 She was born in the rural village of Los <unk> , in the Pampas , as the youngest of five children . At 15 in 1934 , she moved to the nation 's capital of Buenos Aires to pursue a career as a stage , radio , and film actress . She met Colonel Juan Perón there on 22 January 1944 during a charity event at the <unk> Park Stadium to benefit the victims of an earthquake in San Juan , Argentina . The two were married the following year . Juan Perón was elected President of Argentina in 1946 ; during the next 6 years , Eva Perón became powerful within the pro @-@ Peronist trade unions , primarily for speaking on behalf of labor rights . She also ran the <unk> of Labor and Health , founded and ran the charitable Eva Perón Foundation , championed women 's suffrage in Argentina , and founded and ran the nation 's first large @-@ scale female political party , the Female Peronist Party . 
