Valentina Fernández Vargas

Valentina Fernández Vargas (1940-2018) was born in Alicante, although most of her life took place between La Bañeza, where she had family ties and for which she professed deep affection, and Madrid, where she developed her studies and professional career, married and had two children, Valentina (1967) and Luis (1982). She is a prominent representative of the post-war generation of women who embarked on their academic and research careers breaking stereotypes, moulds and prejudices, within the framework of an imposed model of traditional femininity and with the support of her family. Her research focuses on the demography studies and historical sociology, opening up new fields of work, all with a gender perspective, as shown by her more than half a hundred publications.

Her personal and professional career was characterized for her dedication and commitment with science and it surrounding environment. She was one of the first women to direct a CSIC research institute, Jaime Balmes de Sociología in 1976.

She studied Philosophy and Literature in Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where she obtained her doctorate in 1968 with a thesis about the Leon population during the 16^th century under the direction of the historian and sociologist Carmelo Viñas Mey. She collaborated in the teaching of Modern History Department of this university, and in the newly created Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

After sitting examinations, in 1971 she was appointed CSIC scientific collaborator in Instituto Jaime Balmes of Sociology, and in 1981 research scientist. After competing more than once to research professor without success, she gave up to a position where gender gap was still very wide. Until her retirement, she carried out her research investigation in CSIC where, as a consequence of the result of the reorganization of its organizational structure, joined Instituto de Estudios Sociales Avanzados de Madrid, nowadays missing, and finish in Institute for Public Goods and Policies of Human y Social Sciences. Between 1995 and 2011 held an active teaching collaboration, as honorary professor, in Master and Doctorate of Historia Contemporánea (Contemporary History) of Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, of which University Institute of Women's Studies (IUEM) forms part. Also, within her commitment with effective equality of women and men, participated in the management of CSIC Women and Science Unit, formed in 2002, belonged to Fundación Isonomía de la Universidad de Alicante and Observatory for Gender Violence of Universidad de Santiago and since its foundation, to GENET-Gender Studies Network Association.

Since 1990 she carries out research about war, peace and human rights and opens new perspectives in the studies about armed forces. Her accurate analysis applies to both archive documentation and oral history, always with gender perspective. The relevance and quality of her work made her deserving various awards, among them her appointment as academic correspondent of Royal Academy of History and Honorary member of Madrid Sociology Association.

Among her public recognitions, it stands out the 2010 award “Soldado Idoia Rodríguez, mujer en las Fuerzas Armadas” as a recognition for her “long career dedicated to research and dissemination of gender matters and Armed Forces, and their academic support to equality and rights of the military woman in Spain”, according to the jury. This award was created in 2007 in memory of the first Spanish military woman who passed away as an accomplishment of an international peace mission. She also received the Military Merit Cross with a white badge.

Among her most significant publications or greater impact stand out, apart from the mentioned thesis, La resistencia interior en la España de Franco (1981); La desigualdad ante la muerte. Presentación de una investigación sobre Madrid (1983); Mujer y régimen jurídico en el Antiguo Régimen: una realidad disociada (1986); La población española en el siglo XVII (1989); junto a su marido, Luis Lorenzo Navarro, El niño y el joven en España (siglos XVIII-XX): aproximación teórica y cuantitativa (1989); Las militares españolas: un nuevo grupo profesional (1997); Las mujeres y los ejércitos (1998); Mujer y fuerzas armadas (1991); Las Científicas del CSIC; una primera aproximación (2002); Memorias no vividas: Madrid qué bien resiste (2002); Profesionalización de las fuerzas armadas, servicio militar y objeción de conciencia (2003); Sangre o dinero: el mito del ejército nacional (2004); El Madrid Militar: vol. II El ejército en Madrid y su territorio (1813-1931) (coord., 2006); El Madrid de las mujeres: Avances hacia la visibilidad (1833-1931) (coord., 2007); La cultura de la defensa y la paz en España desde una perspectiva de género (2011); El trabajo de las Fuerzas Armadas Españolas y la Cultura de la Defensa (2014).