Concepción Arenal
Concepción Arenal is considered the mother of Spanish feminism. She was the first woman in Spain to attend and graduate from law school - and she had to do it wearing men's clothes in a separate room from the rest of the class because women were not allowed to have a formal education. She cared deeply about social justice and human rights, and advocated for prison reform and women's rights. She was the first woman appointed as a prison inspector and was a supporter of rehabilitation and education. Concepción Arenal also wrote multiple books about the future of women and their rights, as well as poetry and plays. She had a lot of forward thinking ideas for her time, such as being anti bull fighting, pro environment, and anti war. One of my favorite fun facts about her is that she entered a writing contest under her 10 year old son's name (because obviously women can't write). She ended up winning and received the award.
Concepción Arenal's contributions are extremely important both in history and in culture. Her advocacy for prison reform changed the treatment of prisoners, created a more humane environment, and gave prisoners access to education. As the mother of Spanish feminism she challenged typical gender roles and helped change the landscape of society's views on women. She opened the doors to education for women by charging her way through her law degree. In this way she also inspired future generations of women to continue the fight for their equality. Her contribution is important to me personally in a way because learning her story and her views inspired me and made me reflect on my own experiences. I am fortunate to live in a time where I can get the same education that men do. I am grateful for Concepción Arenal and the sacrifices and fight that she went through in order to set a precedent for women everywhere.
In my opinion, Concepción Arenal has been commemorated in an okay way. I appreciate the monument that she has and the way that it depicts her holding a book in her hand. I think that it shows her as the intellectual that she was. I also think that it is a nice gesture that the University of Madrid, where she received her education, has a plaque for her, but I think that knowledge of her should be more widespread. I also think that her monument is not in a great spot. Walking around the center of the city I feel like we saw a lot of monuments to men and their accomplishments, but to get to Concepción Arenal's monument we had to take the metro to the outskirts and it was not in a public space. She herself is quoted as saying "why act if I am a voice no one hears?" I am grateful that I have gotten the opportunity to hear her, and I wish that more people would.
Lilly I love this post! It's fantastic that women have so much access to education now, but it's disappointing that it wasn't till Arenal that they could even attend university in Spain. Even in rich, diverse cultural capitals, there are complex and often saddening histories. I'm curious about what this means for Spain culturally -- I wonder if they have more of an emphasis on women's education now.
ReplyDeleteSuper amazing post Lilly! She is so important to history and culture here in Madrid! Her reforms for the prisons were such a positive change and so important for creating a more humane environment like you said! She definitely helps to show that Madrid is a place that is striving to become better and some of the most important changes are made by women!!
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your post Lilly! It is so unfortunate that she faced so many walls she had to break through during law school including dressing as a man and not being able to be in the classroom. But one positive is that in most countries, those barriers are not there anymore. At least in the US, women can go to law school publicly, and we even have women in the Supreme Court. She paved the way for women to get an education in Spain and that translated to so many other cities. Great post!!
ReplyDeleteGreat post-I think it's so cool that she fought for women and their rights to education. She was a BADDIE for going to law school! I don't think there are legal barriers to women in education anymore, but there definitely are less woman than men in law school for sure.
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