Raquel Camaña

Camaña was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1883.^[1] She was trained at the National Teacher Training School in La Plata, Buenos Aires, by American teacher Mary Olstine Graham.^[2][3] She also attended courses at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the University of Buenos Aires, including logic, taught by José Nicolás Matienzo, and psychology, taught by José Ingenieros.^[1]

Camaña was a socialist and was interested in eugenics, arguing that the masses should be taught the conditions necessary for healthy reproduction to alleviate poverty.^[4] In 1910 she presented her thesis "the Sexual Question" to the Argentine Public Hygiene Society, who unanimously approved her recommendation for the inclusion of sexual education in the school curriculum.^[5] She was invited to attend the Third International Congress on School Hygiene in Paris, France (as an official government representative),^[6][7] the Congress of Pedagogy and Hygiene, held in Belgium,^[1] and to talks held at the Athenæum of Madrid (Spanish: Ateneo de Madrid) in Madrid, Spain.^[1]

Camaña also established the League for the Rights of Women and Children Argentina^[8] and organised Argentina's First National Congress of Children with doctor and activist Julieta Lanteri in 1913.^[1][6] She published an article linking motherhood and democracy in 1914.^[9]

When Camaña applied to the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the University of Buenos Aires to cover a substitute position in the Chair of Education Sciences, she was rejected as a candidate because of her gender.^[1] This prompted her to write about sexual prejudices faced by teachers for the journal Revista de Derecho, Historia y Letras.^[1]

Camaña died in Buenos Aires in 1915, aged 32.^[1] The magazine Humanidad Nueva dedicated a cover to Camaña after her death and her work was published posthumously in 1916.^[10]