There are a few new faces at the Equality Unit, let’s get to know them!

A few weeks ago the Equality Unit announced that it was looking to grow and seeking to bring in advisory members from among the student body and teaching, research and administrative staff.

Well, a total of 25 people showed an interest. Thanks everyone! The Equality Unit has now made a selection, considering knowledge and experience in gender issues to be assets, as well as the particular expertise offered by each of the nine individuals selected. I would like to wish you all a very warm welcome!

Want to know who they are? Keep reading!

Anna Nebot Garrigó (Planning and Quality)

“Forming part of a project that, in addition to guiding the institution and all its activities and people on the road to gender equality, will have a transformative impact on society as a whole, struck me as a unique opportunity and I decided to apply. I am quite sure that being part of a team of experts in the field of gender quality, with different roles and visions within the organization, will be a very enriching experience, both personally and professionally. It will allow me to get to know the UOC in much greater depth, to discover different perspectives and ways of working, to continue to broaden my knowledge of gender equality and to take part in a transformative project. I am very happy and excited to join the team!”

Mireia Castillón Fuster (Library and Learning Resources department)

“I am the Gender Perspective Manager for Library and Learning Resources, and, as such, think that our area can and must contribute to fulfilling the objectives of our University’s new Equality Plan. I trained as a teacher and consider that education is the first step towards building a feminist society free of stereotypes. This experience is a great opportunity, which will allow us to create synergies with other people from other groups and areas of the UOC in the field of gender equality policies. And, clearly, on a personal level, the great contribution is being able to learn from all the experiences, knowledge and insights that derive from that.”

Gina de Tera Álvarez(Communications)

“I have wanted to get a bit more involved in the fight for gender equality for some time now. I think that there are many aspects that still need to be improved.

It will also be very enriching on a personal level. I think of how much I will learn about equality policies, working with other people from the UOC, from different areas… The plurality means that we have more points of view and that favours equality. And then there’s the altruistic element, or to put it another way, being able to contribute my two cents, which in my case means offering my perspective as a communications professional.”

Raul Gotor López (Programme Management)

“I believe the mechanisms for getting companies to participate are the best way to break with rules that are in place simply because that is the way things have always been. And I want to help make the UOC a diverse company, but also fair and with an egalitarian conscience. To help end the subtle discriminations that pervade the workplace, in written documents, in both formal and informal areas…

Participation in projects such as this one is for me more of a duty than a right. I can contribute my experience as a person who is part of a group that diverges from the heteropatriarchal rules of the society that has prevailed for years. Being able to speak, act and reveal the diversity that encompasses so many ways of being. For me, joining the Unit means growing as a person and being able to learn to identify or modify behaviour that I myself have incorporated and that does not totally respect diversity.”

Bettina Steible (professor, Faculty of Law and Political Science)

” I have always approached my work from a human rights perspective, and I thought it was good idea to achieve this objective by joining the UOC Equality Unit.As a researcher, I have taken part in several projects focused on gender equality, which have allowed me to analyse the phenomenon of gender (in)equality with a comparative approach. I hope that, in conjunction with my duties at the UOC, this experience will help improve the UOC’s equality polices and bring them into line with the Sustainable Development Goals. Finally, as I joined the UOC only recently, forming part of the Equality Unit is a challenge, and I am excited about getting involved in the smooth running of the University in this way.”

Jordi Planella Ribera (professor, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences)

I view life, society and organizations from the essence of diversity. Functional diversity, sexual diversity, religious diversity, cultural diversity, etc. shape our reality and we must be able to create options for experiencing any aspect of diversity freely, its spaces being vital for society and for organizations. For that reason, when I saw the call, I decided to apply.

I think that as a teacher, and from the chair I lead on the inclusion of people with functional diversity into the job market, I can contribute knowledge linked to my experience in this field, but also based on research, with projects and publications linked to queer education, among others the book I coordinated with Asun Pié in 2017, Pedagogías transgénero or my 2017 book Pedagogía sensibles. Sabores y saberes sobre el cuerpo y la educación.

It will definitely be a very enriching experience on a professional level, and it will help me to rethink the teaching projects and practices I am working on (for example the master’s degree I am planning to do on social and educational actions), and also on a personal level, to rethink and review patterns, ways of acting or thinking that are often too deeply engrained.”

Rachel Palmen (IN3)

“I am a researcher specialized in gender equality in research and innovation, and to form part of the Equality Unit is an opportunity to apply my knowledge and experience in this project in order to achieve greater gender equality at the UOC. At the same time, I think that it will be very useful for my research to understand the real problems while trying to implement gender equality actions on an institutional level. I am very happy to represent the UOC’s academic community and hope that through the Unit we will be able to work to ensure that the University attracts and retains researchers and teachers with more talent and diverse experience.”

Aurea Cristina Mota de Araujo (IN3)

Our bodies, our presence and our ideas are tools for institutional, social and political transformation and, for that reason, I firmly believe in the importance of forming part of the Equality Unit. It is a great opportunity to contribute my experience as a researcher in political and institutional transformation processes, and to share the knowledge on equality that I gained from my experiences in other parts of Europe (England) and Latin America (especially Brazil, my country of origin). I am delighted to participate in the Unit, and I am open to discovering a new approach in the endless struggle to build a more egalitarian society.

Cristina Villanueva Comellas (student)

“I applied to join the Equality Unit in order to give voice to students’ demands relating to gender equality, to offer a gender perspective and to help ensure that the university’s equality plan is implemented successfully.”