Enfoque: Las Americas – The Woman of the New Decade

Step into the world of Latin America in the late 1960s—a time when women began to redefine their futures and break boundaries. While traditional roles in the home, nursing, and education remained respected, a new wave of trailblazers were emerging, taking leadership roles in the arts and journalism. Ambitious female students across Central and South America started pursuing studies in fields once reserved for men, and universities were graduating women in business administration, the sciences, and communications. Women-owned enterprises were capturing new markets, and women-led performance groups were dazzling critics on the international stage. 

This episode of Enfoque: Las Americas, spotlights some of these pioneering women in their offices, studios, and universities—including a young Isabel Allende working with the team behind Paula magazine in Chile—exploring how they viewed their evolving roles—and those of their peers—as they shaped the new decade of the 1970s.

---

Credits for “The Woman of the New Decade” can be accessed here.

To watch the film with English subtitles, click the CC button on the YouTube video, then go to Settings (gear icon) → Subtitles/CC → Auto-translate → English.

---

PARTICIPANTS: 

Argentina: 

Dr. Nelly Ambrosis de Libanati, metallurgical engineer at the Atomic Energy Commission of Argentina, Buenos Aires.

Bolivia: 

Liliana Caceres, a Bolivian diplomat in Washington. 

Teofila Tambo, a community organizer in the Altiplano of Bolivia. 

Brazil: 

Dr. Dirce Lacombe, an oceanographer in Rio de Janeiro. 

Dulce Carneiro, a publisher & fashion photographer in Sao Paulo. 

Ruth Escobar, an art director in Sao Paulo. 

Chile: 

Isabel Allende, with the creators of the magazine, “Paula,” in Santiago. 

Amanda Biera de Lorca in Santiago. 

Colombia: 

Gloria Pachon, a politician and journalist who served as ambassador to France and on the executive board of UNESCO.

Dr. Pilar Santa Maria de Reyes, a television educator in Bogotá.

Mexico: 

Carmen Barreda, a museum director in Mexico City. 

Nicaragua: 

Ana Rosa Mendoza, a business administration student in Managua. 

Peru: 

Lima Art Museum, a look at the way women were portrayed in history. 

Liliana Jolay, a medical student at the University of San Marcos, Lima. 

Uruguay: 

Dr. Adela Reta in Montevideo. 

Venezuela: 

Yolanda Moreno, a dance director in Caracas.