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Andresare, studies on feminism and gender
The ANDRESARE project originated in 2002 with a scholarship awarded in order to carry out a "Bibliographic study on gender systems and relationships in the Basque Country". The investigation was a response to the need to disclose the corpus of knowledge that had been developing since the decade of the 1980s and whose relevance was becoming increasingly more evident due to the growing interest in the field of feminist studies and gender investigation. The University of the Basque Country/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, has formed part of the feminist academic movement since its beginnings. The publication of "Mujer vasca imagen y realidad"[ "Basque Women: Image and Reality"] (1985)is a reflection of this. Another example is evident in the creation of a study seminar for investigation on the situation of women, "Seminario de Estudios de la Mujer (SEM/EBIM)". Since 1980, this study seminar has figured among the four main organisations instituted into the Spanish University Network, sustained by their publications, activities and seminars, and have even held a congress. Mention must also be made to its outstanding library, nowadays integrated in the Faculty of Philosophy and Science applied to Education. The outcome of the academic activities include doctoral courses provided since 1984, the establishment of core subjects linked to the university degree course in anthropology, a master's degree has been programmed, and doctoral thesis have been defended with acknowledged excellence. This interest may have corresponded in turn to the development of the mentioned studies, in Spain as well as in the framework of Europe, the United States or Latin America. It was a new type of awareness that, from the starting point of illustrated thinking, connected with woman's suffrage, became richer with the feminist movement and acquired a certain status in university sectors as from the 1960s, initially in Anglo-Saxon and French contexts and afterwards, in the 1980s, in Spain. This same awareness would later become present in different Latin American countries.
In the investigation project, which was started in 2002, diverse bibliographic references were gathered which corresponded to the following fields of knowledge: Anthropology, History, Sociology and Political Sciences, Philosophy, Law, Information Technology, Pedagogy, Art and Literature. The response from the different authors when required to provide information was positive and, in view of the material gathered, we were able to observe the existence of an outstanding corpus of investigations which had already been carried out. This material will, without doubt, signify a very valuable contribution in the fields of education or investigation, or when confronting direct problems connected with areas of social interest such as women's health, their role in the family and in the universe of caring for others, their reality as to the working world, their presence in institutions, politics or the business world, their role in the area of Basque Cultural affairs, their participation in the sphere of leisure and free-time activities or in the creation, planning and organisation of cities, and the real situation of women immigrants, among other issues.
With this rich variety of topics, we went on to consider a way of making them known to the public while continuing to update the data. Here, we counted on the support of Eusko Ikaskuntza[Basque Studies Society] and the assessment of Euskomedia[foundation belonging to Eusko Ikaskuntza to promote and develop dissemination activities of cultural and scientific contents]. It was agreed that the quickest and most integrating way, as well as the most efficient means, of promoting the information was via the use of the Internet. This is how we came up with the idea of ANDRESARE, a Website that was created with the intention of becoming a tool that will help to be informed and evaluate what has been done, continue to update it and increase it with the investigations that are currently being carried out and will be carried out in future, creating an unstoppable future form of new knowledge. A knowledge that has, in turn, direct incidence on social transformation insofar as it contributes in creating a path towards a more egalitarian society, where equity is a continuous reference and contribution. This has, in fact, been the starting point for the creation of the virtual platform denominated ANDRESARE, the responsibility of which has been assumed by Eusko Ikaskuntza with the support of Euskomedia.
