The Director-General for Archives, Libraries, Museums and Heritage of the Autonomous Regional Government of Catalonia, Joan Pluma, and the Director of the Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia (MNACTEC), Jaume Perarnau, opened the exhibition "Women in the Industrial World" at the MNACTEC.
The exhibition presents the impact and importance of women in the process of industrialising our country. The displays describe the living and working conditions of women in the industrial society and their role in creating industrial labour and working class markets. The exhibition reveals the role of women in industrial society using various resources: texts, photos, videos, statistical data, brochures, etc.
Promoted by the Museum Service of the Department of Culture, in partnership with the MNACTEC Territorial Structure, the exhibition will be on view at the MNACTEC until the summer, and will then travel around the other museums of the MNACTEC Territorial Structure along with other museums and cultural facilities in Catalonia.
The script and content of the exhibition were produced by Prof Martin Iturralde and Prof Lluis Virós, members of the TIG Employment, Institutions and Gender Research Group. attached to the Department of Contemporary History of the University of Barcelona.
Exhibition contents
The exhibition "Women in the Industrial World" has a structure divided into five themed sections: Operatives; Discrimination; Wives and Mothers; Women's Mobilisations; and Women Entrepreneurs and Businesspeople.
Among other aspects, the exhibition analyses the fundamental role of women in various industrial sectors (textiles, cork, paper, hydroelectric and mining industries), and reflects on the division of labour by gender in various industrial sectors, as well as the salary discrimination suffered by working women and the moral control and sexual harassment suffered by them in industrial settings, particularly in the industrial colonies.
"Women in the Industrial World" likewise presents the phenomenon of the creation of crèches and schools for boys and girls at the industrial colonies in order to increase the productivity of women in industry to the maximum. There are likewise exhibits covering the most significant strikes led by working women in Catalonia, and an in-depth examinations of the role of entrepreneurial and business women, above all in such sectors as textile production, textile fibre processing and the tailoring and sale of textile products, foodstuffs and services.
29 January 2015
