When I was a university student
someone gave me the most important lesson ever.
It was the course instructor of a course with an unusual name, Drug Dependencies,
who decided from the very moment he saw me - and I don't know why -
that I shouldn't speak during his classes.
He never explained me why, he simply said to me,
"Excuse me, what is your name?" "Marta."
"Well, Marta, you cannot speak." "Why?" "You simply can't."
The conversation ended there.
Halfway through the course, I understood why he was doing that.
He wanted me to feel
the same way the people I would be treating felt
using what I learned in his course.
I had a very tough time during the course, I could not say anything.
He absolutely ignored every move I would make.
I felt absolutely undervalued and excluded from my group.
After a while, I was sent for internship
- during my last Social Education course - to a prison.
And it was that day when I unconsciously put into practice
what I learnt: not to speak, but simply listen.
I got lost on the road,
it was very difficult to get to a place in the middle of nowhere.
My internship tutor was waiting for me.
All the way right from the main door to the block I had to go every single day
I just couldn't retain any information or utter any word.
I simply could not react to the stimuli I had in front of me.
When I left that place and got into my car, I thought:
"Marta, this is too much for you,
prison is not the right place for you to work,"
and I swore I never would.
After a while I left Barcelona,
thinking that I would come across other creative things somewhere else,
a different way to fix all the social problems I was facing as a professional,
and I left for London.
And when I came back again,
they offered me my first job in a prison in the heart of Barcelona.
I couldn't believe it. I knew I didn't want that but I couldn't say no.
I agreed and I started working there.
And that's when I thought I reconciled with that space,
and I began to understand what happened inside:
an inert facility, but full of people,
people with their own concerns, dynamic people.
I understood that working with people means respect.
And, while working in groups with those guys
that I helped as a professional,
I realized that they had no respect for themselves.
On the contrary, I felt they respected me.
During that time, many questions came to my mind -
questions like, "How have they ended up here?"
If they had the same existential thoughts that I have,
why have they been given such a distinct response
that has brought them here at this moment?
These are questions I haven't found the answer to yet,
but what I have always wondered, above all,
is if I felt respected by them
being a young, small woman
they used to meet every day, one of the few they meet regularly -
would it mean, once they'll be out,
that they could have a different attitude towards women?
Towards any kind of women?
I'm sorry, but this is something I cannot answer right now
because we're talking about very long processes.
It's as if I sometimes invent norms in my favor,
but I try to stay informed
and speak advisedly
so I have searched and found out there are many regulations
on gender equality,
of The European Union, the United Nations, the Spanish Constitution,
but sometimes, they don't reflect the reality and we are aware of it.
The same thing happens with the Spanish Constitution
when it says that prisons have to be a space
for reeducation and social reintegration.
And it's puzzling, because we invest a lot in this;
we lock people away and the problem deepens
because we believe that time will solve the pending issues,
and we complain when things don't turn out to be like that.
And I wondered, if there were strategies we could implement
to really change this, why aren't they applied?
And I also wondered if there were any strategies in place at all
and I tell you that there are.
They have been tested and proven, and have been shown that they work
and that they reduce recidivism from 40% to 16%.
When I read these guidelines, they made me think:
why are they always referring to men?
Why is it taken for granted that the sentenced to prison are men?
And if it is a woman, what happens?
Wouldn't it be easier to think of them as people?
Wouldn't it be much easier to write the rules thinking of them as people?
Of course, doesn't come as a surprise that if they are only referring to men
they then don't take cohabitation into consideration
as there is everywhere else in this world,
where for the time being men and women live together.
I give you some current facts, here in Cataluña,
there are 9,900 people that are incarcerated -
9,263 are men and 637 are women.
There is quite a difference in numbers between the genders,
and they serve their sentence separately, in separate prisons.
I'd like we all think about this:
do you really think that unmixed spaces
are suitable for the promotion of gender equality?
For respect between men and women?
Do you really think that spaces where they don't take into account
the respect for people nor human beings
can be spaces where people can regain self-esteem?
I think that it can be done, that there are ways to do this,
and we recently held several conferences
where we discussed research outcomes that proved it.
There I met someone who told me something that had a great impact on me,
Jesús Valverde, who said:
"We are not here, our mission is neither to judge nor to justify
but rather to understand in order to take action.
To understand you first need to listen, and to listen first means to respect."
Do we really believe that prisons are spaces that promote a culture
for gender equality and respect for people?
Keeping in mind that today
we all can end up in one of these prisons,
do you really think that we are treating them
the way we'd like to be treated?
Are we implementing strategies able to help face conflicts
in a totally different way?
I invite you to a brief reflexion:
imagine a situation; any kind of situation,
that makes you feel insecure and absolutely vulnerable,
and think, what would you need
to change that situation and feel secure again?
Well take that in the prison.
Take it there,
because those people will really try to work that out.
If we are creating spaces outside that are an inspiration for change,
don't you think it is the right time to create and use those spaces there
in order to inspire and make a change?
I personally think so,
and that's why I work every day
to help turn the prison into a space
that can inspire a change in people.
Thank you.
(Applause)