Luisa Capetillo was born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico in 1879. Defying convention, Capetillo’s parents never married, and taught their daughter to read and write. It was her ability to read that helped her secure employment as a reader in a tobacco factory where she witnessed firsthand the exploitation of workers, and first came in contact with union organizers. She became a tireless labor leader in Puerto Rico, Cuba and the U.S., and her feminist writings were published as far away as Argentina. In 1911 she published the feminist manifesto, “Mi opinión sobre las libertades, derechos y deberes de la mujer.” It had been out of print since 1917 but has now been translated into English and will be available to all.

A Nation of Women is a collection of essays, and letters to friends and family, in which Capetillo lays out her ideas about anarchism, the institution of marriage, organized religion, free love, the role of women in society, and the end to the exploitation of women and workers. Her ideas are bold and she was accused of being utopian, but she reminds her readers of that good ‘ole Puerto Rican saying – “El que quiere, puede” (Wanting is doing).

On the criminal justice system – Capetillo is not only opposed to the death penalty, but she exposes the hypocrisy of a system that imposes draconian punishments on the poor while letting the upper class walk free, as if their crime of exploitation were less of a danger to society that stealing food out of hunger and desperation.

On the sexual liberation of women – some of her ideas were bold, and some were dated. She rejects the institution of marriage and promotes free love. Yet she believes that female masturbation and F/F sexual relations are unnatural, and that sexual relations between men and women were strictly for procreation.

On the end to the exploitation of the working classes - Capetillo believed that everything started with the liberation working class women. She worked tirelessly to improve their working conditions, their right to education, their right to self-determination. However, because Capetillo was an anarchist who rejected organized government, she was not involved with the women’s suffrage movement, which she also saw as only serving upper class women.

A Nation of Women was a fascinating historical read. So much has changed, yet so much remains the same.