Not a Woman's Job?

Bertha Lutz (1894-1976) was one of the four women to sign the UN Charter at the San Francisco Conference. She was acknowledged, along with her latin American colleague Minerva Bernardino, for the inclusion of the word “women” in the phrase “equal rights of men and women” in the preamble of the Charter. Lutz was also instrumental in gaining women’s suffrage in her country, Brazil, where she became one of the first women member of the Parliament. In parallel with her political action, she was a renowned naturalist at the National Museum of Brazil, having studied natural sciences, biology and zoology at the Sorbonne (1918). She is honored in the names of five species of animals. Lutz also had a law degree from Federal University of Rio de de Janeiro in 1933. The Swiss feminist association Escouade paid tribute to Bertha Lutz proposing to give her name to Avenue de France, close to the UN Headquarters in Geneva, under the initiative 100elles.ch, which aims to promote gender balance in the names of public places.