Magaly Pineda Antonia Tejada

Magaly Antonia Pineda Tejada (March 21, 1943 – March 29, 2016), known as the mother of feminism in the Dominican Republic, was a Dominican sociologist, teacher, researcher, and activist. She was considered one of the most important defenders of human rights, particularly women's rights, in her country. As a leftist activist, she participated in the 14th of June Revolutionary Movement and the Dominican Popular Movement.

Early life Magaly Antonia Pineda Tejada was born in Santo Domingo, then Ciudad Trujillo, in 1943, to a working-class family. Her father, Pedro (Chichi) Pineda, drove a communal taxi known as a carro público, and her mother, Ana Leonor Tejada, was a shopkeeper. She had two sisters, Milagros and Maritza Pineda.

As a child, she moved with her family to Puerto Rico. The move was prompted by pressure exerted on her family by the Trujillo regime because of their relationship with her uncle Manuel Tejada Florentino, a doctor involved in the clandestine resistance to the dictatorship.

She studied sociology at the University of Puerto Rico, where she led the Puerto Rico Pro-Independence University Federation.

After Trujillo was overthrown in 1961, Pineda was able to return to the Dominican Republic, where she joined the .

Feminist activism Magaly Pineda, center-right in a pink scarf, attends the first Feminist Encounter of Latin America and the Caribbean in 1981.

"The April Revolution defined my life. Feminism changed my life." — Magaly Pineda — interview with UN Women In 1977, Pineda joined the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo as a professor, a nonprofit NGO in the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean whose mission is promoting the role of women in democracy and conducting research on topics like sexual violence. She also founded Quehaceres, the longest-running feminist magazine in the country.

Pineda also promoted labor rights, working to help both urban and rural female workers as well as child domestic workers.

Death and recognition Her work in the field of education, which focused on sexism and discrimination in schools,

Pineda suffered from multiple myeloma for 13 years. She died on 29 March 2016, at the age of 73.

The feminist organization Tertulia Feminista Magaly Pineda was created in her honor.