User:Maria Vizcaino (Chalmers)/sandbox

María Piedad Moscoso Serrano (Sígsig, 1932 - Cuenca, November 13, 2010) was an educator, doctor and feminist activist from Ecuador. She is remembered as a pioneer in the struggle for women's right in the providence of Azuay.

Biography
She was born in 1932 in the county of Sígsig, a province of Azuay. She was the first woman to graduate with a degree in medicine from the University of Cuenca in 1956.

In her youth she was associated with left-wing personalities of her time, which included hosting Che Guevara while he passed through Ecuador in his way to Mexico, and she was close to Nela Martínez, Manuel Agustín Aguirre, among others. Eventually she would define herself as an anarchist.

She worked as professor in various colleges in Azuay, which included Manuela Garaicoa, el Manuel J. Calle and the Campesino Javeriano.

During her life she was involved with the social struggles for the rights of workers, she fought against military dictatorships and the social repression of the León Febres-Cordero Ribadeneyra government. Her fight for women's rights led her to establish in 1975 the movement known as '8 de marzo (8 of March)', considered as the first feminist organization of Azuay.

In 1977, she founded the political organization known as 'Frente Amplio de Mujeres (Broad Front of Women)', which brought together progressive left-wing women. She was also a founding member of the Azuay Women's Network.

She died on November 13, 2010. Years later, her remains were transported to the park of illustrious people in the Cementerio Patrimonial de Cuenca. Her headstone is transcribed with the phrase "Símbolo de compromiso y lucha por la equidad y la justicia social (Symbol of commitment and struggle for equity and social justice)", and she rests next to the political socialist Guadalupe Larriva.

In October of 2014 she was declared posthumously as an Illustrious Woman by the Cantonal Council of Cuenca for her fight for women's rights. In 2016 she received the award 'Matilde Hidalgo de Procel' by the National Assembly of Ecuador.