Graciela Contreras

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
SpouseÓscar Schnake [es]
OccupationPolitician

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.

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 [es], 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. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c "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. ^ a b "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.