BENITA ASAS MANTEROLA, EL PENSAMIENTO FEMENINO, PARDO BAZÁN AND THE RAE

Abstract

This article shows for the importance of the newspaper El Pensamiento Femenino (1913-1916) in favor of the entry of Emilia Pardo Bazán to the RAE. A fact, up to now, unknown by the experts in Emilia Pardo Bazán and the RAE historians. The unde servedly forgotten feminist, Benita Asas Manterola, the director of the publication, led in 1914 through its pages the most important campaign in favor of the countess's entry into the RAE. With the support of more than three hundred female endorsers, she addressed a request to Minister Bergamín to modify the Statutes of the Academy if they prevented women's access to the institution. After the relevant consultation with the Academy by the Minister, HM King Alfonso XIII signed a Royal Order on May the 28th, 1914 in which he explicitly stated «that there is no legal or regulatory precept that opposes women being presented or admitted to the Academy».