- Berta Lutz
Berta Maria Júlia Lutz (
August 2 ,1894 ,São Paulo –September 16 ,1976 ,Rio de Janeiro ) was azoologist ,scientist , and also a leading figure offeminism inBrazil .She was born in São Paulo. Her father,
Adolfo Lutz (1855-1940), was a famous physician and epidemiologist ofSwiss origin, and her mother, Amy Fowler, was a Britishnurse . Berta Lutz studiednatural sciences ,biology andzoology at the "University of Paris " ("Sorbonne"). Returning to Brazil, she dedicated herself to the study ofamphibians . The "Lutz's Rapids Frog " ("Paratelmatobius lutzii", Lutz and Carvalho, 1958), was described by her. In 1919, she was hired by the "Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro ", a fact which achieved great repercussion in the country, because the access to public jobs was barred to women at that time. Later she became a naturalist at the Section of Botany at the same institution.In 1918, Berta returned to Brazil and spoke out for a
feminist movement to begin. After seeing the advancements made byEuropea n and American women towards thefeminist movement s, she could see that Brazilian women could also help out with the movement by lending whatever aid they could to the organization. In 1922, Berta attended the "Pan American Conference of Women ", and was advised byPaulina Luisi andCarrie Chapman Catt . Following the conference, Berta drew up the constitution for a group named theBrazilian Federation of Feminine Progress .In 1934, the women of Brazil earned the right to vote due to Lutz and her organization.
As a
politician , Berta Lutz was elected a deputy federal representative in 1934, after failing two successive ballots. Her main political platform was changing worker's legislation in relation to women's right to work,child labor ,gender equality in wages and rights, the lawful right tomaternity leave . She lost her mandate whenGetúlio Vargas closed down both legislative chambers in 1937.See also
*
Women's suffrage
*Feminism External links
* [http://www.cpdoc.fgv.br/nav_historia/htm/biografias/ev_bio_bertalutz.htm Berta Lutz: Biografia] . Getúlio Vargas Foundation CPDOC (In Portuguese)
* [http://www.mundofisico.joinville.udesc.br/Enciclopedia/174.htm Berta Lutz: Biografia] . Mundo Físico (In Portuguese)
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