Francesca Bonnemaison i Farriols (12 April 1872 – 1949) was a Spanish Catalan educator and promoter of

female education Female education is a catch-all term of a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education (primary education, secondary education, tertiary education, and health education in particular) for girls and women. It is frequently called girl ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...

. She established Biblioteca Popular de la Dona (lit. Popular Library of Women), first library exclusively for women in Europe, in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in 1909.

Early life

Bonnemaison was born on 12 April 1872 in Barcelona to father of French origin and Catalan mother. Her father was an affluent businessman. She was given a strong religious upbringing and learnt different languages, painting and music in her early life. In 1893, at the age of 21, she married Narcís Verdaguer i Callís, a lawyer and politician. She collaborated with him at his law firm.

Female education

Bonnemaison devised a project, Women's Popular Library and the Culture Institute, in 1909 to provide opportunity to single, working-class women to get education. She established first library exclusively for women in Europe, Biblioteca Popular de la Dona (which was rechristened Biblioteca Francesca Bonnemaison), at

Sant Pere, Santa Caterina i la Ribera Sant Pere, Santa Caterina i la Ribera () is a neighborhood in the ''Ciutat Vella'' district of Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain). It is formed by the former neighborhoods of Sant Pere, Santa Caterina and la Ribera La Ribera (, 'The Shore') is on ...

, Barcelona.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonnemaison, Francesca 1872 births 1949 deaths People from Barcelona Spanish feminists Burials at Montjuïc Cemetery Spanish educators Spanish women educators