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Documentary heritage and gender are intrinsically linked to the extent that historical and cultural narratives have been shaped and often biased by gender perspectives. 

The documentary heritage, ranging from archives and manuscripts to photographs and recordings, reflects the experiences and contributions of different social groups over time. However, history and documentation have tended to marginalize the voices and achievements of women, as well as other gender identities. The inclusion of a gender perspective in the preservation and promotion of documentary heritage is essential to correct these historical omissions, highlight the diversity of experiences, and recognize the fundamental role that women have played in the formation of societies. 

Attention to gender in documentary heritage also implies questioning and challenging the gender stereotypes in historical documents and in the archives' structure. By critically analyzing how gender identities have been represented in the past, we can work toward a more complete and equitable understanding of history. 

This approach enriches the historical narrative and contributes to the construction of a more just and inclusive society by recognizing the diversity of gender experiences and perspectives over time.

To date, 36 inscriptions registered in Memory of the World in Latin America and the Caribbean include contributions to gender mainstreaming.

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(Buenos Aires Memory Provincial Commission). the Provisional Commission began to record the hearings of the trials referring to crimes perpetrated in Buenos Aires, one of the areas that suffered the most from state violence. Many of the testimonies of victims of the State's terrorist actions have given an account of the violence that women suffered due to their gender condition. Some of the Trials have judged those responsible for crimes against humanity for sexual offences. Trials are currently being carried out that collect stories and documentation related to the persecution of sexual dissidents. The continuity and persistence of the record from the first trials also allow us to account for the historicity of the development of the trials and the crimes that were recognized as such over the years.

(Argentine historical photography Research Center). The photographs by American Harry Grant Olds, made on 20 by 25 centimeters glass plates, are a professional record of the life and customs of the inhabitants of Argentina at the beginning of the 20th century. An important part of the archive can be used for an analysis from a current gender perspective. Several of the photographs make up the visual representation of women and one can appreciate the different power relations existing between men and women on the street, through their trades and clothing, for example. The photos -perhaps the first in which the daily life of women and men from the popular sectors in Argentina is observed with such clarity and detail- are a great document to reflect on precisely those roles.

(Friends of Villa Ocampo Association and “Sur” foundation). This is the library and personal archive of Victoria Ocampo (1890-1979), which includes the magazine and publishing house, "Sur". From very distant regions of the world, men and women such as Barthes, Borges, Sartre, Huxley, Gandhi, De Sica, De Gaulle, Lacan, Cortázar, Breton, Malraux, Gide, Gabriela Mistral, Stravinsky and Le Corbusier were –among others– the interlocutors and producers of the documentary collection gathered in Villa Ocampo.

(Memory Provincial Archive in Rio Negro). The audiovisual archive "Women and Dictatorship" is composed of 19 audiovisual interviews with women who lived through the civil-military dictatorship (1976-1983) in the province of Río Negro, Argentina. This audiovisual archive was developed by an interdisciplinary, inter-institutional and collective team, made up of researchers and students from the National University of Río Negro, workers from the Provincial Archive of Memory of Río Negro of the Ministry of Education and Human Rights of the province and members of the Association of Relatives and Victims of State Terrorism of Río Negro.

(Main Library of the University of the West Indies). Assemble of documents on the life and times of one of the most distinguished women of the 20th Century. Ruth Nita Barrow or Dame Nita (1916-1995), made significant differences to several causes such as gender equality and empowerment; healthcare improvement; education; poverty alleviation; and, overturning racism.

(Universidad Mayor, Real y Pontificia de San Francisco Xavier de Chuquisaca). Throughout the 20th century, attendance lists and exam records reflect the active participation of women in the institution. For example, in the 1941 attendance record book, in law school classes, males tended to be in the majority compared to females. Out of a group of 15 students, only 2 were female. On the other side, records are found of women, mainly mothers of students, requesting leaves of absence or coordinating defenses for their children from the University Council. This underscores the important role that women played in the academic support of their family members. Finally, Women's names can also be identified in the judicial files that Academy students analyzed and resolved.

