Abstract

In 1960s Chile, the polarization of the Cold War resulted in a crisis of legal institutions. Going beyond the narratives of this crisis anchored in partisan conflicts or institutional design, this article tells the story of María Urrutia, a middle-class, Catholic, non-partisan female lawyer who resorted to public opinion to denounce the injustice and corruption of the courts. As a legal activist, she had distanced herself from “feminine” causes and focused instead on “masculine” issues, such as the death penalty and the agrarian reform. Through a biographical approach of a previously ignored historical subject, this research reveals the class and gendered dynamics of the political and legal conflicts of the period. It shows that Chile’s crisis of justice was the product of the exposure of legal institutions to a new media environment. As an outsider to the predominantly male and elitist legal profession, Urrutia made alliances with underprivileged groups and resorted to the extralegal setting of the media to assert herself professionally. The legal establishment, accustomed to a culture of secrecy, felt threatened, and reacted virulently against her challenge. By recovering her story, this article illuminates the paradoxical nature of female lawyers’ agency in a male-dominated legal field.