Margherita Ancona facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Margherita Ancona
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Ancona in 1923
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| Born | 3 September 1881 |
| Died | 1966 (aged 84–85) Milan, Italy
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| Nationality | Italian |
| Occupation | teacher |
Margherita Ancona (born 3 September 1881 – died 1966) was an important Italian teacher. She was very active in the women's suffrage movement in Milan. This movement worked to get women the right to vote. Margherita was a leader of the Comitato lombardo pro suffragio (Lombard Suffrage Committee). She also joined the Italian part of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA). She was one of the main leaders for women's voting rights in Italy. Margherita was the only Italian woman of her time to serve on the IWSA board. She also attended a big meeting called the Inter-Allied Women's Conference in 1919.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Margherita Ancona was born on 3 September 1881 in Palermo, Sicily. She had a twin sister named Luisa. Their family had Jewish heritage. Margherita studied classic subjects like Latin and Greek. She went to a gymnasium in Messina until 1901.
After that, the twins moved to Milan to study more. They became some of the first women to graduate from university in Italy. Luisa was the second woman in Italy to go to university, after Maria Montessori. Luisa later became an eye doctor.
Working for Women's Rights
Margherita Ancona became a teacher of literature. She taught at the Liceo Cesare Beccaria. She strongly supported women getting the right to vote. She joined the Comitato Pro-Voto Milanese (Milanese Pro-Voting Committee).
The region of Lombardy was a key place for the early women's rights movement in Italy. This was because after Italy became one country, women in Lombardy lost their right to vote. They had been able to vote when the Austrians ruled the area.
In 1906, Maria Montessori wrote a statement supporting women's right to vote. Many groups formed across Italy to support this idea. Margherita became the secretary for the Comitato Pro-Voto Milanese. She also joined the Associazione per la donna (Association for Women). In October 1917, she spoke at their conference in Rome. She talked about how women's voting rights were doing in Italy.
Pushing for Change
Margherita believed that voting was very important for women. She thought it would help them get better social and economic conditions. She shared her ideas in a magazine called Attività femminile sociale in January 1919.
In February 1919, she went to the Inter-Allied Women's Conference in Paris. This meeting started on February 10. Its goal was to discuss women's issues for the Paris Peace Conference. By June 1919, Margherita was leading the Lombard Suffrage Committee. She urged lawmakers to change laws to give women more freedom.
She wrote articles in a magazine called Voce nuova (New Voice). In these articles, Margherita supported a liberal view of women's voting rights. She believed in equality for all. When the magazine started publishing ideas she disagreed with, Margherita stopped working with them.
International Leadership
Margherita Ancona was the first speaker at the Suffrage Conference in Milan. This meeting took place from April 23 to 29, 1920. Important men from all over Italy came to talk about women getting the right to vote.
In June 1920, Margherita made history at the Eighth Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in Geneva. She was the first Italian woman chosen to be on the IWSA board. That same year, she pushed for Italians to start their own chapter of the International Federation of University Women. This group was founded in London.
The first meetings for the Italian chapter were held in Rome. By 1923, the La Federazione Italiana e Laureate Diplomate Istituti Superiori (FILDIS) (Federation of Italian Women Graduates and Diplomates) was officially formed. This group helped women become professionals. It also worked to create more chances for women in education and jobs.
In 1923, Margherita was chosen as the vice president of the IWSA international board. She was the only Italian woman to hold such a high position in the IWSA. Because of her strong efforts, Rome was chosen to host the 9th IWSA Conference. Margherita and Alice Schiavoni Bosio welcomed 2,000 women to the conference. Even Benito Mussolini attended.
Margherita was re-elected to the IWSA board in 1924. She served with other important women like Germaine Malaterre-Sellier. Later, in 1928, Margherita decided to step back from actively working for the vote. This happened after some disagreements with Ada Sacchi Simonetti.
Later Life and Legacy
Margherita Ancona continued teaching Latin and Greek. She taught at the Liceo Cesare Beccaria until 1938. Her family was affected by new laws passed in Italy that year. Not much more is known about her life after that time. Margherita Ancona passed away in Milan in 1966.
