Una ventana de oportunidad: el ingreso de mujeres a la escribanía (provincia de buenos aires, 1950-1970)

Abstract

This article explores two processes that unfolded simultaneously in the province of Buenos Aires between the 1950s and 1970s: the growing presence of women in the notarial profession and the broader professionalization of that field. It shows that the notarial program at the School of Legal and Social Sciences, National University of La Plata, attracted a significant number of women, partly because it offered a shorter course of study than the law degree, making it an appealing option for female students. In the early 1970s, however, the curriculum was revised through a series of initiatives aimed at raising the status of the notarial profession within the legal field—developments that the article examines in detail. The argument advanced here is that, in this period, a “window of opportunity” opened for women in notarial practice: they entered at a time when the profession was gaining social prestige and autonomy, while admission requirements from the earlier stage were still in effect. Methodologically, the study combines a quantitative reconstruction of women’s graduation rates at the university with a qualitative analysis of documents from the College of Notaries of the Province of Buenos Aires, alongside interviews with women who entered the profession in that place and period.