María Suárez Toro

Journalist, feminist, educator, artist, environmentalist, and human rights activist in local, national, regional and international arenas.

Formal Education:

Professional Overview:

  • Organizer and educator, part of the Women’s No Campaign to stop the Free-Trade Agreement: Costa Rica, (2006-to present).
  • Co-founder and co-coordinator of Alas de Mariposa (Wings of the Butterfly), a project that includes musical production and education and organizing effort to highlight women through the centuries whose contributions to society and science have been made invisible, and to inspire current women’s movements around the world to look at their experiences in the light of paradigm shift: Costa Rica (2005 to present)
  • Author of the book Women, Metamorphosis of the Butterfly Effect (Editorial Farben/Norma, 2007) which is the basis for the show Alas de Mariposa.
  • Co-director of Feminist International Radio Endeavor (FIRE): founded award-winning feminist international radio station and covered most UN Conferences since 1992, ranging from Rio de Janeiro, Vienna, Cairo, Beijing and Durban, and South Africa, to numerous other local, national and international conferences and events on issues of women and gender, Costa Rica (1991 to 2007). Presently a producer of FIRE.
  • Author of he book, Women´s Voices on FIRE, about the first 8 years of FIRE, Anomaly Press, 2000. International Pen Club Award in Puerto Rico 2000.
  • Adjunct professor of mass communication at the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado (1998 to present) and the Institute for Further Education of Journalists (FOJO) in Sweden (1995-2000).
  • Human rights activist and literacy teacher (1970s and 1980s): led and coordinated major education efforts at the grassroots level in El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras.

Boards:

Publications:

Books:

  • Author Women, Metamorphosis of the Butterfly Effect, Farben/Norma, 2007 which focuses on the contributions of women throughout history and of feminist epistemology including present day debates regarding “holistic” paradigms that emerge out of quantum physics in its critique of the prevailing Newtonian mind-set. Her book highlights the voices of 26 women from all regions of the world that have been largely ignored over time.
  • Co-author, Se Vende Lindo Pais, (Lovely Country for Sale) (2001) and La Tranca (2002), both of which focus on a controversial plan by a U.S. oil company to drill off the Atlantic Coast of Costa Rica and the grassroots democratic movement organized to stop it. The books feature the voices of women, including indigenous, Afro-Caribbean and other Costa Rican and European expatriates living along the coast.
  • Author of award winning book, Women´s Voices on FIRE, a compilation of the story of the first 8 years of FIRE in shortwave radio and its transition to become the first women’s internet radio station in the world, Anomaly Press, 2000. International Pen Club Award in Puerto Rico 2000.
  • Guin - Children of the War in El Salvador – a testimony about children in the war zones in El Salvador, 1993.
  • Co-author of the book VENCIMOS (2 volumes) about the adult literacy campaign in Nicaragua, 1980, Ministry of Education.

Chapters in books:

  • Co author of the chapter “Gift Giving and New Communications Technologies” in the book Women and the Gift Economy, a radically different worldview is possible. Edited by Genevieve Vaughan, Inanna Publications and Education Inc. Toronto Canada, 2007.
  • Author of the chapter “Gift Giving in the Net” in the book The Gift, II Dono, a Feminist Analysis, edited by Genevieve Vaughan - Meltemi Editore, 2004.
  • Author of the chapter: “Proposal for a Women’s Summit about the State of the World” in the book World Social Forum: Challenging Empires, edited by Jai Sen, Anita Anand, Arturo Escobar, Peter Waterman. Viveka Foundation, 2003.
  • Co-author of the chapter “Giving Women a Voice in the Face of Globalization: A Case Study of Alternative Media in Costa Rica” in the book, Reclaiming the Future: Women´s Strategies Towards the 21 st Century by Somer Bodribb, 2000.
  • Co-author of the chapter “Recognizing and Realizing Women´s Human Rights” in the book, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Fifty Years and Beyond by Danili, Stamatoupolou and Dias, 1999.
  • Co-author of a chapter in Women Transforming Communications: Global Intersections. Edited by Allen, Rush, Kaufman. 1996.
  • Co-author of chapter in the book, Looking At The World Through Women's Eyes, NGO Forum of the United Nations IV World Conference on Women, 1996.
  • Co-author of the chapter, “A Methodology Toward the Popularization of Women’s Human Rights“ in Women's Rights - Human Rights: International Feminist Perspectives. Editors: Peters and Wolfer.,1995.

Magazines:

  • Editor and writer “La Rana” the voice of the Environmental Network “La Rana” in Costa Rica between 2003-2004.
  • Editor and writer of “Voices on FIRE” a bi-annual magazine published by FIRE, 2000.

Articles in magazines:

  • Author of articles published in international magazines such as Bulletin “La Petatera” of the Mesoamerican Feminist Transformational Politics Observatorio (2007 to present), “Mujer y Salud" of the Health Network in Chile (2000 to present), “Alas de Mariposa” web page and international magazine (2007 to present), "People And The Planet" in 1994, "Women In Action" of ISIS in The Philippines, "Mujeres En Accion" of ISIS in Chile, "Tamwa" in Tanzania, "Health Journal" in South Africa, "Brecha" in Central America by CODEHUCA, among others.

Awards:

  • 21 Media Heroes by Reclaim the Media (2008).
  • Who´s Who in Education in the U.S.A. (2006-2007).
  • Donella Meadows Fellowship in Sustainable Development (2007-2008), Hartland, Vermont.
  • GAEA Foundation Artistic Residency Award 2007 for Alas de Mariposa, Provincetown.
  • International P.E.N. (2002) award for book “Women´s Voices on FIRE” about the first 8 years of FIRE´s history in international radio.
  • Radio for Peace International (RFPI) and Earth Communications for “excellent service, loyalty and endeavor in programming and operations as FIRE staff at RFPI”, Costa Rica, 1997.

Awards to FIRE during her tenure as co-director:

  • Angela Acuna Award in Radio, an award by the Costa Rican Government Women’s Office, 2006.
  • National Award: Constructors of Peace, given to FIRE in Costa Rica by the Peace Center and the Ministries of Justice and Labor, Costa Rica, 2001.
  • Annual Award by RFPI (Radio for Peace International) to FIRE for “the excellent live coverage of the IV World Conference on Women and NGO Forum in Beijing,” Costa Rica, 1996.
  • UNESCO award to two FIRE radio productions: “History of Gender in Central America”  and “Radio Tribunal on Violations of Women´s Human Rights”, Canada, 1995.
  • PEACEPOWER Foundation "AMIGAS" Award to FIRE in 1995 and again in 1996 "for your dedication to giving a voice and empowering women through communications.” USA, 1995 and 1996.
  • Katherine Davenport – 1994 Award to FIRE by the Women's International News Gathering Service (WINGS) in Texas, USA for “the excellent coverage of the United Nations Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, 1994.” USA, 1994.