International Day for Women

Why do we need an International Women's Day? Four gender-equality campaigners share their views on feminism and the backlash against women's rights. What do you think? Read article HERE

OUR WOMEN
GLORIA FUERTES She was born on July 28, 1917 in Madrid. Her family was modest, her mother was a dressmaker and her father was a caretaker. She went to school until she was 14 years old, then, she continued her studies as a secretary. She liked reading a lot and she wanted to be a writer. Her first poem was published when she was 14. She worked as a secretary from 1938 until 1958. She was an editor of a children's magazine, and she also wrote for women's magazine. Gloria Fuertes died in 1998 and she is famous for her poems, stories and songs for children.
Eva López 2ºA


HIPATIA DE ALEJANDRIA

Hipatia de Alejandria Hipatia was a Greek philosopher and mathematician.She was born in 355 in Alejandria. Her father was a mathematician too. His name was Teon. She learned mathematics and astronomy from her father. During her life she travelled to Rome and Athens because she wanted to learn and teach. Hipatia dedicated all her life to teaching. Students from all over the Roman World went to his classes because she was a very famous teacher but many people were She wrote about Geometry, Algebra and Astronomy. In 415 she died, because a group of fanatics rushed the philosopher, they beat and dragged her through the city. There, after undressing her, they beat her with stones.

Paula Bohorquez 2ºA

LYNN MARGULIS Lynn Margulis (1938-2011) was an American biologist. She developped a theory of the origin of eukaryotic organelles, and contributed to the endosymbiotic theory. She showed that animals, plants and funghi came from protists She also took part in the Gaia hypothesis, based on an idea developed by the English environmental scientist James Lovelock. This theory proposes that organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on earth to form a self- regulating, complex system that contributes to maintaining the conditions for life on the planet I studied Chemist thanks to Lynn Margulis because her theories are amazing. María Millo 2ºA


IRENA SENDLER
Irena Sendler was born in Otwock, Warsaw on February 15th, 1910. In 1939 Germany invaded the country, Irena was a nurse in the Department of Social Welfare of Warsaw, which worried about the soup kitchens in the city. In 1942 the Nazis created a ghetto in Warsaw. It was an internment center for Jews. The living conditions were unhealthy and had many contagious diseases. One of the tasks of Irena was fighting against contagious diseases. She managed to get passes to enter there. The Germans did not want a typhus epidemic to break out, so they let the Poles who were there to take over the premises. Irena managed to contact families who offered to take their children out of the ghetto, but she couldn’t offer guarantees of success. It was common that mothers and grandmothers refused to hand over their children, but when Irena returned to visit families, she found that they had been taken to train leading to concentration camps. Irena had managed to rescue over 2500 children through different paths. The ambulance pulled as victims of typhus, in bags, trash cans, tool box, coffins, bags of potatoes in any form were used to save them. Irena created a file which recorded the names, identities, personal stories and families of children rescued so they can recover their true identities. The Nazis soon discovered what Irena was doing and was arrested on October 20th, 1943. She was in Pawiak prison and was brutally tortured, but she didn’t say anything. In 1965 the organization Yad Vashem in Jerusalem granted the title of "Righteous Among the Nations " and was named an honorary citizen of Israel. Years later in 2003, Aleksander Kwasniewski, President of the Republic, delivered the highest Polish civil award "The Order of the White Eagle." She always said that the reason that saved the lives of many children was a result of her home in her childhood. She was educated in the belief that a person with needs, should be helped at heart, regardless of religion or nationality. In 2007 was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, but she wasn’t chosen. This woman died at the age of 98 in Warsaw on May 12, 2008. His life has been brought to television by CBS in The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler.  
Esperanza Pérez


CLARA CAMPOAMOR 

Clara was a Spanish politician who worked for women´s rights. She worked hard on Universal Suffrage. She got it in 1931 and women could vote for first time in 1933. She was born in Madrid. When the Second Republic was proclaimed, she was elected member of parliament. Women could be elected but could not vote. She was a member of Constitutional Commission which took responsibility of doing a new Republic Constitution project. She worked to get: – Not discriminating according to sex. – Equality between sons and daughters, in and out of marriage. – Divorce. – Universal suffrage. She got all these matters even the universal suffrage which was won in an intense debate against Victoria Kent, another recognized politician, who did not want women to vote. The left did not want women could vote because they thought women could be manipulated by the Church to vote at right parties. Clara won with votes from the left, right and the comunists. Nowadays Spanish women can vote thanks to her. When the Civil War started she went into exile, she lived in different countries. In 1955 she arrived in Laussana (Switcherland) where she lived until her death.