International Women’s Day is celebrated on the 8 March every year. 2018 is especially important within this context, providing us with stark reminders of the historical inequality affecting women and bearing witness to concerted actions around the world to achieve equality. Moreover, this year, in order to enhance awareness of the work done by women every day, diverse social and feminist organisations have called on women to strike. The overload of work taken on by women and the lack of recognition accompanying this burden will perhaps be valued differently if their work comes to a standstill and society takes note of their absence.
The main union organisations in Spain have called for partial work stoppages on Thursday 8 March, and other unions have called for a general strike, with a view to denouncing discrimination against women and criticising the lack of opportunities they encounter in the labour market.
The University of Granada is strongly committed to the motives for staging the feminist strike and work stoppage tomorrow, Thursday 8 March. Consequently, events involving the Rector on this date have been postponed and appropriate measures will be taken within the regulatory framework to ensure the constitutional right to strike or stop working is guaranteed.
Moreover, the University of Granada will hold a range of activities to raise awareness about the importance and meaning of International Women’s Day. These activities include a concert, a theatre performance, a film screening, six conferences, two round tables and a poetry recital. Admission to all of these events will be free of charge and will take place at “La Madraza”, the “Sala Máxima” Performance Room of the “Espacio V Centenario” Building and the "Aula Magna" Lecture Theatre of the Faculty of Arts between the 1 and 14 March 2018.
The Equality and Conciliation Unit will inaugurate the YES WOMEN CAN photography exhibition at the “Mariana Pineda” Centre and will run a training activity called APRE(HE)NDIENDO IGUALDAD, which is aimed at the student community.
At the same time, other centres have organised specific events to commemorate this day. On 6 March the Faculty of Pharmacy paid tribute to Milagro Almenara, a pharmacist and feminist from Granada who was killed in the Civil War, while today, 7 March, the Faculty of Psychology will hold the 3rd Conference on Women and Health in the 21st Century. In addition, the Faculty of Science will organise a photography exhibition under the slogan “Women and Sports”.
These diverse activities aim to make us reflect, share achievements, and recognise the obstacles that prevent us from achieving real and effective equality between women and men, commemorating this pivotal day.
