[3][4][5][6] Daughter of Johnny Kirkwood and Julieta Bañados, she was a professor and researcher at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO).

Her work constitute theoretical and historical reference works in the field of the study of the feminist movement in Chile and in Latin America:[4][7][8][9] Ser política en Chile: las feministas y los partidos,[10] Tejiendo rebeldías[11] and Feminarios.

[3] Her theoretical work studied gender issues from a feminist point of view.

She criticized the conservative feminist discourse while incorporating the Latin American culture from an interculturality perspective.

She was also one of the founders of the Feminist Movement opposing the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet,[3] which motto she help promoting with Margarita Pisano was "Democracy in the country, in the house and in the bed".