Ricardo Luis Lorenzetti is an Argentine judge graduated from the National University of the Littoral, Argentina, with a long national and international career. He used to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Argentina (2007–2018), proposed by President Néstor Kirchner and approved by the Senate, assuming his position on December 12, 2004, covering the vacancy caused by the resignation of Justice Adolfo Vázquez. On November 7, 2006, he was appointed Chief Justice, officiated as of January 1, 2007. Currently, he is one of the five Justices of the Supreme Court. He was President of the Commission for the preparation of the Parliamentary Act to reform, update and unify the Civil and Commercial Codes of the Argentine Nation, Presidential Decree 191/2011.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Colombia since 28 April 2016 in accordance with a 6–3 ruling from the Constitutional Court of Colombia that banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional under the Constitution of Colombia. The decision took effect immediately, and made Colombia the fourth country in South America to legalize same-sex marriage, after Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. The first same-sex marriage was performed in Cali on 24 May 2016.
As established in the Colombian Constitution of 1991, women in Colombia have the right to bodily integrity and autonomy; to vote ; to hold public office; to work; to fair wages or equal pay; to own property; to receive an education; to serve in the military in certain duties, but are excluded from combat arms units; to enter into legal contracts; and to have marital, parental and religious rights. Women's rights in Colombia have been gradually developing since the early 20th Century.
Same-sex marriage is legal in the following countries: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Uruguay. Same-sex marriage is recognized, but not performed in Israel.
Antonia Jiménez Trava was a Mexican attorney. She was the first female law graduate from UADY, and the first woman appointed to public office in Yucatán. She served as the first Director of the Civil Registry, the first President of the Electoral Institute of the State, and the first President of the Judiciary. She was a feminist, writing her dissertation on the legality of denying women the vote and when appointed to run the Civil Registry, she eliminated discriminatory texts from the marriage ceremony.
Mercedes Sandoval de Hempel was a Paraguayan lawyer and feminist. She was one of the leading proponents of women's suffrage in the country, drafting the Anteproyecto de Ley de Reforma Parcial del Código Civil. In 1992, the amendment of the Paraguayan Civil Code finally recognized equality between men and women. The wording of Article 1 of Law 704/61 was simple: “Reconócese a la mujer los mismos derechos y obligaciones políticos que al hombre.”
Olga Núñez Abaunza was the first female Nicaraguan lawyer and first female notary. She was the first woman to serve in a Ministerial capacity and the first woman Deputy to serve in the National Assembly of Nicaragua. She was an ardent feminist, attending feminist conferences, forming a feminine wing of the liberal party, and running for office on a feminist platform.
Ana Irma Rivera Lassén is an Afro-Puerto Rican attorney who is a current Member of the Puerto Rican Senate, elected on November 3, 2020, and who previously served as the head of the Bar Association of Puerto Rico from 2012 to 2014. She was the first black woman, and third female, to head the organization. She is a feminist and human rights activist, who is also openly lesbian. She has received many awards and honors for her work in the area of women's rights and human rights, including the Capetillo-Roqué Medal from the Puerto Rican Senate, the Martin Luther King/Arturo Alfonso Schomburg Prize, and the Nilita Vientós Gastón Medal. She is a practicing attorney and serves on the faculty of several universities in Puerto Rico; she currently serves on the Advisory Committee on Access to Justice of the Puerto Rican Judicial Branch.
Trinidad María Enríquez was a Peruvian teacher and student. After completing the only education available to her, she founded a school to teach other girls and complete the necessary requirements to enter university. Appealing to the president, she was granted the right to attend if an examination proved she was adequately prepared. Passing her review, Enríquez completed courses at the National University of Saint Anthony the Abbot in Cuzco, becoming the first Peruvian woman to earn a university degree in 1878. Though she graduated, she was denied a license to practice law and fought her case through the legislature and court systems until her death in 1891.
Dejusticia is a non-profit legal organization established in 2005 that promotes human rights and the social rule of law in Colombia, Latin America and other regions of the Global South.
Obdulia Romelia Luna Luna was the first Ecuadorian woman to obtain a law degree. She graduated on June 15, 1928, at the university of Guayaquil. She worked as secretary of the first Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Guayaquil.
Fanny León Cordero was an Ecuadorian jurist and poet. In 1947, she became the first female judge in Ecuador.
Maria Paulina Aguirre Suárez is an Ecuadorian judge and lawyer, who became president of the National Court of Justice on 26 January 2018. At the time, she had 30 years of judicial experience and was the first woman to hold the position. Her election was by unanimous decision of the 21 magistrates in the plenary session of the court.
Miguelina Aurora Acosta Cárdenas was a Peruvian feminist, anarcho-syndicalist activist, teacher, and lawyer, who dedicated much of her life to the fight for women's rights, the Amazonian peoples and the working class. She is the first Peruvian woman to graduate in law in Peru and is considered the first female trial lawyer in Peru.
Doris Perla Morales Martínez is a Uruguayan lawyer who serves as a minister of the Supreme Court of Uruguay.
Marta Silva de Lapuerta is a Spanish jurist. A member of the State Lawyers Corps since 1996, she was the Solicitor General of Spain from 2012 to 2016, the first woman to hold the office. She also served on the boards of Real Madrid CF and Sacyr.
