Women and educational heritage in Spanish university education museums: good practices and pending challenges for the incorporation of the gender perspective

WOMEN AND EDUCATIONAL HERITAGE IN SPANISH UNIVERSITY EDUCATION MUSEUMS: GOOD PRACTICES AND PENDING CHALLENGES FOR THE INCORPORATION OF THE GENDER PERSPECTIVE Abstract: There is a strong ethical component to historical memory which means that no group should be left out. Hence the need to recover the voice of half the population, women, so often rendered invisible by the narrative. In more traditional education history this silence is even more apparent. University education museums, supported by the pertinent legal regulations, are duty-bound to rescuing, interpreting and exhibiting a historical-educational heritage that takes them into account. To this end, it is essential to use a gender perspective in these institutions, aiming for more critical, inclusive and realistic memory policies. In this study, supported by a descriptive qualitative research methodology, we evaluate to what extent and how the eight Spanish university education museums are working actively for equality and non-discrimination. We do this by means of a semi-structured diagnostic questionnaire, supported by personal interviews with those who coordinate these museums and by the analysis of their regulations and websites. The results show that, for half of them, this task continues to be a pending challenge in many respects. However, the sensitivity on this issue of the other half is striking, as shown by the range of practices and decisive actions they have undertaken, and which, if shared, could help to improve everyone's situation. Keywords: History of women's education, gender studies, history of education, education museums, educational heritage. “En realidad, el pasado nunca pasa, tal como el sentido comn entiende el pasar. Lo fundamental no es que el pasado pase o deje de pasar, sino el modo crtico, despierto, con que entendamos la presencia del pasado en los procedimientos del presente”. [In truth, the past never passes, in the common sense of passing. The main thing is not whether the past passes or stops passing, but the critical, astute way in which we understand the presence of the past in the procedures of the present.] (Paulo Freire). 1 . 1 Freire, Paulo: Pedagoga de la indignacin [The pedagogy of indignation] (Madrid: Morata, 2001, 85). Introduction In recent years, historical-educational heritage and education museums have contributed to a growing historiographic trend in Spain and they are gradually awakening interest in the general public. 2 . Specifically, university education museums (UEM), which are the focus of this article, are recognised -along the same lines as their European counterparts 3 - as effective “instruments for reconstructing collective educational memory 2 Pablo Álvarez, coord., Los Museos Pedagógicos en España: entre la memoria y la creatividad (Gijón: TREA/EUS, 2016); Pablo Álvarez; Paul Dávila and Lus Mara Naya, “Education museums: historical educational discourse typology and characteristics. The case of Spain”, Paedagogica Historica 53, no. 6 (2017): 827-45; Ramón López, “Historia de la escuela y cultura escolar: dos décadas de fructíferas relaciones. La emergente importancia del estudio sobre el patrimonio escolar” [History of school and school culture: two decades of fruitful relations. The growing importance of the study of school heritage]. Cuestiones Pedagógicas 22 (2013), 17-42; Alejandro Mayordomo, “Patrimonio cultural y educación: retos, posibilidades y compromisos” [Cultural heritage and education: challenges, possibilities and commitments] in Educación y entorno territorial de la Universitat de Valéncia, ed López, Ramón, coord., (Valencia: Vicerrectorat de Participació y Projecció Territorial de la Universitat de Valéncia, 2014); Pedro Luís Moreno, “La historiografía del patrimonio educativo en España: un balance crtico” [The historiography of educational heritage in Spain: a critical appraisal] , Educar em Revista 58 (2015): 87-102. Julio Ruíz Berrio (ed.), El patrimonio histórico-educativo. Su conservación y estudio (Madrid: Biblioteca Nueva, 2010). 3 Marta Lourenço, “Where past, present and future knowledge meet: an overview of University Museums and Collections in Europe”, Museologia Scientifica. Memorie 2 (2008): 321– 329; Marta Lourenço, “Museus e coleções universitárias na Europa e América Latina: um panorama diverso” [“Museums and University Collections in Europe and Latinamerica: a diverse outlook”], in Espacios y Patrimonio Histórico-Educativo [Spaces and Historicaleducational Heritage], ed. Pauli Dávila and Luis M. Naya (Donostia-San Sebastián: Erein, 2016), 61–77; Nuria Sanz, Sjur Bergan, eds., The Heritage of European Universities (Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 2007, II Edition); Valentina Martino, “Musei e collezioni del patrimonio universitario. Indagine su un sistema culturale diffuso” [Museums and collections of university heritage. Survey of a widespread cultural system], Museologia Scientifica. Nuova Serie 10 (2016): 42-55. and provide dynamic settings for learning for a wide range of publics”. 4 . Hernández Hernández, drawing on the recommendations of the New Museology, 5 , Critical Museology 6 and Sociomuseology, 7 , states that they are “a place for meeting and learning, becoming the most suitable instrument for the population to discover its identity, assume it responsibly and commit itself to developing it in the future within its own territory or region”. 