This article places an important Argentine voluntary association, the Benef
icent Society, within the international context of women's maternalist acti
vism. Mead focuses on the efforts of elite womens associations to influence
depended not only on governmental structure but also on women's ability to
take advantage of prevailing cultural and nationalist concerns. Comparing
Argentina with France and the United States, mead weighs the importance of
Catholicism, medical corporations, immigration, and differences among local
groups of maternalists in explaining the success of the Beneficent Society
before 1920 and its subsequent marginalization.