Maria C. Buțureanu

Maria C. Buțureanu (née Lambrino; 31 March 1872 – 4 December 1919) was a Romanian educator and women's rights activist, who wrote some of the first primary school textbooks and one of the first feminist histories in Romania. After graduating with teaching credentials, she worked in rural schools until 1894, when she returned to Iași and married Constantin Buțureanu. From 1898, she and her husband both taught in Iași for the remainder of their careers. In addition to teaching, they jointly published primary school textbooks while she contributed to newspapers and journals, writing articles in support of education for girls and the need to teach about pacifism.

In 1908, the couple went abroad to further their education and both became involved in the feminist meetings held in Lausanne, Switzerland. They continued to study abroad during the summers of 1910, 1911, and 1912. Buțureanu became a militant feminist, pressing for women's complete emancipation, including the ability for women to be financially independent, have full civil and political rights, as well as full agency over their own bodies and sexuality. She co-founded two women's associations, wrote for their press organs, and served as an organizational chair. She published over a hundred articles about women's rights in popular newspapers and journals and continued to be remembered as one of Romania's prominent feminists of her era.