8 . Or as Carreño puts it “these new museums are conceived as an awarenessraising tool to recover things lost and forgotten, voices and silences, and act as a liberating and socialising instrument”. 9 . In effect, a museum is a platform for memory 10 (always marked by power relations and indicators of otherness), a space for representation and social education. The second of these functions is a priority and unavoidable in education museums. Hence, these 4 Teresa Rabazas & Sara Ramos, “Los museos pedagógicos universitarios como espacios de memoria y educación” [University education museums as spaces of memory and education], Història da Educaçao 21, 53 (2017): 100. 5 Luís Alonso Fernández, Introducción a la Nueva Museología [Introduction to the new museology] (Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 2002). 6 Joan Santacana & F. Xavier Hernéndez, Museología crítica [Critical museology] (Gijón: Trea, 2006). 7 Ana Mercedes Fernández Dos Reis Diez, “La creación de valor en el museo y la sociomuseologa” [The creation of value in the museum and sociomuseology], Complutum 26, no 2 (2015): 199-206. 8 Francisca Hernández, Planteamientos tericos de la museologa [Theoretical approaches to museology] (Gijón: Trea, 2006), 169. 9 Miryam Carreño Rivero, “Museologa y museografa de la educación” [Museology and museography in education], in La cultura material de la escuela. En el Centenario de la Junta para Ampliacin de Estudios, 1907-2007, ed. Agustín Escolano (Berlanga de Duero: CEINCE, 2007), 110. 10 We refer to a collective memory under the classical approach of: Maurice Halbwachs, Los marcos sociales de la memoria [The social frameworks of memory] (Barcelona: Anthropos, 2004); Eduardo González, Memoria e Historia. Vademécum de conceptos y debates fundamentales [Memory and History. Vademecum of fundamental concepts and debates] (Madrid: Editorial Catarata, 2013). become spaces scenes of interpretation, 11 , as they must help to reveal meanings and interrelations, become centres for personal growth, investigation and the formulation of questions on the basis of the selection of exhibits. Any object in the classroom becomes an object of emotional evocation, both in a positive and negative sense, and education museums are privileged, as they are responsible for museumising the school experiences lived by those who visit them. In addition to observing and commenting on the material and functions of each piece, they act as signs and can tell us a great deal about the person who used them and what society expected from them at the time. Therefore, these museums not only awaken people's curiosity about schooling in the past, but also contribute to the development of critical thinking about pedagogical doctrines, the analysis of the underlying ideological discourse and, ultimately, the interpretation of educational evolution. We stress the fact that historical-educational heritage 12 (tangible and intangible material) contributes, as an educational resource, to the construction of personal and social identities: 13 : valuing, preserving, transmitting and understanding it should therefore become a priority. But, as we pointed out, collective memory, with its social filters, can obscure, under-represent, devalue or stereotype certain groups, such as women, as 11 For an interesting approach see Marta Brunelli, Heritage interpretation. Un nuovo approccio per l'educazione al patrimonio [Heritage interpretation. A new approach to heritage education] (Macerata: EUM, 2014). 12 Julio Ruíz Berrio (ed.), El patrimonio histórico-educativo. Su conservación y estudio. [Historical-educational heritage. Its conservation and study] 13 Olaia Fontal, “¿Se están generando nuevas identidades? Del museo contenedor al museo patrimonial” [Are new identities emerging? From the museum in a container to the heritage museum], in Museos de arte y educación: construir patrimonios desde la diversidad, [Museums of art and education: building heritage out of diversity] ed. Roser Calaf, Olaia Fontal and Rosa Eva Valle, coords., (Gijón: Trea, 2007): 27-53. happens in patriarchal systems. 14 . And the exclusion of women 15 leads to partial, false, manipulated and distorted assertions of historical-educational knowledge. It is therefore necessary to structure education museums taking into account sexual difference, turning them into powerful and attractive places to develop a modern gender-based coeducational heritage education. The idea is to refine a critical look at the past, reinterpreting it without forgetting or silence, blocking out no memories, however invisible or uncomfortable they may be, fleeing from hegemonic androcentric visions and elaborating new imaginaries of female authority and gender generic freedoms. The aim is to understand the past as an institution at the service of society, 16 , responsible for negotiating cultural meanings and developing projects to make it more democratic. The question we are asking is to what extent Spanish UEMs are actively pursuing equality and non-discrimination, working towards inclusiveness, 17 , as laid down in current legislation. Recognizing that making women visible is only a first step 18 towards 14 We are aware that patriarchal systems do not exclude solely women from their discourses; they also subordinate, underrate or merely silence all those groups that, due to their identity or sexual orientation, are left "on the margins of the norm". 