During the early 1900s, women all around the world were mobilising to fight for their rights, and it was no different in Latin America. Bouyed by the successes of women in New Zealand, the UK, and the United States in particular, by the early 1920s, feminism was ‘in fashion’ in Panama and local newspapers were publishing dozens of articles on the topic.

The women’s movement in Panama was heavily influenced by the United States as, in 1903, the Federation of Women’s Club of the Canal was founded, which soon became a part of the General Federation of Clubs in New York. Further, several leaders of the Panamanian fight took part in a Pan-American women’s rights movement and attended conferences and conventions in the United States.

One of these women was Clara González. Unlike many other Panamanian suffragists, Clara came from an impoverished background and her upbringing was less than easy. She was born in 1898 in Remedios, Chiriquí, one of the poorest areas of the country, and her early years were marred by war. In 1900, her family were forced into exile in Costa Rica and they remained there until 1904—during this time, Clara, still a young girl, was raped by a family friend.

This trauma stayed with her for her entire life and, despite being just five at the time of the rape, it marked her as a ‘stained’ woman. Her marriage prospects were considered lesser and she feared other people finding out about what had happened.

However, despite all this hardship—or, more likely, because of it—Clara grew up determined and fuelled with a passion for the law and for women’s rights. She enrolled in the National School of Law (Escuela Nacional de Derecho) and, in 1922, she became the first Panamanian woman to earn a Bachelor of Law. Her graduate thesis was titled ‘Woman in Panamanian Law’ (La Mujer ante el Derecho Panameño), and it was one of the first documents regarding women’s legal rights in Panama.

Frustratingly for Clara, the 1904 Constitution prohibited women from practising law. She was rightfully enraged at the situation and fought back. In one letter to Panama’s president, Belisario Porras, she wrote:

The president was likely not sympathetic to Clara’s plight, but he did eventually agree to help her. In April 1923, he submitted a memorandum to the National Assembly in which he pointed out the contradiction in allowing a woman to study law, but not actually practise it professionally. 

It was almost a year later when Law 55 came into effect and women were allowed to be lawyers. This event made Clara González the first female lawyer in Panama, but her fight was far from over.

In 1922, Clara had formed the Centro Feminista Renovación, which in 1923 turned into the Partido Nacional Feminista (National Feminist Party)—the first political women’s party in Latin America. They fought for women’s rights and suffrage, and Clara was at the forefront of political organising for women. One of the very first things she did was open a school to provide education for Panamanian women, thus combatting the argument that women weren’t astute or politically minded enough to vote, or even to want to vote.

Around the early 1920s, she began associating with socialist and anti-imperialist groups and she broadened her activism further towards social and economic reforms. At this time, society in Panama was definitively beginning to change, for women especially—they were working towards creating their own place in society with equal rights and participation, and they were forming a political consciousness.

This is heavily in thanks to Clara González, as so much of her work, both as a lawyer and in activist groups, was geared towards helping women. She concentrated her fight on pushing through numerous laws, for example protection of the family, aid for mothers and children, and, of course, political rights for women; first and foremost, the right to vote.

Women in Panama achieved the vote in 1941 on a limited basis, with full, equal suffrage being granted in 1945. She then properly entered politics, founding the National Women’s Party and running as a candidate for the Constitutional Assembly. She would later also run for the vice-presidency of Panama, but she was unfortunately unsuccessful on both counts.

As well as being the first woman lawyer in Panama, in 1929, Clara achieved her doctorate in law at New York University, thus becoming the first woman in Latin America to hold such a title. She was also the first Panamanian woman to be named a juvenile court judge, in which she advocated for standards of the treatment of young offenders. She held this position from 1951 up to her retirement (at her husband’s request) in 1964.

Clara’s exciting life didn’t quite end there—while in retirement in California, she was questioned for the second time about her connections to communism. While she wasn’t a member of the Communist Party, she was involved with some communist activists when she worked in Mexico; nevertheless, she was able to defend herself.

After her husband’s death, Clara returned to Panama, where she lived until her death on 11th February 1990 at the age of 91.

Sources:

• Moreno de Cuvillier, Lollaty, ‘MOVILIZACIÓN SOCIAL DE LAS MUJERES EN PANAMÁ’, Societas, 19.2 (2017), 61-74
• https://publicandohistoria.com/articulos/3074-2/la-primera-batalla-de-clara-gonzalez/
• https://www.buscabiografias.com/biografia/verDetalle/9633/Clara%20Gonzalez
• https://mujerespioneras.org/2019/06/clara-gonzalez-de-behringer-la-primera-abogada-de-panama-y-la-primera-latinoamericana-en-obtener-un-doctorado-en-derecho/