Argentine Women Win the Vote

In 1946, Juan Domingo Peron was elected president of Argentina with fifty-four percent of the vote, inaugurating an era that transformed Argentine political life. Beside him stood his wife, Eva Duarte de Peron, who had emerged from rural hardship in the Pampas and a successful career as a radio and stage performer to become one of the most visible public figures in South America. Among the central causes that defined her early years as first lady was the drive for women's suffrage, leading directly to the passage of national voting rights for Argentine women in 1947.

Eva had arrived in Buenos Aires in 1935 as a teenager, gradually gaining recognition across theatrical circuits and commercial radio broadcasts. By 1943, she was earning five to six thousand pesos a month with Radio Belgrano, where she portrayed prominent historical women. That period also saw her initial entry into public organizing as a co-founder of the Argentine Radio Syndicate. Her life shifted decisively in January 1944 when she attended a relief gala at Luna Park Stadium organized for the victims of the San Juan earthquake, where she first met Juan Peron, then serving as secretary of labor.