University students and the Republic: pioneers at the autonomous university of the 30s
Although in the thirties, the University of Barcelona experienced in the period of university autonomy driven by the Republic, a moment of renewal and modernization, the presence of women in the institution was scarce just like in previous times. A few pioneer women, however, enrolled in the university and studied during those opening times. A documentary recreates now the profile of these women, their university experiences and how the Civil War and the dictatorship had an impact on their trajectories.
Although in the thirties, the University of Barcelona experienced in the period of university autonomy driven by the Republic, a moment of renewal and modernization, the presence of women in the institution was scarce just like in previous times. A few pioneer women, however, enrolled in the university and studied during those opening times. A documentary recreates now the profile of these women, their university experiences and how the Civil War and the dictatorship had an impact on their trajectories.
“I entered the University with a grant”, says Elisa Sales, aged 106. “We were just a few women there”, she adds, talking about her years in the rooms of the UB. She is the only out one of the eleven women of the documentary Pioneres who is still alive and is the witness in the film. We know about the others thanks to what their sons and daughters tell us. In fact, the director of the film, Lala Gomà, is also the daughter of one of them: “With this film, we pay tribute to my mother, Eulàlia Presas, who had studied with other women at the UB during the Republic and the Civil War. They were just a few, and nobody has ever talked about it”.
These pioneers of the university field were, in some cases, daughters of liberal thinkers who defended womenʼs full access to education. Others entered the University, although their families opposed to it because they thought it was not the proper thing to do for a girl. It was not strange at that time to find just three or four women coursing studies. Although many of these eleven women of the documentary coursed different branches of the studies of Philosophy and Arts, there were others who opted for science studies.
Elisa Sales, Eulàlia Presas, Carmina Pleyán, Dolors Pomar, Maria Bernet, Carme Picart, Margarita Figueres, Maria Vilà Clé, Dolores Álvarez Castrillón, Elena Perenya Pamíes and Dolors José are the main characters of Pioneres. All of them studied at the University of Barcelona from 1931 to 1941. They were excited about the studies and were intellectually active. They accessed higher education at a time when the university autonomy was approved, Catalan was declared official language of the institutions, and the classrooms were opened to lecturers such as Pompeu Fabra, Pere Bosch Gimpera and Carles Riba. Many of them worked on teaching later on, and brought that knowledge and the gained values during their youth to the new generations.
The vice-rector for Heritage and Cultural Activities of the UB, Agustí Alcoberro, states that “this is a generation of women who studied at our University during an exceptional time, because, with the Republic and the Catalan self-government, the University reached academic autonomy and became a frame for freedom, debate, and confrontation of ideas. In that context, a group of women led the fight for gender equality”.
The documentary Pioneres. Dones universitàries de la Segona República was presented in the Historical Building in an event aimed at the family members of the main characters, and there will be a screening in Filmoteca de Catalunya. The University of Barcelona is one of the entities that have supported the film (a production by Arpa Films and Nao Cinematogràfica), together with the Catalan History Muyseum, the Catalan Institute of Women, Filmoteca de Catalunya, Margarita Sales Foundation and the film producer and director Pere Portabella.