mare Nostrum. p. 44. ISBN 9789568089122. Retrieved 22 May 2019 – via Google Books.
  7. "Chile Decrees Military Rule in Quake Areas". The Gazette. 27 January 1939. p. 14. Retrieved 22 May 2019 – via newspapers.com.
  8. Brenda Elsey (1 July 2011). Citizens and Sportsmen: Fútbol and Politics in Twentieth-Century Chile. University of Texas Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-292-72630-7. Retrieved 10 May 2019 – via Google Books.
  9. Karin Alejandra Rosemblatt (19 June 2003). Gendered Compromises: Political Cultures and the State in Chile, 1920-1950. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 39–40. ISBN 978-0-8078-6095-3. Retrieved 10 May 2019 – via Google Books.
  10. Bugbee, Emma (21 November 1940). "Each Women's Group To Work Separately". Windsor Star. Washington D.C. p. 6. Retrieved 22 May 2019 – via newspapers.com.
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