It is not a small thing who starts the Mercè with the proclamation that precedes the start of the main festival of Barcelona. Always a transcendent issue in the prelude to the celebrations and the cause of some controversy, the election has given an account of the cultural and social substratum that articulates the city, of the aspirations that the city has been embracing in recent decades, also of the sympathies of the government in power and the political ups and downs of almost half a century now. democracy. It is, therefore, a sign of the pulse that beats in the capital, also of persistent inertia, including those that emanate from an evident gender bias. He City hall He has only selected 17 women to read the proclamation since 1975, a third of the opportunities it has had since the year of the death of the dictator Francisco Franco.
Although it has begun to be corrected in recent years, the inequality obvious. Only 16 of the solemn events to raise the curtain of La Mercè have had a woman as protagonist between 1975 and 2023. It should be noted that 17 female criers must be counted since the dawn of the Transition, because there was a double crier in 2009, when the actresses Montserrat Carulla and Vicky Pena They shared honor. Only eight women preceded them.
He recognition that entails starting the celebrations It was only granted to four women during the first six terms of office of the Barcelona City Council under democracy. During the almost four years of mandate of Narcis Serratwo women of letters started the Mercè: they were the writers Mercè Rodoreda (1980) and Maria Aurelia Capmany (1982), the latter also a PSC councilor during the first democratic executives. Under the long period of Pasqual Maragall (1982-1997), actress only Núria Espert It was designated to inaugurate the festivities in 1989.
Joint election
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At the time of Joan Clos (1997-2006), the writers Maruja Torres (1999), Fatima Mernissi (2003) and Rosa Regàs (2005) were preachers. The election was equal during the mayoralty of Jordi Hereu (2006-2011): writer was chosen Elvira Lindo (2006), the oceanographer Pepita Castellvi (2007) and the duo formed by Carulla and Peña. In the four-year term of Xavier Trias (2011-2015), the only woman chosen was Núria Gispert (2014), teacher and former councilor of the PSUC and the PSC.
Women have predominated in the most recent proclamations of the Mercè, coinciding with the two terms of office of Ada Colau (2015-2023). There were five: the philosopher Marina Garcés (2017), the actress and filmmaker Leticia Dolera (2018), the former mayor of Madrid Manuela Carmena (2019), the neighborhood activist Custodia Moreno (2021) and the director of cinema Carla Simón (2022). Still far from equaling the number of men who have been distinguished with the same responsibility, the list of heralds will continue to grow this Friday, when the novelist Najat El Hachmi takes the stage and goes out to the balcony of the Plaza Sant Jaume to get the party going. in Barcelona.