Fierce Historical Ladies post: Eva Peron
Eva Duarte was born as an illegitimate child to a wealthy man and his mistress. When he abandoned them, it left the family not only with the shame of his abandonment and the hardship of poverty, but with the label of “illegitimate.” At the time Eva was born, illegitimate children did not have the same rights as legitimate children. And as a female illegitimate child, there were very few rights she did have, or could ever have.
Yet, she overcame the odds that had been stacked against her from her birth, and once she had reached the top, she worked to secure rights for women, to eliminate poverty, and to ensure that illegitimate children would not spend their lives being punished for something outside of their control.
We can discuss her motivations until we are blue in the face, but the facts are that she was shrewd and calculating. She created her own myth, ensured that she would never be forgotten, and improved hundreds of thousands of lives along the way.
When I first started writing these posts, I didn’t think that Eva was an FHL; all the contradictory narratives surrounding her led me to believe that she was just kind of boring and basic. But then I did my research, found everything I discussed in the last few posts, and realized how wrong I was.
I can now conclude that Eva Peron, through the strength of her will and conviction, was most definitely a fierce historical lady.
If you’re just tuning in now, you find the first four installments of this post series here: 1, 2, 3, 4.
