8M at the UB: reflection and resistance regarding global challenges
Imatge de la taula.
News
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Institutional
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Equality
(07/03/2025)
The University of Barcelona commemorated International Women’s Day with the institutional event “La igualtat i la diversitat en perill. Com evitar el retrocés?” (Equality and diversity in danger: how to avoid regression), which took place in the Aula Magna of the Historic Building. Organized by the UB’s Equality Unit, the event focused on the dangers that threaten the rights acquired in terms of gender and diversity in a global context marked by the rise of ultraconservative movements.
Imatge de la taula.
News
|
Institutional
|
Equality
07/03/2025
The University of Barcelona commemorated International Women’s Day with the institutional event “La igualtat i la diversitat en perill. Com evitar el retrocés?” (Equality and diversity in danger: how to avoid regression), which took place in the Aula Magna of the Historic Building. Organized by the UB’s Equality Unit, the event focused on the dangers that threaten the rights acquired in terms of gender and diversity in a global context marked by the rise of ultraconservative movements.
In her opening speech, Montserrat Puig, vice-rector for Equality, Inclusion and Gender, stressed the need not to lower our guard: “We must continue to fight so as not to lose everything we have achieved so far. There are still glass ceilings and wage gaps”. Puig insisted on the importance of strengthening institutional initiatives and incorporating a cross-cutting approach to equality policies: “8M is a day of struggle for everyone, and it should be every day”.
A debate on the reactionary discourse
Chaired by Núria Ferran, director of the UB’s Equality Unit, the round table discussed how to counteract the current conservative wave. “This round table aims to be a space for reflection and action. It is a crucial moment to continue defending inclusion and equality”, stressed Ferran.
Anna Clua, lecturer of Communication at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) and researcher at the UB’s Critical Spaces group, specialising in the analysis of the far-right and its influence on public opinion, analysed the use of communication as a tool of power and exclusion: “The system naturalizes violence against otherness and subalternity from those who accumulate power, and we accept this with a worrying naturalness”. Clua also warned of the growing global authoritarianism: “Since 2009, the number of autocratic countries has increased. Seventy-one percent of the population lives in them, and only 29% live in parliamentary democracies”.
For her part, Lorena Garrido, lecturer of Philosophy of Law at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and researcher at the Antigona Group, specialising in women’s rights and legal advice, reflected on the role of the university as a place of resistance: “We must defend the university as a space for discussion, reflection, criticism and freedom. Critical thinking must prevail”. Garrido defended feminism as a tool for social transformation and pointed out the need to incorporate men in this fight.
Rosa Lázaro, lecturer at the UB and researcher in migration and decolonial feminism, has focused on the connection between the far right and the dominant economic model: “We are living in a moment in which far-right rich white governments are being installed in various parts of the world”. According to Lázaro, “what this right wing wants is to maintain the privileges of an economic order that favours it”.
A debate on the reactionary discourse
Chaired by Núria Ferran, director of the UB’s Equality Unit, the round table discussed how to counteract the current conservative wave. “This round table aims to be a space for reflection and action. It is a crucial moment to continue defending inclusion and equality”, stressed Ferran.
Anna Clua, lecturer of Communication at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) and researcher at the UB’s Critical Spaces group, specialising in the analysis of the far-right and its influence on public opinion, analysed the use of communication as a tool of power and exclusion: “The system naturalizes violence against otherness and subalternity from those who accumulate power, and we accept this with a worrying naturalness”. Clua also warned of the growing global authoritarianism: “Since 2009, the number of autocratic countries has increased. Seventy-one percent of the population lives in them, and only 29% live in parliamentary democracies”.
For her part, Lorena Garrido, lecturer of Philosophy of Law at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and researcher at the Antigona Group, specialising in women’s rights and legal advice, reflected on the role of the university as a place of resistance: “We must defend the university as a space for discussion, reflection, criticism and freedom. Critical thinking must prevail”. Garrido defended feminism as a tool for social transformation and pointed out the need to incorporate men in this fight.
Rosa Lázaro, lecturer at the UB and researcher in migration and decolonial feminism, has focused on the connection between the far right and the dominant economic model: “We are living in a moment in which far-right rich white governments are being installed in various parts of the world”. According to Lázaro, “what this right wing wants is to maintain the privileges of an economic order that favours it”.
The institutional event of International Women’s Day brings together experts to talk about the regression in equality and diversity.
Recognition of women’s careers at the UB
The session also included the presentation of the Women’s Portal, a space created by the UB’s Learning and Research Resources Centre (CRAI) to collect the legacy of relevant women in the academic and scientific fields. “The predecessor is the UB Authorities portal, but now from a gender perspective, in collaboration with the faculties, the various CRAI and the unit I direct", explained Rosa Fabeiro, head of the Technical Processing Unit of the UB CRAI.
As part of the event, the Rosalind Franklin Awards were presented to the best Master’s degree final projects with a gender perspective. A total of 26 were presented, and Núria Ferran called for greater participation in the area of experimental sciences. The quality awards went to Laura Gil, a student of the Master’s degree in Specialized Communication, and to Lídia Casals, Julia González, María Fernández and Marion Salemkour, all students of the Master’s in Women, Gender and Citizenship Studies. The runners-up prizes went to Anna Lluch, from the Master’s Degree in Literary Theory and Comparative Literature, and Laia Moreno, from the Master’s Degree in Women, Gender and Citizenship Studies. The first prize went to Sheila Escobar, a student on the Master’s degree in Women’s, Gender and Citizenship Studies.
The session ended with the reading of an extract of the Assemblea 8M manifesto.
The session also included the presentation of the Women’s Portal, a space created by the UB’s Learning and Research Resources Centre (CRAI) to collect the legacy of relevant women in the academic and scientific fields. “The predecessor is the UB Authorities portal, but now from a gender perspective, in collaboration with the faculties, the various CRAI and the unit I direct", explained Rosa Fabeiro, head of the Technical Processing Unit of the UB CRAI.
As part of the event, the Rosalind Franklin Awards were presented to the best Master’s degree final projects with a gender perspective. A total of 26 were presented, and Núria Ferran called for greater participation in the area of experimental sciences. The quality awards went to Laura Gil, a student of the Master’s degree in Specialized Communication, and to Lídia Casals, Julia González, María Fernández and Marion Salemkour, all students of the Master’s in Women, Gender and Citizenship Studies. The runners-up prizes went to Anna Lluch, from the Master’s Degree in Literary Theory and Comparative Literature, and Laia Moreno, from the Master’s Degree in Women, Gender and Citizenship Studies. The first prize went to Sheila Escobar, a student on the Master’s degree in Women’s, Gender and Citizenship Studies.
The session ended with the reading of an extract of the Assemblea 8M manifesto.
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