She played an important part in the Argentine University Federation supporting republican interests during the Spanish Civil War and helping victims of Falangist oppression.
In 1941, following the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, she established and headed the anti-fascist Junta de la Victoria which stood for democracy and women's suffrage.
After Juan Perón had been overthrown, she was able to complete her doctorate under Mischa Cotlar in 1959 with her thesis Conditions of Continuity of Generalized Potential Operators with Hyperbolic Metric.
[2] After the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union in World War II, in the early 1940s Ratto established and headed the women's organization La Junta de la Victoria (The Victory Union) to promote democracy and provide support for the anti-Nazi war effort, including clothing and food for the Allies.
Ratto and her husband returned to join a team which built the modern school of science at the University of Buenos Aires.