Consequently in 1919 she traveled to Azuay, and eventually graduated with honors in medicine at the University of Cuenca. According to the dean of medicine faculty, she had to focus on building a home and having children. When applying to the Central University of Ecuador, she was originally denied due to her being a woman. Despite all of these obstacles, in Octoshe was the first woman to graduate high school in Ecuador. Nevertheless, Matilde's mother staunchly defended her. Not only did the local priest force her to listen to the mass two steps outside of the church's entrance, but mothers also prohibited their daughters from befriending her. However, reaction in the community was not very positive, and she had to face rejection from local people for attending high school.

After thinking about it for a month, the director of the school, Angel Rubén Ojeda, agreed. Antonio made the request to the secular high school Colegio Bernardo Valdivieso. Upon graduating from sixth grade, Matilde told her older brother Antonio that she wished to continue studying. Matilde studied at the school the Immaculate Conception of the Sisters of Charity. After her father died, her mother had to work as a seamstress to support them. She was born in Loja, to a family of six children born to Juan Manuel Hidalgo and Carmen Navarro.

Matilde Hidalgo Navarro de Procel became the first woman to graduate from a high school in Ecuador, the first woman to vote in an election in Latin America and the first woman to hold elected office in her country.

Matilde hidalgo