armino

Franca de Armiño was a tobacco stripper (despalilladora) in Puerto Rico and one of the most active feminists in the island’s socialist labor movement. In 1919, the Primer Congreso de Mujeres Trabajadoras (First Congress of Women Workers) took place in Puerto Rico. One of the congress’s accomplishments was the founding of the Asociación Feminista Popular (Popular Feminist Association) where Armiño was elected president. As a result of her efforts, Puerto Rican women were allowed to vote in 1929 for the first time ever once suffrage was granted to literate women. Armiño published a few articles in Justicia (Justice), the workers’ leading newspaper. Her article “A la mujer obrera” (To the Woman Worker) argued for the need for women workers to come together, assert their rights as citizens, and demand social justice. During the Great Depression, Armiño came to live in New York but little has been discovered about her activities there, except for the self-publication of her play Los hipócritas: comedia dramática social (The Hypocrites: A Social Drama, 1937). On the inside cover, it states that the author was working on three other works—a book of poems, a collection of essays, and another play—but so far these works have not been found.