15 In this sense, it is interesting to see, as an example, how Australian historical museums attempt to balance gender representation. Cf. Mergaret Anderson and Kyle Winkworth, “Museums and gender: an australian critique”, Museum Internacional 43, 3 (2009): 147- 151. 16 Pedro J. Lavado, “La museología social: en y con todos los sentidos. Hacia la integración social en igualdad” [Social museology: in and with all senses. Towards social integration in equality], Her&Mus 16, vol. VII, no I, Oct.-Nov. (2015): 55-68. 17 Pablo Álvarez, “Accesibilidad e inclusión en espacios museísticos. Algunas reflexiones crticas desde los Museos de Educación” [Accessibility and inclusion in museum spaces. Some critical reflections from education museums], in Ana María Galán and Elena López, coords., Accesibilidad y museos: divulgación y transferencia de experiencias, retos y oportunidades de futuro [Accessibility and museums: dissemination and transfer of experiences, challenges and future opportunities] (Sevilla: AMMA-Junta de Andalucía, 2017): 139–46. 18 Of course, we are not opposed to making any non-binary gender identity visible. We also recognise that this inclusive and respectful perspective should be applied to Con formato: Normal, Sangría: Izquierda: 0 cm, Sangría francesa: 0,85 cm, Espacio Después: 6 pto, Interlineado: 1,5 líneas Con formato: Color de fuente: Azul claro, Inglés (Reino Unido) Con formato: Normal, Sangría: Izquierda: 0 cm, Sangría francesa: 0,85 cm, Espacio Después: 6 pto, Interlineado: 1,5 líneas understanding their role and portrayal in history and that reconstructing the trajectories followed by the education of girls and women in the past is an effective way of laying the foundations for a less discriminatory future, we have drawn up some specific research questions: Are women represented in Spanish UEMs? How are they represented? How is the history of women's education put across? What is being done in these museums regarding the incorporation of the gender perspective (GPGP)? What can be considered good practices in this field (worthy of being shared) and what aspects, on the contrary, can and should be improved? other groups that have historically been discriminated against for reasons of sex or gender, although they did not fall within the scope of this study. By focusing specifically on the visibility of women, we follow a specific stream of feminism, well aware that there are other different perspectives. See, for example, the proposals of Anne Fausto-Sterling, Joan W. Scott or Judith Butler. Cf. Anne Fausto-Sterling, “The five sexes”, Sciences, 40, 4 (2000): 18-23; Anne Fausto- Sterling, “The Five Sexes: Why male and female are not enough”, The Sciences, May/April (1993): 20-24; Joan W. Scott, “El género: una categoría útil para el análisis histórico en historia y género: las mujeres en la Europa moderna y contemporánea”, in El género: una categoría útil para el análisis histórico [Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis], ed. lit. Amelang, James S. & Nash, Mary (Valencia: Edícions Alfons el Magnanim, Institució Valencina d Estudis i Investigació, 1990): 23-58; Joan W. Scott, “El eco de la fantasía: la historia y la construcción de la identidad”, [Fantasy Echo: History and the Construction of Identity], Ayer, 62 (2006): 111-138; Joan W. Scott, Gender and the Politics of History, (Madrid: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2008); Joan W. Scott: "Gender: Still a Useful Category of Analysis?", Diógenes, 57, 225 (2010): 7- 14; Judith Butler, El género en disputa. El feminismo y la subversión de la identidad” [Disputing gender. Feminism and the subversion of identity], (Barcelona: Paidós, 1990); Judith Butler, Deshacer el género [Undoing gender], (Barcelona: Paidós, 2006). However, we stress the lack of research on this subject in the specific area of the History of Education. 1. Heritage, museums and gender perspective 19 To begin at the base, we need to broaden - as do the most transformative approaches to museology - the very concept of heritage or "patrimony", the latter a term that in its etymological root refers to the masculine, to the inheritance transmitted through the pater familias. The concept of patrimony is the result of certain choices, it is changeable and must adjust to new contexts, knowledge, values and circumstances. It is in permanent reformulation and it is precisely this ductility that makes it "fertile ground for considering GPGP without reductionist concessions”. 