Sara Maynar
Sara Maynar Escanilla
First women law professor at a Spanish university and early woman lawyer
Saragossa, 1906 - Burbáguena (Terol), 1986
In 1929, Sara Maynar Escanilla was the first woman to earn a bachelor’s in Law in Zaragoza, the first woman member of the Bar Association of Aragon and the first woman in the Legal-Practice Academy of Aragon. Her role as a pioneer includes being the tenth female member of the Bar Association of Spain, in the same decade as Victoria Kent, Clara Campoamor, Matilde Huici and Concha Peña. Furthermore, she was the first woman professor—assistant in practical classes—at a Law faculty in Spain in academic year 1930-1931, affiliated with International Public and Private Law, as well as the first woman professor in Administrative Law in 1940-1941.
The daughter of a famous civil law expert from Aragon, her large family’s wealth, the legal and pro-Esperanto ambiance in which she grew up and the early death of her elder brothers may have spurred her career in law. Although some sources attribute her Bachelor’s in Law to the sole motive of satisfying her father’s desire, claiming that it was in no way her vocation, the facts point to a much more complex reality:
Her brilliant academic career, with her two Bachelor’s degrees (Law and Humanities) was particularly notable in the Faculty of Law, where she earned an academic record full of honours and ended with an extraordinary Bachelor’s award first and then assistantships; she attended for years the board meetings of the Real e Ilustre Colegio de Abogados de Zaragoza (Royal and Illustrious Lawyers’ Association of Zaragoza, ReICAZ), of which she was a member —although she did not practise after 1930— until her death.
In 1979 she was distinguished as an Honorary member of ReICAZ. The press from the 1930s contains her statements that she wanted to practise Law. She started her doctoral studies in Madrid, in contact with the intellectual milieu of the Ladies’ Residence. In 1939, she went with her father, at that time the dean of ReICAZ, to the Provincial Prison of Zaragoza, where a civil servant forbade her from entering because she was a woman, even though she was a ReICAZ member. After several letters of complaint from the dean and the board, the last one addressed to the Minister of Justice, it was clarified that the regulatory ban did not extend to women lawyers.
The social-juridical reality must not have been easy for young women pioneers with a practical mindset in terms of their professional performance, like Maynar Escanilla, who ended up earning a Bachelor’s in Philosophy and Humanities in 1942 and redirecting her career to secondary education, where she became a renowned, award-winning professor, chair and secondary school headmistress.
A city councillor and lieutenant mayor in her older years, Sara Maynar earned merit upon merit which make her an essential part of the other story about Law in Spain.
Belén Causapé Gracia
PhD in Gender Relations
Universidad de Zaragoza
References:
-Archivo Universitario de la Universidad de Zaragoza i Fondos del Archivo Administrativo de la seva Facultat de Dret.
- Arxiu, Fons històric i butlletins del Real e Ilustre Colegio de Abogados de Zaragoza
- Causapé Gracia, Belén (2017). Mujeres pioneras del Derecho en Aragón, 1910-1975. De las aulas universitarias a la profesionalización jurídica, proceso de evolución e historias de vida. PhD Thesis. Universidad de Zaragoza.
- Causapé Gracia, Belén (2018). Las primeras alumnas de la Facultad de Derecho de Zaragoza, 1915-1931. Filanderas, Revista Interdisciplinar de Estudios Feministas, 3, 7-24: https://doi.org/10.2674/ojs_fi5landeras/fil.201833241
- Causapé Gracia, Belén (2020). La Facultad de Derecho de Zaragoza desde una perspectiva histórica de género. In: Josefa-Dolores Ruiz Resa (Coord. y Ed.), Las Mujeres y las profesiones jurídicas. Madrid: Dykinson. 23-41.
- Flecha García, Consuelo (2010). Profesoras en la Universidad. El tránsito de las pioneras en España. Arenal: Revista de historia de mujeres (17- 2), 289-290.
- Fernández Llamas, M.ª Pilar; Baselga Mantecón, Cristina; Torres Martínez, Inocencia; Gaudó Gaudó, Concha (2011). Pioneras en la educación secundaria en Aragón. A: Guillermo Vicente y Guerrero (coord.), Historia de la Enseñanza Media en Aragón [Actas del Primer congreso]. Zaragoza: IFC. 289-291.
- Revista Estampa, n. 104, 7 de enero de 1930, año 3, portada y p. 3; n. 222, 9 de abril de 1932, año 5, pp. 3-6. In: Hemeroteca Digital. Biblioteca Nacional de España: http://hemerotecadigital.bne.es/results.vm?q=parent%3A0003386571&s=0&lang=es
- Podcast: 8-M(UJERES) de Aragón-Radio, con motivo del día 8 de marzo de 2022. Audio sobre Sara Maynar/Altamira Gonzalo, 16.02.2022. A: https://www.cartv.es/aragoncultura/nuestra-cultura/aragon-radio-podcast-estrena-8mujeres-8075 (accessed 28.09.2022)
Suggested citation:
Causapé Gracia, Belén (2022). Sara Maynar Escanilla. Pioneering Female Jurists: Remembrance and Memory [Electronic resource], Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, November 2022. In: https://ddd.uab.cat/record/268735
This web Pioneering Female Jurists: Remembrance and Memory was created as part of the teaching innovation and quality improvement project of the UAB 2021 (GI515402). Main researcher: María Jesús García Morales