The documentation housed in the Census of Foreigners collection provides information on men, boys, women and girls who arrived in Bolivia between 1935 and 1959. In some cases, families arrived, in others, women of different ages, alone in search of work. Qualified or not, they went to different regions of Bolivia and this source allows us to make their presence visible, visualize them in images and begin to reconstruct their life stories. We found women teachers of different subjects, dressmakers, seamstresses, among other professions. Some of them managed to open their own stores, where they instructed other women in the field. Particularly important is the information of many women who arrived escaping from Nazism to take refuge in Bolivia.

(Casa Nacional de Moneda de Potosí). This document reveals the essential role of women within the colonial context, underscoring their indispensable contributions to both the mita system and the social fabric of Potosí. It offers a revealing perspective on the recognition and involvement of women in a challenging period, providing a basis for further research into their historical roles and impact.

(National Archive and Library of Bolivia). The documentation shows the social and economic organization introduced by the Jesuits based on Christian virtues, which deconstructed the model of ethnic, social and gender organization, and therefore reflects the condition of women and their role within the labor, family and commercial organization within the missions.

(House of Liberty Museum). The document tells the public harassment that the wives of officials loyal to the crown suffered from the patriots and the rioting mobs, as seen in the lampoons that threatened to kill those authorities and their wives. Later, in the process of the war of independence, it is known that countless royalist and patriotic women had a very prominent participation.

(National Museum of Art of the Central Bank Foundation of Bolivia). The political and artistic archive of Miguel Alandia Pantoja, vindicates the struggle of female miners, indigenous women and popular women linked to work and the revolutionary struggle.

(National Archive and Library of Bolivia). The books of agreements of the town council of Potosí reflect, among others, stories of indigenous women who dedicated themselves to street commerce and became important agents of the urban economy of Potosí, since their role in the labor dynamics was molding the commercial character of the city, seeking spaces to generate a rent that would allow them to achieve economic income for their families and questioning the colonial imaginary according to which women should only take care of and educate their children.

(National Museum of Etnography and Folklore). Moseten is spoken by 414 men and 343 women, wile T´siman is spoken by 4,727 men and 4,177 women. Moseten and T´siman exhibit a marked gender distinction, with specific terms used exclusively by women or men. These linguistic features highlight the importance of gender in these societies and offer valuable insights for language revitalization efforts.

(Historical Archive of the National Mint House). The document can give way to research on women as historical subjects, because although they did not pay taxes in practice, widows did so to fill the void left by their husbands and to avoid losing the plot of land that was destined for them, thus protecting the family patrimony and ensuring the economic wellbeing of their families. At the same time, both in this and later documents, women were differentiated according to their marital status: girls, single, married and widows, information that can be used to reconstruct the way in which family units functioned, for example. In the specific case of the register of yanaconas, it is possible to identify women with names and surnames, as well as data such as age, marital status, number of children and place of residence. This information, crossed with other documentation - such as notarial deeds - makes it possible to create short life histories that allow us to gain a deeper understanding of the daily life of Indian women in Potosı́ at the end of the 16th century.

(Plurinational Cultural Center). The book indirectly contributes to reducing gender inequalities by documenting and recognizing the importance of women's health. By describing the use of quinine to treat menstrual hemorrhages and complications during pregnancy, the book emphasizes the significance of women’s health. This reflects a concern for female health during a historical period when medical care was limited.

(Collections of four Brazilian institutions). Bertha Lutz (1894-1976). Was one of the founders of the Brazilian Federation for Women’s Progress in 1922 and contributed to the conquest of the women’s vote, guaranteed in the 1934 Constitution. Graduated in Science at Sorbonne, she also was a congresswoman in 1936 and one of Brazil’s representatives at the 1945 San Francisco Conference, which resulted in the United Nations Charter.

