Pura Villanueva Kalaw


Pura Villanueva Kalaw was a Filipina feminist, journalist, and writer.

Early life

Purificacion Garcia Villanueva was born in Arevalo, Iloilo City, the daughter of Emilio Villanueva and Emilia Garcia. Her mother was born in Palencia, Spain. At 22 Pura Villanueva became the first "Queen of the Manila Carnival."

Career

In 1906 Pura Villanueva organized a suffrage group, the Asociacion Feminista Ilongga. Her efforts led to the first suffrage bill reaching the Philippine Assembly in 1907. Pura Villanueva wrote a column for the weekly newspaper El Tiempo, and edited the woman's page. Later she edited the Spanish-language section of Woman's Outlook, a pro-suffrage publication. She was also president of the Women's Club of Manila.
Books by Pura Villanueva Kalaw included Osmeña From Newspaperman to President, How the Filipina Got the Vote, Outstanding Filipino Women, Anthology of Filipino Women Writers, The Consumer Cooperatives in the Philippines, The Filipino Cookbook, and A Brief History of the Filipino Flag. Her 1918 booklet Condimentos Indigenas was "one of the earliest cookbooks" published in the Philippines.
In 1951 Pura Villanueva Kalaw was honored with a Presidential Medal, presented by Elpidio Quirino, for her work on behalf of women's rights in the Philippines.

Personal life

Pura Villanueva married lawyer and editor Teodoro Maniguiat Kalaw in 1910. Their children included Maria Kalaw Katigbak, a senator, and Purita Kalaw Ledesma, an art critic. Their daughter-in-law Eva Estrada Kalaw was also a senator. Pura Villanueva Kalaw became a widow in 1940. She died on 21 March 1954 at the age of 67.
Her daughter Maria Kalaw Katigbak published a biography, Legacy: Pura Villanueva Kalaw: Her Times, Life, and Works 1886–1954 in 1983. Pura V. Kalaw was one of the suffragists featured in a 2016 exhibit at the Philippine Embassy in Washington D. C.
There is a school in Quezon City named for Pura V. Kalaw.