Domitila Barrios de Chungara

Who is Domitila Barrios de Chungara?

Domitila Barrios de Chungara was a Bolivian labor and human rights activist from the tin-mining community of Siglo XX in the department of Potosi. As the wife of a miner, she experienced firsthand the harsh conditions of Bolivian mining camps and became a co-founder and leader of the Housewives' Committee of Siglo XX, an organization of miners' wives that organized hunger strikes and protests demanding fair wages, workers' rights, and political freedoms during periods of military dictatorship. She gained international recognition after speaking at the United Nations International Women's Year conference in Mexico City in 1975, where she confronted middle-class feminist delegates with the realities of poverty and class faced by working women in Bolivia. Her testimonial account, published in 1978 and known in English as "Let Me Speak!", co-written with Brazilian anthropologist Moema Viezzer, became a landmark work of Latin American testimonial literature, documenting mining life, state repression, and grassroots women's organizing. She remained a lifelong advocate for miners' families and workers' rights until her death in 2012.

Sources: Domitila Barrios de Chungara with Moema Viezzer, "Si me permiten hablar..." (Let Me Speak!, 1978) · United Nations International Women's Year Conference records, Mexico City (1975) · Historical accounts of the Comite de Amas de Casa del Siglo XX