For a public space with a woman’s name

2023-04-18 04:25:00

The Deliberative Council of the city of Córdoba modified the ordinance on the General Regime of Nomenclature of Public Domain Spaces, to incorporate the concept of gender parity. In the future, then, the new spaces that are incorporated – squares, streets and parks – should equally evoke men and women.

The measure will help reverse the historical trend, which clearly aimed to masculinize public space. But since existing public spaces will not be renamed, inequality will continue.

The reform may sound banal, something insubstantial that is only done to adapt to the fashion of the new gender culture. However, it is not. Councilor Ileana Quaglino, author of the initiative, affirmed that she conceived the project “as a result of a survey carried out by the organization Juntas por la Ciudad” on the nomenclature of the streets of the Cordovan capital: of 2,256 streets with proper names, only 160 were of women”.

What is the reason for such a disproportion? Why are 93 out of 100 streets named following a man and only the remaining seven have been named following a woman? Naming a square, a park, a walk, a street, always represents a tribute. It is an act of community memory that implies a strong recognition of a trajectory. Are there really so few women worth remembering? Or is it that, as in other issues, the State tends, by action or omission, to make women invisible?

For all these reasons, it is wise to cite one of the justifications for the project approved by the Deliberative Council: “At this time, where the role of women in society is becoming more visible, it is essential to tell their stories and give them the recognition they deserve. as drivers of change. Naming streets with the names of women is one way, among many others, of making visible and recognizing the contributions of women in history and the contribution they have had and have in building society”.

Of course, the gender difference in the nomenclature of public space is not a particularity of the city of Córdoba. It can be seen throughout the country, with its pluses and minuses. Cities like Salta, Rosario and Resistencia have a higher percentage of streets named following women. In the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, on the other hand, the low proportion registered by our Córdoba is repeated.

International comparisons can also be made. In Spain, for example, 21 percent of the streets in Madrid are named following women; and in an important set of Spanish cities, among which are Zaragoza and Barcelona, ​​there is an average of 17% of their streets that remind of women. In other words, the numbers for Córdoba or Buenos Aires are extremely low.

Identifying the slightest loopholes through which the macho culture sneaks in is a necessary task to delegitimize it. The names of public space is one of them.

1681803036
#public #space #womans