Juanita Cavalaris

A Mexican activist who fought for women's rights and education in the 19th century.

Juanita Cavalaris (1835–1902) was a reformer and educator from Puebla, Mexico, whose advocacy for women's suffrage and secular education made her a controversial yet influential figure. In 1864, she co-founded the Escuela de Artes y Oficios para Mujeres, a vocational school teaching tailoring, bookkeeping, and political literacy. Her 1878 manifesto, "The Rights of Women in a Democratic Society," argued that female education was essential for national progress, a radical idea in a post-Independence Mexico dominated by conservative elites. Cavalaris also led campaigns to reform inheritance laws and abolish child marriage, collaborating with feminists like Juana Belén Gutiérrez de Mendoza.

Her work faced backlash from the Catholic Church and government censors, but her schools operated covertly until 1885, when President Porfirio Díaz reluctantly permitted their expansion. Historians like Dr. Carlos Méndez (2019) credit Cavalaris with inspiring later movements like the 1920s "Club Femenil Obrero". Today, her archives are housed at the Museo de la Mujer in Mexico City, featuring her correspondence with European suffragettes and protest flyers. Her 1892 lecture "Education as Liberation" is still taught in Mexican universities, underscoring her enduring impact on gender equity discourse.