This Friday a mass of women eager to recognize the women's struggle will take over the streets.
However,
how many women were or are honored with streets named after them?
On the streets of Buenos Aires, each corner is a testimony to the history of the City.
But if we look closely, we find that this story is mostly told from a
male perspective.
How many times have we stopped to think about who the people are behind the names of the streets we pass through every day?
93.9% of the streets pay homage to men. Only 6.1% of the 2,068 Buenos Aires streets (127 streets)
bear the names of important women in Argentine history: some of them are
Juana Manso
(1819-1875), Argentine writer, journalist and teacher;
Alicia Moreau de Justo
(1885-1986), socialist activist and promoter of women's suffrage, and
Julieta Lanteri
(1873-1932), Italian-Argentine doctor and politician.
If we expand to bridges and parks, references to women increase to 17%.
This lack of representation even extends to other gender identities, such as non-binary or gender-fluid people, who have practically no place on the map of Buenos Aires streets.
To counteract this reality, the law
"Women who open paths"
arises , a project of the CEUR (Center for Regional Urban Studies, Conicet), shared by other organizations and the Gender Dimension of the Strategic Planning Council (CoPE), which participated in the preparation and implementation of this project, in collaboration with the City Housing Institute. Sanctioned by the Legislature in 2021, it aims to promote gender equality and recognize the contribution of women in the history and life of the city.
The story of the Eva Estela de Carrizo passage
An example of this law is the case of the
Eva Estela de Carrizo
passage ,
in Barrio 20 of Lugano
.
They named it after that woman in recognition of her work as
founder of the first soup kitchen in the neighborhood
, thus highlighting the importance of her contribution to the community.
The name could not be proposed as a street because law 83/1998 of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires establishes the rules for changing or giving new names to public places in Buenos Aires.
According to article 5, you must
wait at least ten years
from the person's death to be able to do so.
Eva Estela de Carrizo
The law "Women who open paths" contemplates three neighborhoods: Rodrigo Bueno, Playón de Chacarita and Barrio 20, this being the first to begin.
“It was a really interesting process with the participation of those who live there and at the same time it was a process that also helped them unite and identify with the neighborhood,” says Adriana Rodríguez, Vice President III of CoPE.
who delves into the methodology: “The workshops began in the pandemic, a small biographical synthesis of each of the selected people was distributed so that they would carry their name, so that their name would be on the streets.”
Sandra Juárez, daughter of Eva Carrizo, shares with deep emotion the story behind the community kitchen that her mother founded: "Eva arrived from Salta in 1974, I am the eldest daughter of 12 children of Luis and Eva. She was a housewife The dining room arose in '89 when in the morning you could buy bread,
in the afternoon we could no longer do so
. The women would get together to buy in the central market in quantity and share it among themselves because it was cheaper. resources arrived at the church but they were not enough, a priest gave them a bag of flour and they began to make bread for the families; that multiplied. Then a cup of milk in the patio of the house. He opened his house so that they could do their homework and take milk; They saw that if everyone contributed what they had they could make a plate of food for the kids.
The lack of representation of women on the streets is not just a matter of names in public space, but reflects
broader inequality
in areas such as art, science and politics.
Regarding the choice of names for streets and paths in the neighborhood, Sandra relates: "They told me that they were going to choose names of
women who were significant in the neighborhood
. In fact, I chose their friend Norma Colombato, a director of the high school very loved by everyone. But I know that my mother received a lot of votes."
The sign was placed on October 29, 2021, in the middle of a big event.
Eva not only provided food, but was also a fundamental pillar in the education and well-being of the community.
Sandra highlights: "She was a bridge: always working with the health center, the church and the schools.
School support included primary, secondary and tertiary
education . In addition, she worked on issues such as gender, gender violence and offered workshops on microcredits".
Although the dining room was called "Niño Jesús" everyone comes to it through
"Doña Eva's"
dining room , between laughter and emotion Sandra expresses: "Eva passed away in 2003. That day, before closing, she left me homework: 'The Women don't know the sea, take them.' He left me homework."
Sandra highlights the importance of recognizing her mother's work and legacy: "Eva gave more than food. She is remembered all the time: the volunteers who provided school support today are professionals, just like the kids who taught. I fell short talking about my mother. She died so young, at 56 years old. She was able to do everything because she was accompanied by many people, just like us."
Inauguration of the Eva Estela de Carrizo passage
Today, Eva's dining room remains a refuge for hundreds of people in need.
Sandra reflects on the impact of her mother and the women who accompanied her: "Eva is not physically there, but she is in every boy today who is an adult who replicates her affection and accompanies another who needs a plate of food, a hug or doing homework. "Currently there are
400 beneficiaries of the soup kitchen
, they are increasing day by day, unfortunately. We are left the daughters of those women who started it."
With hope and determination, Sandra concludes: "I would like more women to be chosen. Manuela López, Matilde Galeano, are the women who started and continue with us. They give us strength to move forward. We choose to go every day."
In a world that has historically been divided into male and female, it is important to make space for all gender identities in the narrative of the streets.
From CoPE they explain: “As strategic planning from the Gender Commission, it is carried out to strengthen actions that mainstream the gender perspective and implement tools that promote policies aimed at modifying sociocultural patterns that unfortunately reproduce discrimination
and violence based on gender
and also highlight the importance of public participation and the contributions of women in these processes.”
The Association of Argentine Women Judges, the Radical Civic Union, the Association of Women Architects and Engineers, the Socialist Party, Women in Action and the Council of Sociology Professionals of the City of Buenos Aires also participated in the initiative.
Clarín Master's Degree / University of San Andrés
MG