Our Favorites: Rigoberta Menchú Tum

Womanica

Acast Creative Studios

History, Society & Culture, Education

4.3 • 920 Ratings

🗓️ 30 October 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Rigoberta Menchú Tum (1959-present) dedicated her life to speaking out for Indigenous Guatemalans, fighting tirelessly against the human rights abuses that occurred during and after the Guatemalan Civil War.

For the past six years, we’ve been telling the stories of women you may or may now know– but definitely should. This month, we’re bringing back our favorite Womanica episodes from across our back catalog. These are women throughout time and around the world who made their mark.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Adrien Behn, Alyia Yates, Vanessa Handy, Melia Agudelo, and Joia Putnoi. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Before we get started, this episode contains some descriptions of upsetting violence.
0:08.9	Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica.
0:13.9	For the past six years, we've been telling the stories of women you may or may not know about, but definitely should.
0:20.6	This month, we're bringing
0:21.6	back our favorite Womanica episodes from across the back catalog. These are women across
0:27.4	centuries and around the world who made their mark. With that, here's one of our favorite episodes.
0:46.6	Hello, from one, Hello. From Wonder Media Network, I'm Mel Tambourag. I'm the host and producer of the podcast Sesta.
0:52.4	We aim to harness the power of arts and culture to foster conversation and build peace in Cyprus.
0:56.0	I'll be your guest host for this month of Womenica. This month we're highlighting Peace Builders.
0:59.0	In times of conflict, these women have stepped in,
1:02.0	bringing their creativity and insight to help facilitate peace across the globe.
1:07.0	Today's Wamanican has dedicated her life to speaking out for indigenous Guatemalans.
1:13.2	She fought tirelessly against the human rights abuses that occurred during and after the Guatemalan civil war
1:19.3	and has won a Nobel Peace Prize for her activism.
1:23.2	Let's talk about Rigoberta Menchu Thum.
1:39.6	Rigoberta was born on January 9, 1959 in Guatemala.
1:45.1	Her family, part of the indigenous Kichi Mayan community, was very poor.
1:49.5	Rigoberta's father owned a small piece of land in the highlands,
1:54.0	but her family spent most of their time on the Pacific coast.
1:59.8	There, they worked on coffee and cotton plantations to earn enough for food and medicine.
2:02.0	The work was brutal.
2:05.1	Two of Rigoberta's brothers died on the plantation.
	...

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