Abstract

This article analyzes women’s participation and political organization in the provinces of Malleco and Cautín from 1930 to 1950 in an international context marked by the presence of women’s and feminist movements that demanded civil and political rights. We are interested in knowing who these women were, what organizations and demands they built, and how they articulated with other movements or political parties. The article stresses, from a decolonial and intersectional feminist perspective, the struggle for local civil and political rights, in a context of consolidation of the Chilean nation-state in Wallmapu, with its colonialist and racist practices. Methodologically, we work with documentary and content analysis of the local press and the letters of the MEMCh. The research results show that women organized themselves politically in a diversity of tendencies, linking themselves to the traditional parties, but also building their associations. Likewise, we observe that a sector of Mapuche women was organized preferentially in their own groups with demands associated with the processes of racialization, sometimes coming together with the demands of Chilean women, which would account for some tensions typical of the colonial experience they lived. © (2023), (Universidad de Tarapaca). All Rights Reserved.