The Principal of the UV, Esteban Morcillo, has had a meeting on Wednesday with the vice president of the Council and counsellor for Equality and Inclusive Policies, Mónica Oltra and with Counsellor for Sustainable Economy, Productive Sectors, Trade and Employment, Rafael Climent. They have also presented the Chair to the media.

Mónica Oltra has affirmed that with this initiative “we increase the wide-angle of the feminism in the traditional systems to enter right into the heart of what moves our system which is Economy”.

In this regard, Oltra has underlined the fact that “either we make the economy more feminist or the future generations will have problems”. That is why the implementation of this Chair is “a step further to make all the aspects of our lives more feminists”.

For its part, the Principal of the Universitat de València has emphasized the “importance of education as a driving force towards social change. Through education we can make progresses in society”.

Morcillo, who has shown the gratitude for “the confidence of the Valencian Government”, has said that the implementation of the Feminist Economy Chair is a “recognition to all the works carried by the Universitat de València in order to strengthen the empowerment of women”.

The Principal has said that with this Chair, “we want to continue being a reference university when it comes to feminism. We already have a great Equality Unit and a University Institute of Women’s Studies where it is generated knowledge and new ideas of how continue strengthening this line”.

To build an equal world

The vice president Mónica Oltra has highlighted that “it is not a coincidence that the Max Prizes have had a feminist demand and have made visible the women of the performing arts or that the Jaume I Prizes have awarded for the first time more women than men”.

In her opinion, all this “is a part of a movement that is being encouraged from the public powers and, obviously, from society in order to build a more equal world in which there isn’t inequality between men and women”.

As for the content of the Chair which will be passed on Friday by the Council, Oltra has affirmed that “represents this new movement” which aims at changing the concept of Economy. “When we think about economy, we think about macro numbers but it is a more wide process of how we manage the resources and the time we have so that people can make a living and be happy”.

According to the explanation given by the vice president, the Chair will serve to explore these aspects but also “it aims at considering how the economy should be, that reductionist economy. How that economy should be in order to be sustainable in the long term so our sons can enjoy this system”.

The Universitat de València already passed the creation of this Chair through the Governing Council.

To appreciate the work made by women

The Counsellor for Sustainable, Rafael Climent, has underlined the way in which economy is calculated “through indicators that do not say anything”. Climent has explained that the Gross domestic product (GDP) “shows that more than 50% of our economy is not remunerated, that is to say, it is made at the household, cooperating, with exchange”, some parameters that “we should study, analyse and value”.

Therefore, according to what the Economy responsible has said, this Chair which will have a €30,000 contribution of the Valencian Government. “We want to progress in the aspects that improve the Valencian society and to appreciate the work made by women. The issue of gender and care society is really important to make our society more oriented to women”.

Content of the Chair

Regarding the content of the Chair, during the first semester it is expected to celebrate training, cultural, research and university extension activities focused on knowledge and permanent diffusion related to feminist economy.

The Chair entails the knowledge analysis which will be incorporated to the main subjects studied at Economy, through all the tools of the research, generation and dissemination of the theoretical knowledge as well as its practical implementation.