[4] She attended high school at the National Institute of Panama, where she obtained a diploma as a securities trade expert, going on to study science and earning a certificate to teach primary education.

[5][6] In a 1985 interview, Páez explained that when her father died, she became the primary support of her mother and two brothers, working as a teacher by day and going to school at night.

Because of her outspokenness on administrative procedures, Páez was dismissed and took a position at the Escuela Antillana, working primarily with Cuban migrants.

She also studied the issues faced by migrant Cubans and other West Indian peoples and became an active advocate for them when she was teaching at the Escuela Antillana.

[3] The 1941 coup d'état against Arnulfo Arias Madrid led to a constitutional crisis in Panama and need for the organization of a new Constituent Assembly.

[1] In July, 1941 a series of laws had been passed which effectively took away Panamanian women's citizenship, while at the same time offering them limited voting rights in provincial councils, if they were literate.

The feminist movement of the time was organized into two primary camps: The National Union of Women, led by lawyer Clara González de Behringer, who obtained the backing of the Partido Liberal Renovador (Liberal Renewal Party) and League of Patriotic Feminists headed by Páez and Esther Neira de Calvo.

[5] In 2005 an annual award, Condecoración Orden Gumercinda Páez, was named in her honor to recognize Panamanian women who exhibit civic virtues and exemplary professional, cultural, educational and humanitarian character.