#calonge

Beach in the Comarques Gironines area of Catalonia.

On this International Workers' Day we remember Isavel Vilà i Pujol, known as "Isabel Cinc Hores" ("Isabel Five Hours" in the Catalan language), fighter for children's rights.

Born in Calonge in 1843, she came from a working class family who worked in the cork stopper industry. In that time, the stopper industrial areas showed huge social inequalities. While the working class had a life expectancy of 48, the priests and other Church members lived on average to 64 years old. The workers' reduced life was a result of abusive work conditions and long hours (12 to 13 hours of work each day). They were not recognised a right to strike nor to unionize, and the owners fired anyone they wanted at any moment without giving explanations nor payments for it. Women were paid half as much as men for the same job, and children started working in the cork stopper factories at 6 years old for very little pay. The factories were humid and workers often dealt with toxic materials, which added to their insufficient diet, often caused illnesses and workplace accidents.

Isavel started working at a young age, and though she could barely read and write she was decided that she wanted to study and learn. In her free time, she studied and visited the ill. She took part in the republican uprisings against the Savoia Spanish monarchy and Spanish centralism, which were widespread protests in Catalonia, and joined the AIT (International Workers' Association) anarchist union. She decided to become a teacher, and while studying criticized the difficult spelling rules, which she considered too strict just like social rules in life (she simplified her name, from "Isabel Vila" to "Isavel Vila", since in her and most dialects of Catalan, b and v are pronounced the same).

She organized the workers of Llagostera (the town where she lived) and nearby Sant Feliu, and worked together with other women to protest for the abolition of the military draft, the separation of Church and state and freedom of religion.

She was most well-known for her fight for children's rights. The government passed a law limiting children's labour to 5 hours for boys under 13 and girls under 14 and to 8 hours for boys under 15 and girls under 17, but this law was not applied. She confronted local authorities demanding this law be respected, insisting that children need to grow healthy and that child labour perpetuates illiteracy. She was ridiculed for it both by the local bourgeoisie and by fellow trade unionists, who did not understand that children shouldn't be at work.

The coup in 1874 and the restoration of the Bourbonic monarchy illegalized the International and workers' associations. The government issued an arrest order for Isavel, who crossed the border with France and went on exile in Carcassona (Occitania). A rich Freemason family (the Muntada family) hosted her at their home, and during her exile Isavel could study to become a teacher.