20 . Thus, the broadening of the concept of patrimony involves not only including, for example, the intangible, 21 , but also not forgetting or devaluing what is often stereotypically labelled as feminine, for defending transmission via female genealogy, for 19 The first part of the basic theoretical framework of this article has its origin in an unpublished paper presented at the First Ibero-American Congress of University Museums and Second Meeting of University Archives, held in 2017 in Argentina. Cf. Mª. José Rebollo; Pablo Álvarez & Marina Nñez, “Construyendo la identidad femenina en la escuela: género y patrimonio en el Museo Pedagógico de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación de la Universidad de Sevilla” [Building the female identity at school: gender and heritage in the Education Museum of the Faculty of Education Sciences of the University of Seville], at the I Ibero- American Congress of University Museums and II Meeting of University Archives: museums and university archives: education, accessibility and inclusion, a necessary debate (La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina, May, 2017), http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/70069 (accessed 5 March 2020). The third author of the above-mentioned work did not participate on this occasion, either in the research or in the writing of the text that we are currently presenting. 20 Paula Palacios, coord. Guía para la incorporación del enfoque de género en Museos.[Guide for the incorporation of the gender perspective in museums] (Santiago de Chile: DIBAM, 2012): 49. 21 In the case of intangible educational heritage, see the pioneering contributions of: Cristina Yanes, “Pedagogical museums and the safeguarding of an intangible educational heritage: didactic practices and possibilities”, Tidskrift för lärarutbildning och forskning 14, 4 (2007): 67-80. recovering women's knowledge and, in short, for undertaking proactive equality policies that, transversally, critically and participatively, make the invisible visible and connect museums that dedicate space and protagonism to women. 22 . As the UNESCO states: “Gender relations play a decisive role in shaping what we interpret and value as heritage […] A human rights framework applied to heritage is built on the fundamental basis of common principles of equality and non-discrimination. […] gender equality provides a framework for a more inclusive and tolerant definition of heritage […] the interpretation, transmission, conservation, safeguarding and management of heritage can encourage gender equality”. 23 . This circular benefit is based on the fact that museums are influential mechanisms in the creation of references or collective imaginary, since they select and condense in their collections and in their museographic narratives 24 the cultural assets that each generation sees as valuable and worthy of being passed on to the next and "can function as a reference work to turn to when we need to know how we have got to where we are”. 25 They act as mediators in our contact with reality and with the history they preserve. Therefore, we have to realise that new narratives are required as an alternative to those which, from an androcentric point of view, have been shaping references of identity in traditional museums, if we are not willing to continue leaving girls and women absent 22 Astrid Schönweger, “Network Woman in Museum. Museos de la mujer se conectan entre s,” [Network Woman in Museum. Museums of the woman interconnect] Her&Mus 3 (2010): 55-66. 23 UNESCO: Gender equality, heritage and creativity. [(Paris-Buenos Aires: UNESCO/International Centre for the Advancement of Human Rights, 2015): 33. 24 Cf. Ana Baeza, Museums, archives and gender, Museum History Journal 11 (2018): 174-187. 25 Sonia Albero, “Perspectiva de género en los museos de arte españoles: investigaciones y debates actuales” [Gender perspective in Spanish art museums: current research and debate], in V Congreso Universitario Internacional I + G 2014. Aportaciones a la Investigación sobre Mujeres y Género (Seville, July, 2015): 15. and silenced, 26 , orphaned of symbols, lacking models of authority with which to identify. Because, as Marian López Fernández-Cao explains: “This absence of female references in museums [...] served only to corroborate both the absence of women as agents of civilization, which was already reflected in school textbooks, and their association with a role marked solely by their capacity for procreation or as the object of male designation: maternity and related symbolic figures, or the woman as a sexual body at the disposal of or for transaction by the male or group of males. Museums were reflecting to girls and adolescents an image of contingency, a devalued, minimised and precarious image of their potential, or, at worst, making it seem as if theirs was a normative body in a world where the mind and the ability to reason rise above what is corporal [...] Nevertheless, the works exhibited in museums contain silent discourses on women and their position in the world, on the relations, asymmetries and hierarchies between the sexes, which gender and feminist studies are bringing to light”. 27 . It is clear that there is more recognition and work being done on sexual difference in all areas, but in the field of museology in many cases it is still a pending task. Women remain hidden, silenced or absent and, worse still, the fault has become so naturalised that it is hardly even noticed. That is why we stress the need to build theoretical and practical solutions to apply GPGP in museums, 28 , starting with an initial, albeit insufficient, step: 26 Andrés Gutiérrez, “Meandros de la memoria. Ausencias y silencios en torno al patrimonio en femenino” [The meandering memory. Absences and silences surrounding women’s heritage], in AA.VV.: Ausencias y silencios. Patrimonio en femenino (Madrid: MECD, 2011): 14-24, http://www.ibermuseus.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Ausencias.pdf (accessed 23 June 2019). 