The first, not the last: stories of women and gender
From left: Gaya Spolverato, Delegate for Equal Opportunity Policies of the University of Padua; Margherita Colonnello, Councillor for Gender Policies and Equal Opportunities of the Padua Municipality
These days the city of Padua is adorned with posters of the campaign organised by the University of Padua in partnership with the Padua Municipality, for International Women’s Rights Day.
The campaign focuses on the stories of five women who have defied a ban and succeeded in conquering spaces and rights that were barred to the female gender, or who took up broader battles:
- • Lidia Poёt, the first woman to enter the Bar in 1920;
- • Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to take part in a marathon, pretending to be a man, in 1967;
- • Laura Bassi, the first woman to obtain a university chair in 1776;
- • Franca Viola, who in 1966 denounced her rapist and refused a reparative marriage;
- • Rosa Parks, the first African-American woman to refuse to give up her seat on the bus to a white man in 1955.
These testimonies are proposed to underscore the importance of the history of women’s emancipation. They are also an invitation to continue the path undertaken, so that these women will be the first, not the last, to bring about change.
Posters of the campaign “Stories of Women” will remain affixed until the end of March 2023, and will enrich the initiatives proposed by the University of Padua and the city community both in preparation for and during the day.
For more information on scheduled events, click on the following link or visit the dedicated page.