(Arquivo Público do Estado de São Paulo). Luiz Gama defended women and managed to free more than 200 of them from captivity. In addition, she fought so that the "quituteiras" — women who prepared and sold food — could practice their trade freely, without facing repression from local authorities, the police or other merchants.It is possible to identify and recognize the contribution that the lawyer made to freed black women, as well as to identify the functions and work performed by them as a source of intellectual and material production relevant to the economy of the city of São Paulo.

(Tribunal Regional do Trabalho da 2ª Região, Sao Paolo). The collection of collegiate judgments (acórdãos) of the TRT-2 serves as a documentary heritage that portrays the struggles for rights of various labor categories and individual workers. Many of these legal actions address the rights of working women, their working conditions, and their fight for gender equality within Brazilian society. During the period of the military dictatorship, there were setbacks in the advancement of women's rights. Consequently, labor processes became crucial mechanisms for implementing laws that ensured fair working conditions for women. Additionally, through labor lawsuits, these women were able to negotiate agreements that secured rights not yet recognized by law. For instance, some of the issues addressed in these decisions include wage equality between men and women, job stability for pregnant women, right to overtime and sexual harassment in the workplace.

There is a clear difference between the options for public positions held by men and women at the time of the founding of Montepio dos Servidores do Estado. In the Meeting Minutes of the Montepio Board of Directors it is possible to see the positions of public teachers and their salaries. In the beginning, when the company was founded, in the minutes records women appeared only as pensioners and received a benefit when their contributing husbands died. Over time, around the 1870s, began to enroll in Montepio's pension plan as primary school teachers. For a long time, the only role that women held in the public service was that of teachers.

(Museu de Imagens do Inconsciente). Comprises around eight thousand textual, iconographic, bibliographic and printed documents, gathered by the psychiatrist Nise da Silveira throughout her personal life and professional career at the National Psychiatric Centre, where she founded the Occupational Therapy Section, which gave rise to the Museu de Imagens do Inconsciente (1952), one of the largest of its kind in the world.

(Brasil de Comunicação S.A. – EBC). The archives presented in this application reveals the pioneering spirit of Rádio Sociedade do Rio de Janeiro with regard to the propagation of feminist ideas in the 1920s and 1930s, including the presence of the greatest leader in the struggle for the political rights of Brazilian women, Bertha Lutz, among its members.

(Fundação Nacional das Artes (Funarte)/Centro de documentação da Funarte). This documentation records the performance of women as professionals hired for artistic performance in “Teatro de Revista”. Both men and women worked at “Teatro de Revista” at Recreio, which demonstrates that women had a place in the company.

These documents provide crucial elements for conducting valuable analyses of murders, punishments, displacements, and sexual and gender-based violence across various regions of the country within the framework of the internal armed conflict. These are recorded in oral testimonies and other media that document causes, events, resistance, dialogues, and peace processes, allowing for the identification of factors that fueled or generated violence within the context of the armed conflict in Colombia.

(Cauca University. Historical Archive of the José María Albolera Llorente Historical Research Center). Address the gender dimension during the period in question, providing an invaluable primary source for historical studies of women payanesa in the Governorate of Popayán during the Viceroyalty. Some of the files that rest in this section show the power relations that existed at the time and the hegemonic criteria under which women were valued, regulated, represented and self-represented; also revealing important aspects of their daily life, their struggles, their political, economic and legal situation in a historical moment in which it was not common to think of women as agents.

(Special Jurisdiction for Peace). The work of this Truth Commission has an inclusive narrative, with special emphasis on the gender approach, not only for women, but also for LGBTIQ+ people. This also has a multi-causal view of the historical development of the armed conflict in Colombia, integrating testimonies from different regions and taking into account ethnic and cultural diversity.

(Special Jurisdiction for Peace). The composition of the Truth Commission adhered to a principle of parity, and interviews with victims, family members, and witnesses were conducted with a gender and differential perspective. This approach acknowledges the disproportionate impact of the armed conflict on the lives of women and girls due to the violence perpetrated against them by armed actors based on their gender. It also recognizes the impact on the lives of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender, and intersex individuals due to their sexual orientation and gender identity ( consulted on August 8, 2023).

