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History

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Beginnings

FIDA was founded on the 4th day of August, 1944, in Mexico City, Mexico.

Founder members were: Rosalind G. Bates from U.S.A., Esther Talamantes from Mexico, Luisa Maria Capo from Puerto Rico, Isabel Sierro Pérez from Cuba and Alma Paredes from Salvador. The first Convention took place in 1945 in Havana, Cuba, and the first president was Isabel Sierro Pérez. FIDA has grown to have members in 72 countries all over the world.

The Founders

Linda Bates and Esther Talamantes were the founders of FIDA.

In 1944 at the International Bar association Conference in Mexico City, Linda was a candidate for the board of the International Bar Association but as she was a woman she was not accepted. Disgusted at the discriminatory culture of the International Bar Association, the two of them made the decision to start a lawyer’s association only for women, and so founded the International Federation of Women Lawyers or FIDA; its Spanish acronym.

Linda Bathes & Esther Talamantes

Esther Talamantes’ nephew Antonio Ramírez Talamantes writes:

In 1944 in Mexico City there took place the “Congress of the International Bar Association” at which my aunt Esther Talamantes was present. She was the only female Mexican lawyer that attended the congress; and there she met Linda Bates a lawyer from the United States. As a result of their conversations the idea of founding the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) was born and was formally established that same year on the fourth of August 1944 in Mexico.

This is the reason for the Spanish name of the organization. Esther Talamantes’ work in forming this organization of women lawyers from all over the world deserves recognition. There are at present members from 73 countries.

Linda’s life ended tragically in 1961. She was murdered sometime between Nov. 13-14, 1961. Her body was found at her home on the 14th. The family believe it was a murder carried out by a hired killer. She had received a phone call telling her that if she did not withdraw from a case in which a great deal of money was involved, she would be killed. She went to the court and put the phone call on the record, but took no other precautions. No one has ever been brought to justice for the crime. When the news broke, the Los Angeles City Council adjourned for the day in a state of shock. She was divorced at the time from her second husband. Her first husband Ernest Sutherland Bates had died in 1939.

Esther Talamantes was a founder and lifetime vice-president of FIDA, and in 1962 was the second World President of the organization. She died in Mexico City in February 2015 at the age of 95.

View the complete list of FIDA's Presidents and Conventions by countries since 1960.

Growth

Unfortunately most of the records of the organization’s early growth were lost when the member in whose custody they had been left, died.

However, it’s known that, from that very small beginning, by 1952 we had grown sufficiently to be accepted into the family of non-governmental organizations at the United Nations. In 1954, we were given consultative status with that body.

We hold associate member status in several NGOs and our number of members in every region of the world is still growing.

Find out about our relations with other organizations