27 Marian López Fernández-Cao, “Museos y género. Patrimonio y educación para la igualdad” [Museums and gender. Heritage and education for equality], in introduction to eds. Marian López Fernández-Cao, Antonia Fernández Valencia and Asunción Bernárdez Rodal, El protagonismo de las mujeres en los museos [The role of women in museums] (Madrid: Editorial Fundamentos, 2012): 7-8. 28 Cf. Joan Santacana, and Nayra Llonch, “Hacia una nueva museologa de y para la mujer” [Towards a new museology of and for women], Her&Mus 3 (2010): 8-11; Silvana It is clear that applying the GPGP to museums is worthwhile, because it brings with it a host of advantages, as shown by Fernández Valencia: "... it paves the way for us to build knowledge about the social construction of identities, about gender relations, about how societies, through diverse, complex and intentional mechanisms, configured -and continue to configurean asymmetrical world, in rights and possibilities of being in the world, simply because of the social difference between men and women [...] but also [it helps] to recover positive elements of female genealogies that have been concealed from us by historiography until recent times”. 48 . 2. University education museums and the challenge of the gender perspective Museums educate "as much and sometimes more than classrooms" - as Vargas Llosa wrote with his customary precision and beauty - "and above all in a more subtle, private and permanent way than teachers do. They also heal, not bodies, but minds, of the darkness that is ignorance, prejudice, superstition and all the flaws that isolate human beings from each other and fester and push them to kill one another. Museums replace the small, provincial, mean, unilateral, bell-tower vision of life and things with a broader, more generous and plural vision of life. They hone sensitivity, stimulate imagination, refine feelings and arouse a critical and self-critical spirit in people”. 49 . Their educational dimension is preferential and determinant and they have certain advantages - not always made use ofover schools and other formal institutions. Their educational potential comes, to a great extent, from the fact that they are places with a "high symbolic density", given that the exhibits are highly significant, 48 Antonia Fernández Valencia, “La historia de las mujeres en los museos: Discursos, realidades y protagonismos” [The history of women in museums: discourses, realities and roles], in Marian López Fernández-Cao, Antonia Fernández Valencia & Asunción Bernárdez Rodal, eds., El protagonismo de las mujeres en los museos, 12-13. 49 Mario Vargas Llosa, “El Per no necesita museos” [Peru doesn’t need museums], newspaper article published in El País, (8 March 2009), https://elpais.com/diario/2009/03/08/opinion/1236466813_850215.html (accessed, 13 May 2019). having been chosen because they can tell many things, and they lend themselves to being accepted as part of the history of those who contemplate them. That is, they have the potential to establish a dialogue of experience with the public that fosters solid learning. From new museum studies, sharing the principles of sociomuseology 50 in particular, objects of heritage which are always contextualized, speak when questioned, they are not there simply to be seen. And, as a result, the people who visit the museum - a privileged place of memory, a universe of recognition - take on the active role of protagonists in the configuration of their identities, including gender identities. 51 . In this interactive and emotional way, museums influence symbolic learning processes and prepare the ground for messages of collective identity to take root. 52 . These functions are included among the recommendations included in the above-mentioned Decálogo de los Museos +Sociales (Decalogue of more Social Museums), so that they assume a commitment aimed especially at: promoting values of equality, coexistence and tolerance, and contributing to the achievement of real and effective equality between women and men. 53 . By definition, education museums have an even greater educational responsibility in this sense, because their raison d'être is the recovery, conservation and transmission of historical-educational heritage and reflection on past and present educational processes. In addition, they are used to teach the History of Education, but with the advantage of 50 Cf. Ana Mercedes Fernández Dos Reis Diez, “La creación de valor en el museo y la sociomuseologa” [The creation of value in the museum and sociomuseology], 199-206. 51 Aida Rechena, “Sociomuseologa y Género: una experiencia de comunicación inclusiva en el Museo de Francisco Tavares Proença Jnior (Portugal)” [Sociomuseology and gender: an inclusive communication experience at the Museo de Francisco Tavares Proença Júnior (Portugal)], ETNICEX 4 (2012): 91-102. 52 Cf. Luz Maceira, “Educación, género y feminismo en los lugares de la memoria” [Education, gender and feminism in places of memory], in GénEros. Revista de investigación y divulgación sobre los estudios de género 2, epoch 2, year 14, February (2008): 7-22; and Luz Maceira, “Género y consumo cultural en museos: Análisis y perspectivas” [Gender and cultural consumption in museums: analysis and perspectives], La ventana 27 (2012): 205-230. 