Karla Máchová

Karla Máchová (married Kostelecká; 21 October 1853 – 16 May 1920) was a Czech teacher, women's rights activist, journalist and politician. In 1908, using a legal loophole, Máchová was among the first three women to run for the Bohemian Diet.

Early life and education Karla Máchová was born on 21 October 1853, in Beroun. Her parents died when she was young, so she was brought up in an orphanage in Prague. She had to start working early to pay for her education. She studied to become a teacher and began giving lessons while still attending school.

Career Máchová worked as a teacher and took on an active role in Czech women's and teachers' associations as well as in the Social Democratic Party.

In 1893, Máchová traveled to the United States, where she participated in the World's Congress of Representative Women and spoke up about the hardships of Bohemia's working-class women. She spent four years abroad, joined a local Czech women's association launched Ženské Listy Even though she received a second spot on the Social Democrat list, her party did not invite her to its large pre-election meeting, creating for her a perfunctory women's meeting instead. A couple years later Social Democrats nominated Máchová again for a freed seat in the Diet, but it went to Božena Viková-Kunětická who thus became the first woman elected to the Bohemian parliament.

Illness and death Due to health issues, Máchová did not participate in the political scene of the nascent Czechoslovak Republic.

Máchová died on 16 May 1920, in Prague.