"Knowing women's contribution to history is fundamental to achieve real equality."
Discovering a "badly told story", rescuing the protagonism of women, is the goal of a course that the University has launched
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"Knowing the female contribution in history is an important step to achieve real equality and alleviate the gap between women and men". This was stated today by María Cruz Díaz de Terán, professor of Philosophy del Derecho, during the presentation of the online course "programs of study on Women: contributions in recent history", launched by the University of Navarra.
"Most history manuals are written by men and the female contribution has been silenced," said the coordinator of this program, which aims to raise awareness of this contribution throughout history. Her goal is to help discover a "poorly told story", rescuing from oblivion the leading role that women have played in the health field, in the plastic arts, in literature or in the cinema, among others.
This interdisciplinary course, open to anyone interested in the topic, wants to contribute to give visibility, to know and identify some significant historical changes starred by women in our recent past, as well as to orient in the bibliographic production on women, feminism and gender perspective. "It is necessary to know the other half of history in order to have a complete, real and authentic vision of the events and thus achieve effective equality between women and men," said María Cruz Díaz de Terán.
According to this professor, "the incorporation of women into the university and work environment is one of the great driving forces of our country". In this way, she referred to contributions in the legal field, in which she is an expert, such as that of Mercedes Formica. This jurist, after a case of abuse, launched a campaign to ensure that the abused woman stayed in the home, the husband having to leave it, as well as obtaining custody of the children. She also mentioned the case of several jurists who fought for the approval of a law on the legal status of married women, which, among other issues, eliminated the marital licence for issues such as getting a driver's license or buying real estate.
Another historical viewPablo Pérez, Full Professor of Contemporary History and director of the course, insisted that "men and women being equal at issue, we know much more about the history of men". But in addition, this "poorly told history" has to do with approach, with the historical view, which traditionally "has focused on the exercise of power as the most important thing, and this has almost always been in the hands of men," he pointed out.
"If we look only at economic and political power," she added, "there is a shortage of women protagonists, but if we look at social issues, equally or more significant, their role is paramount. In this way, she cited examples such as the Vietnam War, where women played a leading role that was not given relevance at the time.
The professor of Contemporary History pointed out that all the changes experienced in contemporary society require reflection. "It is time to consider how to take advantage of this social change without the burden falling on the shoulders of women. And we believe that promote the study of women is an important step to find better solutions," he stressed.
The course is part of the University of Navarra's effort to promote programs of study on women. Over 11 weeks, experts in different areas will talk about women's suffragism in Europe and the U.S. or the access of women to the University as an example of conquest of public space. The deadline for registration begins next week and the course starts in October.
More information:
http://www.unav.edu/web/facultad-de-filosofia-y-letras/curso-online-estudios-sobre-la-mujer