Empar Pineda i Erdozia

Empar Pineda i Erdozia (born 1944) is a Spanish feminist activist, winner of the Creu de Sant Jordi in 2008.

Biography Childhood in the Basque Country Empar Pineda was born in Hernani, Gipuzkoa in 1944, and spent her childhood at the family farmhouse with her six siblings. She was very close to her grandfather, a person who was very knowledgeable about plants and ointments – he was called a curandero – and politically aware.

She was enrolled in a German nun's school, where she was required to learn English. In 1964 she completed her baccalaureate. As there was no public university in the Basque Country, she moved to Madrid, where her sister lived.

First years of anti-Francoist activism In 1964, after finishing the higher baccalaureate, Pineda moved to Madrid to continue her studies. She participated in the anti-Francoist student movement and was banned from enrolling at the Universities of Madrid and Barcelona. She ended up enrolling at the University of Salamanca in 1964, and a little later at the University of Oviedo, where she graduated in Romance philology.

She returned to Madrid, where she began teaching Language and Literature at a branch of the Employee's Home while continuing her membership in left-wing organizations, including one called "Lenin", the Federation of Communists, and finally the Communist Movement.

An anti-Francoist militant, she was arrested by the authorities and spent some time in Martutene Prison. which she represented in the Assembly of Catalonia.

In the 1977 election she was a candidate for the Province of Barcelona for Popular Unity for Socialism Candidacy, and was the head of the MCC-OEC list in the 1979 Barcelona mayoral election.

Feminist-lesbian struggle In interviews Empar Pineda has said she discovered feminism with her colleagues from the Communist Movement of Catalonia. They gathered 1,000 women at the Autonomous University of Barcelona to reflect on feminism and women's rights.

In 1977 she witnessed progress in LGBT rights and freedoms, presiding over the banner of the first Gay Pride Day in Madrid.

In 1980 she was co-founder of the Lesbian Feminist Collective of Madrid and participated in the creation of the Right to Abortion Commission, following the irruption of the Civil Guard at Los Naranjos de Sevilla planning center and the detention of its health personnel. She participated in the campaign "Yo también he abortado" (I have also aborted).

Later Pineda was co-founder of the Commission for the Right to Abortion in Madrid, spokesperson for the network Otras voces feministas (Other Feminist Voices), and director of the collection Hablan las mujeres (Women Speak) and magazines Nosotras que nos queremos tanto (We Who Love Each Other So Much) and Desde nuestra acera (From Our Sidewalk).

In 1993 she began working at the Isadora Clinic in Madrid, to which she has remained linked as a consultant since her retirement.

In 2008 she received the Creu de Sant Jordi for "her dedication sustained for so many years in defense of women's rights, from the action – as an active member of various organizations – and reflection – as a co-author of several volumes, including 'El feminismo que existe'."

As of 2018, she is an active part of the Hetaira Collective.

Quote|There is an immense task to be done against sexist violence, against the wage gap, against the minimal participation of men in domestic tasks, against the castrating work of the Church. [...] As much as they repress me, they will not make me lose pride in being the way I am and the defense of those who are like me.

Awards 2008 Creu de Sant Jordi 2012 Recognized as Hernaniar Bikaina (Excellent Hernani Native) 2013 Award for Values in Equality from the Workers' Commissions' 1st of May Foundation