Mercedes Sandoval de Hempel (February 8, 1919 â February 7, 2005) was a Paraguayan lawyer and feminist. She was one of the leading proponents of women's suffrage in the country, drafting the ' (Bill partially amending the Civil Code). In 1992, the amendment of the Paraguayan Civil Code finally recognized equality between men and women. The wording of Article 1 of Law 704/61 was simple: âÂÂâ (It is hereby recognized that women have the same political rights and obligations as men.)
A graduate from the Faculty of Law at the Universidad Nacional de Asunción, she specialized in labor and civil law and then in family law, women and minors. Sandoval founded the Paraguayan League for the Rights of Women () and the Paraguayan Association of University Graduates (), serving as chair of both organizations. She also created the , the and the , and was adviser to the Paraguayan Committee for Cooperation with the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM-OAS) (), among other feminist institutions. CLADEM (Comité de América Latina y El Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer; Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean for the Defense of Women's Rights) Paraguay nominated Sandoval as a candidate for the "1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005" as a part of the PeaceWomen Across the Globe initiative.
Sandoval was married, but the couple separated after eighteen years. They had one child, Anna Mercedes Hempel Sandoval, who became a teacher. Sandoval suffered a stroke and used a wheelchair before her death in Asunción in 2005.