Born: April 6, 1963 (age 57 years), Guayaquil, Ecuador

Spouse: Anne Malherbe Gosselin (m. 1992)

Presidential term: January 15, 2007 – May 24, 2017

Matilde wanted to continue her education after she finished primary school, but no secondary school for women existed at that time. So she petitioned the boy’s school, Colegio Bernardo Valdivieso, and won – even though this made her an outcast among other women.

At 24, she applied to Quito’s Universidad Central. The school rejected her and suggested she try a midwifery or pharmacy program instead. Instead, Matilde successfully applied to the Universidad de Azuay and received a licentiate in medicine. After that, she once again applied to Universidad Central – and this time was accepted.

In 1924, Matilde became the first woman to vote in Ecuador and possibly in all of Latin America. She asked her lawyer husband to review the 1906 constitution, and he found nothing explicitly prohibited her from voting.

In 2015, she wrote an open letter to Evo Morales, rebutting his allegations that indigenous communities were being manipulated by the right wing. In August, Ecuador’s Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (CONAIE) – which Chancoso co-founded – marched more than 200 miles to protest President Rafael Correa.

“You should remember that those who occupy the presidential office will one day be replaced,” she wrote. “Correa’s term will one day end, but the indigenous communities will always be here…”

“It’s something that flows out of me because I’m authentic defending my cultural identity,” she said almost 15 years later. “I write about these topics because they come from my soul and it’s what I am.”