53 http://www.mecd.gob.es/dms/microsites/cultura/museos/museosmassociales/presentacion/Dec alogo-museos.pdf (accessed, 25 June 2019). being non-formal educational spaces, which are more appealing than the classroom. An essential part of that educational responsibility is to do with the construction of gender identities, whose mechanisms must be interpreted in them critically, avoiding hegemonic and androcentric visions and elaborating new imaginaries of female authority and gender generic freedoms. It is obvious that all the above-mentioned about the functions and responsibilities of museums in general, is also applicable to the UEMs, perhaps even more so, since through their museums 54 universities contribute to the dignification and enrichment of their campuses, favouring important connections with non-university society. Universities today seem to forget that it is in their hands to use their cultural and educational heritage, which would enhance their prestige and social image and help them work towards the objectives of entities that are supposed to serve society, "favouring the creation, development, transmission and dissemination of science, technology and culture”. 55 . UEMs have an active role to play in advancing equality by making women's history visible 56 through their cultural and educational activities. A university education museum is an open, democratic, participative and intergenerational institution of a permanent nature, owned and managed by a university. Its role is to acquire, conserve, research, exhibit in an orderly manner, disseminate and 54 Marta Lourenço, Barbara Rothermel and Andrew Simpson, “Re-evaluating the discourse on university museums”, University Museums and Collections Journal 9 (2017): 7-8; Panu Nykänen, Barbara Rothermel and Andrew Simpson, “Global issues for university museums”, University museums and collections journal 10 (2018): 8-9. 55 Organic Law 6/2001, 21 December, on Universities. Article 1. Official State Bulletin «BOE» num. 307, 24 December 2001, https://www.boe.es/buscar/pdf/2001/BOE-A-2001-24515- consolidado.pdf (accessed, 19 June 2019). 56 Women's museums, for example, are specific examples that contribute to the visibility of women's history. Cf. Victoria López and Nayra Llonch, “Una panorámica de los museos de mujeres en el mundo” [An overview of women's museums around the world], Her&Mus 3 (2010): 12-18; and Graciela Tejero, “Museo de mujeres: un camino a recorrer en América Latina” [Museum of women: a path to be taken in Latin America], Her&Mus 3 (2010): 43-47. didactically communicate the tangible and intangible heritage of education from a historical perspective, for the purposes of research, teaching, dissemination, contemplation and recreation. These museums are responsible for admitting, recognising and highlighting the historical-educational heritage legacy and the constant expression of the commitment to become exceptional resources for the study of the history of education and valuable areas for meeting and interpretation, providing open platforms for learning and the exchange of memory. At university, through education museums, we bring the History of Education to life. Synthesising the results of the study recently published by Álvarez, Dávila and Naya, 57 , Spanish UEMs do not share the same museum story - some give prominence to work with emotions, others emphasise national or regional identity discourse, and others propose a narrative based on exhibited objects. These are museums whose activities focus less on dissemination than on research and teaching. As for their typology, nearly all of them revolve around a permanent exhibition area, which usually recreates a classroom from the past; and they are mostly oriented towards university students, although they also receive visits from school groups of all educational levels, while some of them are open to all publics. Regardless of these differences, what concerns us here is assessing the level of implementation of the GPPG, because we consider that raising awareness is one of the main roles of a university education museum. Making processes of female education visible is a first step that will enable the reconstruction of a trajectory; critical analysis of the development of teaching models; reappraisal of women's knowledge as opposed to traditionally academic learning (male); recognition of female genealogies; and the provision of references of authority to the younger generations. All this should bring us closer to the overall objective of a less discriminatory future, helping to overcome gender stereotypes and mandates, a basic ingredient in the prevention of violence against women. Today, judging by the lack of publications and academic-scientific forums debating the issue, Spanish education museums do not appear to be particularly concerned 57 Pablo Álvarez; Paul Dávila and Lus Mara Naya, “Education museums: historical educational discourse typology and characteristics. The case of Spain”. about adopting this perspective. However, should they decide to do so, they would have to make the following changes: - Set gender objectives and plan actions to meet them. - Choose which gender discourse to use. - Always use this discourse with inclusive language. - Draw up scripts that make visitors question their gender stereotypes. - Prepare complementary support materials. - Encourage critical participation of visitors, encouraging women to share their educational experiences. 