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 for 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 girls ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

. 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 northeastern coast of 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 c ...

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, Barcelona.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonnemaison, Francesca 1872 births 1949 deaths People from Barcelona Spanish feminists Burials at Montjuïc Cemetery 20th-century Spanish women educators 20th-century Spanish educators 19th-century Spanish women educators 19th-century Spanish educators