María Elena Urritia (née Lazo de Mendizábal; January 9, 1932 – October 30, 2015) was a Mexican journalist, writer, researcher, and activist.
[2] She also played a role in the creation of Mexico City's daily newspaper, La Jornada (The Working Day), where she wrote about general cultural topics.
[3] Urrutia temporarily worked in a cultural center belonging to UNAM, House of the Lake (Casa del Lago), where she organized the first cycle of conferences focused on topics important to women.
She would go on to meet Alaíde Foppa, who helped her to publish the first feminist magazine, Fem, in 1976 alongside Elena Poniatowska, Marta Lamas, and Lourdes Arizpe.
[5] Through her magazine, Urrutia met renowned feminists Lourdes Arizpe and Flora Botton, who worked for Colmex, and with the support of the Ford Foundation, their collaboration led to the establishment of an institution known as The Interdisciplinary Program of Female Studies (PIEM) on March 15, 1983.