Eva Perón: Icon of Argentine Politics
A key figure you shouldn’t miss discovering during your visit to Argentina.
Eva Duarte was born in the town of Los Toldos, in the province of Buenos Aires, on May 7, 1919. She was an actress and worked in radio broadcasting at the time until, in 1944, she met General Juan Domingo Perón, whom she married shortly thereafter. From that moment on, she began to play a fundamental role in the Argentine political scene.
One of her most notable achievements was the enactment of the women’s suffrage law in 1947. On September 9 of that year, Law No. 13,010—also known as the “Evita Law”—was passed, granting all women in Argentina the right to vote. This was also the first step toward the formal inclusion of women in the political sphere.
With this law, her political leadership expanded nationwide. The Female Peronist Party was created, founded on July 29, 1949, within the framework of the first organizational assembly of the Peronist Party—a socially integrative movement that sought to include a specific group and provide a political and organizational response to the development of mass politics.
Without a doubt, her greatest commitment was to the most vulnerable sectors, whom she supported through the Eva Perón Foundation, created in 1948. This institution established homes, schools, hospitals, the well-known Nurses’ School, and food distribution centers.
Eva Perón passed away on July 26, 1952. She was only 33 years old.
