One of the most important thinkers of the 19th century, a forerunner of feminism, she confronted the conventions of her time, paying special attention to the most disadvantaged people. This woman even attended law classes wearing trousers, “dressed as a man” according to the chronicles of the time… Do you know who she is?
She is Concepción Arenal, the woman to whom Correos,(the post state) they wanted to dedicate a stamp. A few days ago, the company issued a stamp dedicated to Concepción Arenal as a part of the Mujeres Escritoras (Women Writers) series of the #8MTodoElAño collection, dedicated to emblematic women in the search for equality. All the stamps in this series are designed by Isa Muguruza, a Spanish illustrator who creates an empowering universe. As part of the same iniciative, Correos has published stamps dedicated to Clara Campoamor and Isabel Zendal, among other women.
Her curiosity and determination to learn marked her early years, regardless of her mother’s opposition to higher education. This Galician thinker attended law classes at university despite the fact that she was unable to take the course and obtain a degree. In 1870, she founded the newspaper La Voz de la Caridad (The Voice of Charity) with the intention of denouncing abuses in prisions. Concepción called for an improvement in the conditions of prisoners and their reintegration. She also promoted the women’s branch of the Red Cross and, during the Third Carlist War, directed the Blood Hospital in Miranda de Ebro. There she cared for soldiers from both sides. Concepción Arenal also wrote several works in which she defended equality between men and women, demanding free access to education. In addition, she defended the fact that women could dedicate themselves to professions that at that time were forbidden. We, from the APCP, support what the writer Frances Wright expressed in her day:
“Equality is the soul of freedom; in fact, there is no freedom without it”.
Correos has stamped Concepción Arenal and she has imprinted on us her values and her quest for equality.
