Читать книгу 20 Peruvian Heroines - Eliana Carlin - Страница 8

Lawyer (born in 1846)

María Trinidad Enríquez was born in Cusco. It is said that her mother, Cecilia Ladrón de Guevara, was a descendant of the Incas themselves.

Ever since she was a child, María Trinidad stood out for her intelligence and interest in her studies, but the first time she attempted to enroll in a university she was denied because she was female.

For this reason, she found the courage to send a letter directly to the President of the Republic, requesting that females could register in universities, same as men.

Her request was accepted and they permitted her to take the entrance exam. The exam took around 10 days and her results were outstanding. After a few years of studying the laws of Peru, she finally graduated as a lawyer from the National University of Saint Anthony the Abbot in Cuzco.

María Trinidad was not only the first female university student in Peru, but she was also one of the first in South America to fight for equal rights regardless of gender. In the year 2019, in honor of Maria’s bravery and perseverance all the university IDs of Peru were imprinted with her image.

“The eternal pupilage that weighs on women, seemed to me to be a disgraceful inequality (...) I then came up with the idea of being the first in my country to open the way into the noble career of the forum, thus contributing in this way the end of the utopia that comes with reaching the complete emancipation of the woman.”

MARÍA TRINIDAD ENRÍQUEZ