Culture
SPAIN'S FIRST EVER WOMAN MAYOR REMEMBERED IN ALICANTE
Contributor / 2009-10-22 15:53:05
85 years ago this month Doña Matilde Pérez Mollá was named by the Governor of Alicante as Spain’s first ever woman Mayor, when she was chosen as Mayor of the small Alicante village of Quatretondeta.
She began her tenure on 27th October 1924 which was the same year that the dictator of the time, General Miguel Primo de Rivera, granted the right to vote for Spanish women (albeit restricted).
Doña Pérez Mollà came from Quatretondeta’s richest family and had returned home to her village having just lost her husband. She was a 45 year old widow who was dismayed by the poverty and lack of culture she found there and so decided to give free piano lessons to her neighbours and started a local theatre group. She also collaborated with the nearby leprosarium in Fontilles and wrote articles for Las Provincias newspaper.
It was during her time as Spain’s first woman Mayor that electricity was first brought to Quatretondeta and a new road, linking the village with the outside world for the first time, was built to Orga 5 kms away.
She remained the Mayor of Quatretondeta for the next five years, until 1st January 1930, and a plaque now stands at the entrance to the local Town Hall commemorating her historic government.
Tags: Alicante, Mayor,
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