Tania Verge

Minister for Equality and Feminisms

Minister for Equality and Feminisms of the Catalan Generalitat Government

She is a lecturer at the Department of Political and Social Sciences at Barcelona’s Pompeu Fabra University–UPF, where she also heads the Equality Unit. She gained her degree in Political Science from the UPF in 2000 and obtained her PhD from the Complutense University in Madrid in 2006. Her research focuses on gender and power relations, participation and political representation, as well as resistance to implementing gender equality policies.

Throughout her career, she has been devoted to research and teaching, as well as advising on feminist political policy with national and international institutions and organizations, including the Council of Europe, the European Institute for Gender Equality, the Parliament of Catalonia and the Catalan Ombudsman.

She is also an activist with different feminist groups and circles, such as Ca la Dona, Dones per la República, Cap Dona en l’Oblit – which means to make female political prisoners visible – and #OnSónLesDones.

As an academic, Ms Verge was appointed a member of the Electoral Commission by Parliament for the 1st October referendum on independence, along with Jordi Matas, Josep Pagès, Marc Marsal and Marta Alsina, and was tried for that by Barcelona’s criminal court in February. The prosecution demanded sentences of two years and nine months of imprisonment for each member for usurpation of functions and contempt or, alternatively, a fine and disbarment, depending on whether they were to be considered private individuals or public authorities. That meant they had to defend themselves before accusations of two different crimes in one.

Eventually, the five commission members were acquitted, but the repression they suffered for more than three years and the tribulation they experienced because of the trial, which was postponed twice, will not be erased. It was an ideological persecution and a violation of academic freedom and democracy. However, Ms Verge holds that she would without any doubt again accept the task as a member of the electoral commission from Parliament.

As a result of the Catalan elections of February 14, 2021, when forming the Government, President Pere Aragonès chose Tània Verge, an expert in feminist political policy, to head the newly created Ministry of Equality and Feminisms. The department will have to ensure that the gender perspective is present in all public policy, and shall thus have a cross-sectional outlook. Policy will therefore be to eradicate all forms of misogyny so that everyone can carry on their lives without any restrictions or discrimination.

Minister for Equality and Feminisms