Rosa Sevilla de Alvero: Google Doodle celebrates Philippines woman activist’s 142nd birthday

Google Doodle celebrates the 142nd birthday of the Philippines woman journalist, educator, and activist Rosa Sevilla de Alvero, who is broadly viewed as one of the women who battled for Filipina’s right to vote and the most influential suffragists in Filipino history.

Who was Rosa Sevilla de Alvero?

Born on March 4, 1879, Rosa Sevilla de Alvero, teacher, author, and one of the prominent suffragists in Asia who battled for the Filipino women’s right to vote, was born in Tondo, Manila, the Philippines capital.

As a child, she was shipped off live with her auntie, an educator who hosted Filipino patriots and intellectuals at her home. Sevilla often eavesdropped on discussions about her battle against educational colonialism. This is a revolutionary argument that aided shape her beliefs.

At only 21 years of age, Rosa Sevilla de Alvero established Instituto de Mujeres (“Women’s Institute”) in Manila, one of the first schools for women in Philippine history. The institute became a hotbed for progress under Sevilla’s leadership—teaching women on topics like suffrage, profession, and Tagalog.

Rosa Sevilla de Alvero set up the Instituto de Mujeres (Women’s Institute) of Manila, the initially lay-administered Catholic School for women in the Philippines, which is currently known as Rosa Sevilla Memorial School.

Sevilla additionally worked together with prominent Filipino Tagalog poets to introduce the first Baraktasan (a debate held in poetic verse). This triggered a movement where Tagalog became the national language.

Rosa Sevilla de Alvero left Manila in 1916 to rally women the nation over in her battle for suffrage, later establishing the Liga Nacional de Damas Filipinas (“National League of Filipino Women”) to help her motivation.

In 1916, Rosa Sevilla de Alvero rallied the nation over to battle for women’s rights of suffrage. Rosa, along with Pura Kalaw-Villanueva and Pilar Hidalgo-Lim, went from one house to another to discuss women’s rights, which brought about the triumph of Filipinas when it came to voting and being elected for political positions. The Suffragist Movement in the Philippines kept going from 1898 to 1937.

Rosa Sevilla de Alvero graduated from Assumption College as “Maestras Superior” in pursuit of her ideal profession to become an educator. Along with Pravijanue Bakarou and Pilar Hidalgolim, she campaigned a lot for women’s suffrage. She proceeded to be the first Dean of Women at the University of Santo Tomas.

Preceding their success, the 1935 Constitution restricted the right of suffrage to male residents matured 21 or more because of the belief that women voting “would ruin family unity, giving less power to the husband or man of the house in the family.”

Along these lines, after April 30, 1937, Filipino women were given the right to vote and the right to vote, bringing about the election of two female presidents of the country.

Initially, the 1935 Constitution confined male residents from suffrage, as there was no general necessity for suffrage by Filipino women themselves, and granting suffrage to women just disrupted family unity. Women will become more active in politics.

Filipino women were given voting rights in 1937, thanks partially to a phrase that strengthened Seville’s gigantic activity. Today, the Mujeres Institute in Seville keeps on preserve its legacy as the Rosa Seville Memorial School.

An articulate speaker and skilled editor of La Vanguardia’s Women’s Page, she established Woman’s Outlook, a national magazine for women.

Rosa Sevilla de Alvero was awarded her Presidential Medal of Freedom on July 4, 1948, for her numerous services performed for her country and Filipinos. That same year she likewise won the Queen Isabella II of Spain Award.

Rosa Sevilla de Alvero married the popular painter of the time, Emilio Alvero.

As a poet and a writer, she was able to create literary works, for example, “La Mejor,” “El Sueno del Poeta,” and “Prisonera de Amor.”

Spreading herself more in the field of journalism, Rosa Sevilla de Alvero additionally became the editor for the women’s pages of La Vanguardia. She additionally established The Woman’s Outlook, a magazine published by the National Federation of Woman’s Clubs of the Philippines, before she died on May 11, 1954, at 75 years old.

Rosa Sevilla de Alvero is additionally known for being one of the two women editorial staff of Gen. Antonio Luna’s revolutionary newspaper La Independencia. The other female staff member was Florentina Arellano, Rosa’s fellow alumna from Assumption.

Google Doodle on Rosa Sevilla de Alvero’s 142nd Birthday

On March 4th, 2021, Google observes Rosa Sevilla de Alvero’s 142nd Birthday with a Google Doodle.

The popular Internet browser’s homepage for the Philippines on March 4, 2021, shows a Google Doodle of the influential advocate for the right to vote.

Google Doodle artwork includes a representation of Rosa Sevilla de Alvero wearing a traditional Filipiñiana dropping her vote on a ballot box with arms of other Filipinas from various eras doing likewise act.