(General National Archive). The proposed documentary heritage provides a clear and detailed view of gender equality in the region, highlighting the evolution of thought in Colombia and the Americas regarding the guarantee of women's rights between 1944 - 2021.

(Matanzas Pharmaceutical Museum). An example of the recognition of women in the French Pharmacy is the fact that it has Dr. María Dolores de Figueroa y Marty, second wife of Dr. Ernesto Triolet, the first female pharmacist in Cuba, graduated from the College of Pharmacy in New York, who had to request authorization from the King and Queen of Spain to carry out her studies. Dr. María Dolores worked as the Technical Director of the Pharmacy and from 1901, was the owner of the establishment until her death in 1944. She enjoyed the same rights and was at the head of the French Pharmacy for more than 44 years after she became a widow.

(Perelló Cultural Center). The 420 numbers of this magazine have been instrumental in sharing the works of renowned artists and intellectuals from different countries in Latin America and around the world, such as Nélida Cherara (Argentine journalist and writer); Mauricio G. Obelar (Uruguayan writer and journalism teacher, romantic author); John D. Byrne (Cuban doctor and political educator of the time); Ana Gómez Mayorga (a teacher and education supervisor from Mexico dedicated to writing about the aesthetics of women), among others.

(Natural History Museum, Institute of Jamaica). Consists of approximately 480 original and annotated beautiful illustrations of plants and animals from the early 1900s. All are dated and signed by Miss Wood who did all those drawings and paintings of both native and introduced species including cacti, orchids, birds, caterpillars and lizards, which have been in the custody of the Institute since 1927, the year of her death.

(The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University and The University of the West Indies Library, Mona Campus). Represent the most fulsome record of life in 18th century British West Indies through diaries covering from 1750 through to 1786, in which Thislewood registered daily activities, horticultural practices and meteorology. He emigrated from England in 1750 to relocate to Jamaica, where he lived until his death in 1786, starting as a plantation overseer before growing in status to become a plantation owner. His papers offer insight into economic strategies for managing large agricultural holdings. Sexual violence also was a reoccurring component throughout the Thistlewood logs. He recorded thousands of sexual encounters with over 100 enslaved women, logging the date, location and name of the women.

(Historical Archive of the Faculty of Architecture, National University (UNAM). Until the last third of the 19th century, the trajectory of women began in the Academy as a model and as a student, later as a teacher and artist. The incorporation of women as models ran practically parallel to the acceptance of the first formal students, who initially participated mainly in figure or landscape drawing classes.

(San Ignacio de Loyola Vizcaínas School). This school was founded in the 18th century in Mexico City as a social action project aimed at protecting orphan girls and destitute women, one of the neediest sectors of viceroyalty society. The founders aimed to build and sustain an institution highly specialized in attending to the different nuances of women's suffering, focusing on the two most fragile moments of their lives: childhood, at the beginning of life, and old age.

(National Cinematheque of Nicaragua). The presence of woman in the audiovisual and cinematographic work, occurs in Nicaragua since the 1980s, where the majority of local filmmakers are female directors. Additionally, throughout the audiovisual material, the role of women in each and every process of the Sandinista Popular Revolution is emphasized.

In these years, the Official Gazette published articles on the access to women to basic education. In other example El Peruano documented the peruvian women participation in logistical support activities, such as providing food, medicine and supplies for soldiers at the front and caring for the wounded.

(Documentation and Research Center, Carnaval Museum). During practically the entire 20th century, the carnival was exclusively masculine. The irruption of women in the festivity is a relatively recent phenomenon, with few exceptions throughout history. As it was formulated by the historian Milita Alfaro, with the evolution of "disciplining" at the beginning of the 20th century, the place of women assigned to the party was decidedly restricted to the stereotypes of "the feminine": to the troupes of young ladies, which in the Montevidean Carnival numbered dozens in the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century limited to walking their bodies in allegorical floats and parades.