Bertha Maria Júlia Lutz was a Brazilian zoologist, politician, and diplomat. Lutz became a leading figure in both the Pan American feminist movement and human rights movement. She was instrumental in gaining women's suffrage in Brazil and represented her country at the United Nations Conference on International Organization, signing her name to the United Nations Charter and championing the inclusion of Article 8 in the Charter. In addition to her political work, she was a naturalist at the National Museum of Brazil, specializing in poison dart frogs. She has four frog species and two lizard species named after her.

The Brazilian Federation for Women's Progress was a Brazilian women's rights organization founded on 9 August 1922 in Rio de Janeiro, mainly on the initiative of the Brazilian feminist leader Bertha Lutz. The FBPF is the heir of the League for Women's Intellectual Emancipation, founded in 1919 and dissolved in 1922 after Lutz's participation in the Pan-American Women's Conference, which established the Brazilian League for Women's Progress as an affiliate of the Pan-American Women's Association. In 1924, the organisation was renamed the Brazilian Federation for Women's Progress. During its most active years, the movement led a number of campaigns which saw the creation of the Women's University Union, the admission of girls to Colégio Pedro II, the extension of women's suffrage and the implementation of laws to protect women and children.