Thelma Curling Rodríguez

Having arrived in Limon, she became a teacher from 1960 to 1962.^[1] As a lawyer she represented the banks Banco Nacional de Costa Rica and Banco Crédito Agrícola [es] of Cartago.^[2] In the province of Limon she was a judge in several courts.^[3] Internationally, she represented Costa Rica in the Commission on the Status of Women of the United Nations between 1971 and 1988^[2] and took part in women rights related congresses in Tunisia, Brazil or Mexico.^[3] In Switzerland she attended an exhibit on Women Peasants from Costa Rica with the writer Carmen Naranjo and in South Africa she took part in the Black Women Congress in 1995.^[3] In 2014 she was elected the president of the Workers Union of Women of Costa Rica.^[4] In 2021, she was one of the women portrayed during the exhibit Impronta Femenina Costa Rica 1821–2021 in the Museo de Jade in San José.^[5]

Between 1970 and 1974 she acted as the Municipal President of the Canton Limón^[6][7] and between 1982 and 1986 she was a member of Parliament as the first women of Afro Costa Rican descent,^[6][8][9] and also the first woman to represent the province of Limón.^[3] She is a member of the National Liberation Party (PLN) for which she led the women's branch for eighteen years.^[6]

A known defender of women's rights, she encouraged women from Limón province to take part in the political process, be it as a voters or present to themselves as candidates.^[2] She also demanded better education conditions for women.^[2]