3. Study design The methodological approach of this research is qualitative, basically descriptive and non-experimental. 58 . We analyse how Spanish UEMs represent and integrate in their museological and museographic discourse the characteristics of the education of girls and women throughout history, and how they are dealing with the incorporation of GPGP and the visibility of women. The study aims to identify models of good practices developed in this field, as well as the threats, weaknesses and pending challenges to be tackled in this sense. Image 1 shows the nine 59 UEMs currently existing in Spain. We have excluded the virtual museums because they do not fall within the scope of this study. 60 . 58 José Ignacio Ruíz et al., Metodología de la Investigación Cualitativa [Methodology of qualitative research] (Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, 2012); Silvia Redón and J. Félix Angulo, coords, Investigación cualitativa en educación [Qualitative research in education] (Buenos Aires: Miño & Dávila, 2017). 59 Pablo Álvarez and Andrés Payà, “Los Museos Pedagógicos Universitarios en España: tradición y futuro ante la difusión del patrimonio histórico-educativo” [University education museums in Spain: tradition and future regarding the dissemination of historical-educational heritage], in Roberto Daniel Rivera and Isabel García coords., Actas del I Congreso Internacional Museos Universitarios. Tradición y futuro, (Madrid: CIMU, 2015): 237-242. 60 One of the authors of this paper was interviewed in this study in their capacity as director of one of the university education museums. Image 1: University Education Museums (physical). Sources: authors. To carry out our study, although we invited the 9 existing museums to participate, we ended up with a representative sample of 8 as one museum failed to reply to our invitation. Henceforth, we will refer to them from numbers 1 to 8, in the order that they returned the questionnaires and for internal accounting purposes only. Image 2. Geographical distribution of the Spanish University Education Museums in the study. Source: authors. To make a diagnosis of the situation in which these education museums find themselves in the aforementioned sense, we used the survey as the main research technique, backed up by a personalised telephone interview and by consulting UEM regulations and websites - in order to give the results greater internal consistency. As an instrument, we used a semi-structured questionnaire (with questions drafted to allow informants to expand on their answers). The questionnaire was validated by a panel of 4 lecturers of Research Methods and Diagnosis in Education, two of whom were also experts in gender studies. It was delivered administered to the directors of the eight Spanish UEMs (5 women and 3 men) to gather information on the following thematic blocks (Table I): Table I: Thematic blocks of the questionnaire. Source: authors. The results of the questionnaires, together with the transcription of the telephone interviews, allowed us to carry out a more complete interpretative analysis of the data, for which we also used the statistical package SPSS, which facilitated the storage, ordering and structuring of the data. Thus, the knowledge generated by our research came primarily from the information provided by the directors of the pedagogical museums. To facilitate data analysis, we defined 6 dimensions and their corresponding variables (Table II). The analysis of each one allowed us to detect a set of weaknesses, threats, strengths and opportunities regarding the incorporation of GPGP or visibility of women in the UEMs. We used this information to draw up and circulate models of good practices on the issue, including recommendations for improvement. Table II: Study dimensions and variables. Source: authors. 4. Analysis of results We now analyse the results obtained, sorted according to the table above. First of all, we assessed the LEVELS OF APPLICATION OF GPGP in museums, that is, we asked them to consider the extent to which this approach was indispensable for them, and how aware and sensitive they were to the need to respect sexual difference when reconstructing and relating the History of Education critically and equitably. Three variables or levels were taken into account: - Commitment of obligatory fulfilment. Only half of the museums surveyed stated that they understood and tried to pursue this endeavour to the highest level. That is to say, only four of them have interpreted the legislative recommendations on the subject as lines of action and have interiorised this perspective to the point that they understand that this has to be complied with. - Mainstreaming in management. Seven museums say they mainstream it, or at least try. The one who admits to not doing it, on the other hand, explains literally and of academic activity. Research and publications represent one of the most effective tools for communicating with the scientific community, promoting positive change and transferring this knowledge. Finally, on a more constructive note, we have seen that sufficient actions are being carried out to consolidate our approach: acquisition of specific collections, care being taken to ensure that museum discourse is inclusive (in terms of content and language), planning of monographic exhibitions, design of co-educational didactic activities, organisation of workshops, seminars, conferences, forums, guided tours and other transfer activities. However, we also conclude that those museums that are lagging behind in this process, need to make up ground and ensure that the dimension of gender is fully integrated in their strategic and annual institutional planning. There is a need for what Luz Maceira calls "works of memory", "different actions to document, record, (re)construct, investigate or preserve knowledge, traditions or narratives”. 