On 8 March, we celebrate International Women’s Day. The University of Barcelona, through the Equality Unit and the support of the vice-rector’s offices for Equal Opportunities and Gender, and Heritage and Cultural Activities joins, once more, this day, which is full of activities in every campus to raise awareness on gender equality

​​​​​​This year, the UB has adopted the concept of sorority, a word that comes from Latin soror (sister) and which shows a tight tie among women based on sharing experiences, interests and worries. Therefore, the aim of this campaign is to put women at the heart of the UB. Real women and girls, professors, employees, and students from different places, cultures, social contexts and academic environments, who make our university grow. This year’s 8-M poster features the images of nine women: students Manhoor Ashraf Sarfraz (from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences), Verónica Dufrayer (from the Faculty of Philology and Communication) and Núria Matamoros (from the Faculty of Law); the members of the university’s technical, management and administration and services staff (PTGAS) Dolors Baena (Rector’s Technical Bureau); Sonia Martínez (General Manager’s Office), and Ana Martínez (CRAI), and three members of the teaching and research staff (PDI), Gemma Marfany (Faculty of Biology), Marina Solé (secretary-general) and Laura Costa (Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science).

Centenary of sculptor and professor Luisa Granero
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On Wednesday 6 March, at 5.00 p.m., the Paranimph of the Historic Building will host the institutional ceremony for the birth centenary of the sculptor and professor Luisa Granero (Barcelona, 1924-2012). She was the first woman to become professor of Sculpture in Spain, in 1964. Among the participants in the ceremony will be Agustí Alcoberro, vice-rector for Culture, Memory and Heritage; Montserrat Puig, vice-rector for Equal Opportunities, Inclusion and Gender; a representative of the Faculty of Fine Arts, and Joaquim Nadal, Catalan minister for Research and Universities. Every 8 March, the UB pays homage to a woman of the University. Last year the UB paid homage to Elena Maseras, the first woman to enrol a university degree in Spain, specifically at the Faculty of Medicine, in the 1872-1873 academic year. 

The ceremony will include a talk on the figure of Luisa Granero, given by Cristina Rodríguez, professor at the Department of History of Art. There will be a catalogue presentation by Luisa Granero’s family, and a screening of a video about Granero. The exhibition of the sculpture Bust de noia, by Luisa Granero will be inaugurated. This portrait of her sister Aurora is part of the Fine Arts Collection and will be shown in the stairway of honour of the UB’s Historic Building from 6 March to 31 May 2024.
​​​​​​The ceremony can be followed on UBtv.

On 5 March, from 10.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m., the Faculty of Fine Arts will host the session “Women in Arts and in Academia 2024. Homage to Luisa Granero”. As part of this session, a room of the Faculty will be inaugurated under her name and, those interested will be able to attend several talks and an expert roundtable on the Granero’s figure.

Rosalind Franklin Awards to the top master’s degree final projects

Moreover, on 12 March, at 11.00 a.m., the Aula Magna of the Historic Building will host the ceremony for the Rosalind Franklin Awards, given to the top master’s degree final projects with gender perspective of the 2022-2023 academic year. The awards, which reach their fifth edition, are funded by the Catalan Institute of Women and the UB’s Vice-Rector’s Office of Equal Opportunities and Gender. They are given in the categories of Arts and Humanities, Social and Legal Sciences, Health Sciences and Experimental Sciences.

It will be followed by the reading of the Manifesto of the Women and Science Committee, from the Interuniversity Council of Catalonia. This will be chaired by Núria Vergés, director-general for Care, Time Organization and Equity in the Workplace at the Department of Equality and Feminisms, and Montserrat Puig, vice-rector for Equal Opportunities, Inclusion and Gender at the UB.

At 11.30 a.m. will be the roundtable “How to implement the strategy of gender equality at the Catalan university system, specially at the University of Barcelona”. Among the spearkers will be Laura Román, secretary-general of the Interuniversity Council of Ctalonia; Sònia Estradé, professor of Physics and director of the UB-City of Cornellà Chair on Gender Perspective and Feminisms, and Jordi Garcia, vice-rector for Research at the UB. It will be chaired by Núria Ferran, the rector’s delegate for direction at the Equality Unit.