Gumercinda Páez
| Gumercinda Páez | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Gumercinda Páez Villarreal 13 January 1904 Panama City, Panama |
| Died | 1991 (aged 87) Veracruz, Panama |
| Nationality | Panamanian |
| Occupation | Educator, suffragist, politician, writer |
| Years active | 1919–1951 |
Gumercinda Páez (1904-1991) was a teacher, women's rights activist and suffragette, and Constituent Assemblywoman of Panama. She was the first woman deputy to serve the National Assembly for the Panamá Province and was a vice president of the Constituent Assembly of Panama in 1946, being also the first woman to serve in that position. As a woman of mixed heritage, she was acutely aware of bias and strove for policies of inclusion.
Gumercinda Páez was born on 13 January 1904 in Panama City, Panama to Jose Antonio Páez, a Venezuelan of African descent and Mercedes Villarreal, a Panamanian with indigenous roots. She attended high school at the National Institute of Panama, where she obtained a diploma as a securities trade expert, going on to study science and earning a certificate to teach primary education. In a 1985 interview, Páez explained that when her father died, she became the primary support of her mother and two brothers, working as a teacher by day and going to school at night. She did not complete her bachelors in science due to work interruptions in her studies. At night school, she studied piano, arts and crafts and painting at the Melchor Lasso de la Vega School of Arts and Crafts and obtained a diploma in typewriter machine repair. She studied English at the Panama Model School and law at the University of Panama but after three years of studying law, she graduated with a BA in philosophy and letters from the University of Panama in 1945.
While in school Páez began tutoring wealthy students. After obtaining her teaching certificate, she taught at Panama College, but when she was offered a contract for three years, she and her family moved to Garachiné where she taught at the Setegantí School, suspending her own studies. Because of her outspokenness on administrative procedures, Páez was dismissed and took a position at the Escuela Antillana, working primarily with Cuban migrants. She also taught in Macaracas, in Chilibre, and at the School Pedro J. Sosa. Discovering an opening at the archives of the Ministry of Education, Páez applied and was hired as an Officer First Class. She was then appointed deputy director of the Escuela República de Venezuela in Panama City where she taught for two years.
While she was working in Garachiné, Páez organized a women's group, Sociedad ProCultura Femenina, with the intent of educating local women on the importance of education and nutrition. She also studied the issues faced by migrant Cubans and other West Indian peoples and became an active advocate for them when she was teaching at the Escuela Antillana. In addition, she was a supporter and participant in the Feminist National Party until it waned in the 1940s.
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