UAB celebrates International Women's Day

Several activities have been programmed at different teaching centres to commemorate International Women's Day at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

25/02/2020

Remedios Zafra, Art and Cyber Feminism
On Monday 9 March, the session "Xarxes amb Gènere" at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Room 201, will take place from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. under the direction of Remedios Zafra, lecturer in Art, Gender Studies and Digital Culture at the University of Seville, tutor in Social and Cultural Anthropology at the UNED and guest lecturer in postgraduate programmes and seminars on culture, science and technology. Her work has received numerous prizes, the most recent being the Anagrama Essay Prize 2017 for El Entusiasmo and the International Literary Prize "Mujeres del Medio Rural y Pesquero" in 2006 for her book "Lo mejor (no) es que te vayas”. Zafra will speak on feminism and networks in “La intimidad conectada. Feminismo y cultura en red” (10 to 11:30 a.m.) in a conference which will critically reflect upon three decades of art and cyber feminism, with emphasis on the interpretations made on the tranformations of intimacy in the new public-private sphere, the representation and feminist alliances in the online culture. Following the conference thre will be an experimentation session on creative and feminist strategies for material and symbolic interventions (12 to 2:30 p.m.). The sessions are organised by the Minor in Gender, coordinated by lecturer Begonya Saez Tajafuerce, in collabroation with the Bachelor's Degree in Socio-Cultural Gender Studies and the Dean's Office of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, under the framework of the Menció Encarna Sanahuja Yll project.

The Invisible Inventiveness, at Sciences and Biosciences
On Tuesday 10 March, at 12:00 noon, the Sala d'Actes of the faculties of Sciences and Biosciences will host an event in which Núria Salan, lecturer of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) and President of the Catalan Technology Society, will speak on "The (In)visible Inventiveness. Women, science and Technology: present, past and future".

Activities held from 2 to 8 March:

On 5 March, at 11:30 a.m., the Sala d'Actes of the Rectorat building played host to the event celebrating the 15th anniversary of the UAB Observatory for Equality and this year's institutional International Women's Day event. The event was presided by UAB Rector Margarita Arboix; Vice Rector for Students and Employability Sara Moreno; and Observatory Director Maria Prats.

Moreno and Prats presented the observatory’s lines of work, followed by the traditional 8 March institutional celebration in which homage is paid to one of the UAB's leading figures for her trajectory and contributions. This year tribute was paid to Laura Duarte Campderrós, Technical Director of the Observatory for Equality. Laura Duarte was presented by Maribel Ponferrada, also technician at the observatory, and a short video on the tributee was screened before Rector Arboix presented her with the award.

During the second part of the event, a round table made up of María Jesús Izquierdo, Carolina Gala, Montserrat Rifà and Joana Gallego, all of them former directors of the observatory, served to speak on the achievements made in these past 15 years. Professor Lluís Ferrer, who was the UAB rector when the observatory was founded, moderated the debate.

Currently, the Observatory for Equality is "mainly focused on the analysis of inequalities in higher education, and specifically on the study and diagnosis of sexism and inequalities for the disabled, from an intersectional perspective". It is in charge of raising awareness on the different forms of inequalities and discrimination among the university community and implementing equality policies. The observatory began its activities in 2005, which it centred on the area of inequalities between women and men. In 2008, it grew to act in favour of all collectives which could find themselves in unfavourable conditions due to their physical, economic, or social situation. Among other training, dissemination and research tasks, the observatory has drafted a series of equality and disability plans with the aim of establishing measures and actions to be taken to improve the situation of less favoured groups.

Talk on Eco Feminism at the UAB Theatre
In addition to the institutional event, other activities were programmed on campus to celebrate 8 March. On 3 March, Yayo Herrero, Vice President of the FUHEM Foundation and former confederal coordinator of Ecologists in Action, offered a conference on ecofeminism in relation to the current climate emergency entitled "L'ecofeminisme davant l'emergència climàtica". The conference formed part of the activities programmed for this academic year that focus on the climate emergency.

Cyber Violence Against Women, Conference at the Faculty of Law
On 4 March, the Faculty of Law also organised an institutional event in celebration of International Women's Day. Focusing on the legal aspects of cyber violence, a seminar entitled "Ciberviolència contra les dones: anàlisi jurídic, estat de la qüestió i reptes pendents" lasted from 9:30 a.m.to 1p.m. and brought together specialists from different academic and professional fields to debate on this topic. Laia Serra, criminal lawyer and expert in cyber violence perpetrated by men offered a conference at 10 a.m., moderated by lecturer Noelia Igareda; and at 11 a.m. there was a round table on how legally to tackle cyber violence, entitled "Abordatge jurídic de les ciberviolències". Participants included Joan Baucells, Laura Rodríguez, Andrea García, with Olga Paz acting as moderator.

Teaching Translation and Interpreting from a Gender Perspective
The Faculty of Translation and Interpreting hosted on Friday 6 March a session entitled "Ensenyar a traduir i interpretar amb perspectiva de gènere", for teaching staff, PhD students and lecturers from other education spheres from the area of translation and language studies. From 9:30 a.m.to 2 p.m., university lecturers from all over Spain and Europe shared their teaching experiences when combining gender perspective and translation. There were also two practical workshops in the afternoon, one on language and another on translation, at the Multimedia Hall B, directed by Lupe Romero, Director of SIFT, and Eleonora Federice from the University of Naples.

One Minute Ideas and Proposals to Foster Equality
On Wednesday 4 March the Faculty of Communication Studies' students, administration and services and teaching staff decorated the faculty with purple balloons and feminist quotes. On Friday 6 March classes were interrupted for 5 minutes at 12 noon so that everyone could participate in the reading of the institutional manifest at the entrance hall of the faculty. In addition, a space at the COMTEC corner was prepared for those interested in briefly explaining in one minute, approximately, a proposal or idea to foster equality between men and women both at the faculty and in general. The best proposals will be included in a video which will be shared online.

Open Doors and Specific Sessions at SAF
On Thursday 5 March, the SAF opened its doors on International Women's Day and invited all members of the UAB community to enjoy activities especially addressed to women with the aim of fostering physical activity. Some of the activities offered were hypopressure workshops, initiation to cardio boxing, training sessions with free weights and pelvic floor exercises. Those who signed up for the open day also enjoyed over 120 directed activities and everything the sports centre has to offer: 30,000m2 of indoor and outdoor space containing tennis and paddle tennis courts, football pitches, rock climbing, pools, etc. and other areas such as a wellness area and study halls.

More information: Observatory for Equality

Reduced inequalities