Life Paths of Successful Women Scientists in Spain

Background/Context Women's sexuality, and the ways they experience it, has been a major topic in feminist theories and movements throughout history. For the more than 20,000 working-class women who participated in the Free Women movement in Spain (the libertarian women's movement, which started in 1936), women's sexuality was also a key topic in both their process of empowerment and their claims and activities. Purpose The objective of this article is twofold. First, it explores the ways in which the Free Women movement helped improve the personal lives of women in that period. Second, this article analyzes how the libertarian women's movement contributed to the sexual education and encouraged other women to have sexual and affective relationships free of violence. Research Design The article is constructed based on the life stories of two women who participated in the Free Women's movement. Our analysis also draws from an in-depth review of literature on the libertarian movement and sexual education as well as of historical documents about the libertarian movement of that time. Findings/Results Our data reveal that thousands of women experienced personal transformations through their involvement in the libertarian movement, a social revolution that affected the entire society. Reflections on free love, the eradication of prostitution, and the promotion of “conscious motherhood” were leading ideas in both the educational activities that Free Women organized for working-class women and in the activists’ own personal lives. These women's ideas on sexuality contributed to the creation of a society with more egalitarian and free relationships based on mutual support, solidarity, and collective and community-based action. This article shows how the Free Women were historically independent agents whose multiple achievements and transformations have been largely ignored. Conclusions/Recommendations The article concludes by discussing how the main features of the Free Women's libertarian women's movement are present in the preventive socialization of gender violence that is currently being developed in some educational projects in Spain. In particular, the Free Women's contributions help students construct relationships free of violence.

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Free Women's Contributions to Working-Class Women's Sexual Education during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and Beyond

Giner

Ruíz

Serrano

et al. 2016

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education

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Acknowledging extraordinary women in the history of medical entomology

et al. 2022

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Throughout history, women have been actively involved in the advancement of science, while struggling to overcome challenges to participate and a lack of recognition. Prior to 1950, most women were not included in the lists of “classical” descriptions of the iconic scientific figures nor included in the most relevant historical accounts. Since the second half of the twentieth century, great efforts have been made to recognize the contributions of women to the advancement of science, especially since formal scientific careers have been dominated by men, with limited (or no) access to women. Despite these challenging social, political and cultural contexts, many women have succeeded in making significant advancements, and their contributions are now being acknowledged. Such efforts have led to the publication of recent reviews and compilations on outstanding women in biological sciences. The field of medical entomology is inherently interdisciplinary, focusing on insects and other arthropods that affect human health, with input primarily from the biological and medical sciences and a strong public health perspective. Several reviews and book chapters describing the history of medical entomology have been published over the decades, but few women are mentioned in these publications, even though many women have contributed to this field. Much of the information on these women is currently scattered throughout the published literature and historical records on a wide range of topics, including activism, virology, vector control and even acarology. Considering that there is no single available compilation of women contributors in the history of medical entomology, this review aims to provide a list of 22 women and their contributions to this field. The list includes women from diverse backgrounds, born in the late 1800s and before 1950, who directly impacted medical entomology in various ways and in different regions of the world. This compilation is far from exhaustive, but it aims to identify role models and examples of extraordinary women to motivate the evolving future of this field. Graphical Abstract

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Redes de colaboración y objetos híbridos: mujeres citogenetistas en México, 1960 - 1980

Barahona

2023

dynamis

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Estudios recientes sobre la historia de la ciencia han enfatizado el enfoque transnacional que problematiza las narrativas eurocéntricas clásicas, las interpretaciones de difusión cultural y la oposición rígida de las categorías de «centro» y «periferia», para explicar la dinámica de los circuitos transnacionales y la circulación de conocimientos, personas, artefactos y prácticas científicas. El presente escrito intenta abonar en esta dirección al mostrar que el trabajo realizado por los genetistas mexicanos en los mil novecientos sesenta y setenta, en especial los trabajos de citogenética, no pueden caracterizarse como periféricos, pues al formar parte de redes de colaboración internacional, el conocimiento generado localmente en instituciones mexicanas y extranjeras logró circular y formar parte de la consolidación de la citogenética a escala global. En este artículo se abordarán las trayectorias de la bióloga y genetista mexicana María Cristina Cortinas, y en menor medida la de la médica y genetista mexicana de origen argentino Susana Kofman. Ellas compartieron agenda médica y de investigación además de tiempo y lugar, participaron en el diagnóstico temprano de enfermedades genéticas y revelaron la correlación entre las observaciones clínicas y el cariotipo. Este manuscrito se centrará, por un lado, en los cromosomas como objetos científicos híbridos que circularon entre la clínica y el laboratorio; por el otro, se abordarán los contextos locales, las culturas materialesy las prácticas específicas que permitieron a estas mujeres genetistas mexicanas ser parte de la producción y transmisión de conocimiento en los años mil novecientos sesenta y setenta, gracias a su pertenencia a redes científicas de colaboración nacionales e internacionales.

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Life Paths of Successful Women Scientists in Spain

Cited by 5 publications

References 24 publications

Free Women's Contributions to Working-Class Women's Sexual Education during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and Beyond

Free Women's Contributions to Working-Class Women's Sexual Education during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and Beyond

Acknowledging extraordinary women in the history of medical entomology

Redes de colaboración y objetos híbridos: mujeres citogenetistas en México, 1960 - 1980

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