Background
She was born in Loja, to a family of six children born to Juan Manuel Hidalgo and Carmen Navarro. After her father died, her mother had to work as a seamstress to maintain them.
She was born in Loja, to a family of six children born to Juan Manuel Hidalgo and Carmen Navarro. After her father died, her mother had to work as a seamstress to maintain them.
Antonio made the request to the secular high school Colegio Bernardo Valdivieso. The director of the school, Doctor Angel Rubén Ojeda, after thinking about it for a month, agreed. Eventually Matilde graduated with honors and continued her studies at the University of Cuenca, obtaining a Doctorate in Medicine in 1921, making her the first Ecuadorian woman to receive such a title.
Two years later, Matilde married the lawyer Fernando Procel, and they had two children named: Fernando and Gonzalo Procel, Fernando was a doctor while Gonzalo was an architect
During the presidency of José Luis Tamayo, Matilde announced that she was going to vote in the next presidential elections.
The issue was put under ministerial consultation, eventually ruling in her favor, and in 1924, Matilde Hidalgo becomes the first woman in Latin America to exercise her constitutional right to vote in a national election. Matilde opened many more doors: she became the first elected councilwoman of Machala and, the first vice-president of the Council of Machala.
In 1941, she became the first woman candidate and the first elected woman public administrator in Loja, the city that was once horrified by her ambitions.