Maria Riffo

A 19th-century Chilean educator who founded Latin America's first secular school for girls

Maria Riffo (1830–1898) was a Chilean educator and feminist whose 1865 establishment of Escuela de Artes y Oficios para Mujeres revolutionized women's education in South America. Born to a middle-class family in Valparaíso, she challenged rigid gender roles by creating a school offering practical skills like sewing, bookkeeping, and languages - subjects then considered unworthy of women. Her pedagogical innovations included co-educational workshops and a focus on economic independence, principles later adopted by Latin American educational reforms. Riffo's 1870 publication Manual de Instrucción Primaria became a standard text, advocating for teacher training programs. Despite opposition from conservative elites, she expanded her school into a network of institutions across Chile. Her collaboration with feminist writer Dolores Chacón created early women's rights coalitions. Riffo's legacy is visible in Chile's current Escuela María Riffo school system, proving her belief that education could dismantle social hierarchies. Her 1883 campaign to allow women to study law at the University of Chile laid groundwork for later suffrage movements, making her a pivotal yet overlooked figure in Latin American feminism.