68 . In terms of gender, this means looking at past experiences and their significance, and then challenging society through different initiatives to make people aware, legitimise and assume them. To achieve this, these UEMs have to rethink their museography by integrating this approach, transversally or specifically, to make visible the history, proper names, theoretical and practical contributions, educational policies, identity models, curricular contents or the roles played by women, present in the collections of historical-educational heritage. Guided visits will also have to be given from this perspective to broaden the public's outlook, generate curiosity and the will to learn more, inviting reflection and debate to help build critical knowledge about gender relations in the History of Education. 69 . 68 Luz Maceira, Pensar la memoria social desde la educación [Thinking social memory from education], Decisio, January-August (2016): 7. 69 Paula Palacios Rojas, Guía para la incorporación del enfoque de género en Museos [Guide for the incorporation of the gender perspective in Museums], 79: 61, http://www.museoscolombianos.gov.co/fortalecimiento/comunicaciones/publicaciones/Docume nts/guia_incorporacion_enfoque_genero.pdf (accessed, 13 July 2019). As a summary in line with all that has been said above, we reiterate 70 that: - Official historical and cultural (and thus educational) heritage is never neutral, it is at the service of the patriarchy. - Hence the absence and exclusion of women from most areas of representation, including museums (largely including educational ones). - To change this situation, we need to change the DNA of museums: change the discourse, deconstruct museographic narratives, methodologies and even epistemological bases. Flee from what is politically correct, from what is aesthetically good but is neither real nor sincere. Go to the root of the problem, under cover of compliance with the Law of Equality. - In such a process of change it is essential to involve the community as a whole and work from a standpoint of heritage education. - The ultimate aim being to make women visible in history and the history of women (doing so through education), working on what is present and what is absent, to put what should be where it is not. This will legitimise women in social memory and provide reference models of identity to young generations, to continue building democracy and citizenship in the face of symbolic violence, discrimination and lack of respect. On the basis of the results of this study, we make the following proposals or recommendations: - Make a self-diagnosis of the museum, with instruments similar to the one used in this study, to detect strengths and weaknesses in this field. - Exchange good practices over which there is agreement, perhaps creating a network of UEMs to facilitate communication between them. - Seek full commitment to this approach from the people who run and coordinate museums, a commitment that must be meditated and conscious to ensure that its implementation has a lasting effect. - Complete and promote effective staff training in gender. 70 These conclusions are in line with those established in the Seminar "Female Educational Heritage: an approach from Museology", held at the Faculty of Education Sciences of Seville University (30/11/2018), under the auspices of the Education Museum of that Faculty. - Place gender policies centre stage in museum planning, not as something peripheral or ad hoc. This means integrating gender in all stages of museum planning and management, thereby rethinking and reconstructing historical-educational processes. - Continue researching and implementing the gender perspective in European and Latin American university education museums, 71 and even extend these objectives to other types of non-university education museums. In short, we maintain that gender, used as an epistemological and formative axis in education museums, is a way of bringing to light the presence, facts and voices of women in the history of education, thus enriching current interpretations of the past. But it also helps to educate the social outlook of students, making them more aware and providing them with the critical tool they need to detect the origins of the hierarchies and relational asymmetries between women and men, which are at the core of the discrimination that persists today. Awareness of these historical-educational keys will be the driving force behind the changes that are essential to advance towards a society that is fairer and respectful regarding sexual difference. It is for that reason that the gender perspective must be adopted by UEMs with more determination and responsibility. 71 We are currently involved in a comparative research project on Spanish and Italian university education museums.