Herminia Brumana

Herminia Catalina Brumana (12 September 1897 in Pigüé – 9 January 1954 in Buenos Aires) was an Argentine teacher, writer, journalist, playwright and feminist activist with socialist and anarchist ideas.

Early life

Brumana was born on 12 September 1897 in Pigüé to an Italian Argentine family.

Career

Teaching

Brumana trained to become a teacher at the José Manuel Estrada Normal School in Olavarría. Her first job was teaching the fifth grade at School No. 3 in Pigüé, between 1917 and 1921. She then taught in Quilmes and at numerous schools in the Avellaneda district.

Activism

Brumana was an anarchist, socialist and public intellectual. As an anarchist, Brumana called feminists "bourgeois" and objected to women's political rights on the grounds that politics would compromise femininity. She claimed to support strong and capable women but spurned "feminists" and considered it an ideology that promoted a "masculinisation" of women. She argued that instead of looking for political influence in a ballot, women should focus on moulding the next generations of male policymakers in their homes. She later began to question the stereotyped images of women and hegemonic representations of gender.

Writing

Brumana wrote nine books and eleven plays, three of them published. She wrote for Mundo Argentino, El Hogar and La Nación, among other periodicals. Her pseudonyms included La Maestra Ciruela, Pesao Grúa and Zúlex.

Brumana was also a member of the Argentine Writers Society.

Death and legacy

Brumana died in Buenos Aires in 1954.

The Herminia Brumana Primary School Nº56 in La Matanza is named in her honour.