She campaigned for women's suffrage, writing a draft proposal for Guatemala's enfranchisement law.
After the 1944 Guatemalan coup d'état the new Constitution, promulgated on 1 March 1945 granted the right to vote to all literate citizens, including women.
[7] Quan served as a delegate to the United Nations in 1956-57 as well as an adviser to President Carlos Castillo Armas on social issues.
[8] Between 1957 and 1961 Quan served as Guatemala's representative to the Inter-American Commission of Women and the organization's president.
[3][9] In 1978, she was recommended as a regional adviser to the Agency for International Development on women's issues in Latin America based upon her previous experience on the United Nation's Human Rights Commission and her pioneering social work in Guatemala.