María Jesús Alvarado Rivera (27 May 1878 – 6 May 1971) was a Peruvian rebel feminist, educator, journalist, writer and social activist.

Her parents were Cayetano Alvarado Arciniega, owner and administrator of the estate Chacrabajo, and Jesus Rivera Martinez; they were both natives of Chincha Province.

[1][2] With the help of her brother, Lorenzo Antonino, who was Professor of Geology at the National University of San Marcos, she got a job as a columnist for the newspaper El Comercio.

Her sustained campaign for nine years in this direction resulted in the Chamber of Representatives allowing women to become members of the public welfare societies (1915), which eventually was enacted as law (1922).

Only a small number of women agreed to put their names on membership roles, and La Cronica of Lima printed a photo in late 1924 of a talk given by Alvarado Rivera in which many attendees had removed their hats to cover their faces from the photographer.

[3] In 1923, after a visit to Peru by Carrie Chapman Catt, the president of the International Suffrage Alliance, Alvarado Rivera established the National Council for Women.

[3] Despite this, as part of the movement on women's rights, she established a "Labor and Moral School Workshop" to educate prostitutes and return them back to the mainstream of society.

[2] After returning from exile, she devoted her time to radio, theater, and cinema, with the primary purpose of getting voting rights for women in Peru.

In 1938, she mooted the introduction of the "Code of Rights" for women, in 1940, she wrote on the topic of "Eugenics and Child" in Semana de la Salud.