Tribute to women

Ondara pays tribute to 'pioneering women' in pavement exhibition

A 'STICKER exhibition' lining Ondara's streets aims to revive the names of women who made a difference to local and national society and culture, and put faces and potted biographies to them.

Some will be well-known, but others have been lost in the mists of time, and few were ever recognised in their lifetimes for their huge contribution to the community, says equality councillor Raquel Mengual.

Whilst some lived hundreds of years ago, others are still very much alive and well – such as fireworks designer Reyes Martí Miró, boxer Mónica Núñez, and Dr Anna Lluch Hernández who is widely regarded as Spain's number one oncologist.

The exhibition is titled Dones que deixen rastre ('Women who left their stamp'), and covers the lives of 30 different ladies who were pioneers, exceptional talents, fighters, or even martyrs in some way or another.

WHERE TO FIND THEM

In the town hall square, stickers pay tribute to Indalecia Murcia (first female communist councillor, in 1938); Carmen Alborch (socialist culture minister who died in 2018) and Clara Campoamor (lawyer, politician and women's rights activist, born in 1888).

The Plaza Mayor features homages to Ondara-born painter Rosa Gavilà, journalist Isabel-Clara Simó who died this January, 15th-century nun and poet Isabel de Villena, and writer and teacher Carme Miquel, who died last June.

Other Ondara 'natives' include chef Pepa Romans and teacher Joaquina Gavilà, and 1920s-born Broadway sensation Trini Reyes, the New York daughter of Ondara emigrants.

Marina Alta women include poet and teacher María Ibars and her daughter Dr Raquel Payá, an education specialist and pioneer, both of whom have schools named after them in Dénia.

Stickers with pictures and information about women from the last 600 or so years of history can be found outside the bullring, the social centre, the theatre, the sports centre, the El Prado building, the music academy, and the Sanchis Guarner primary school.