The University of Jaén hosted the '1st International Congress on Women and Diversities: Advancing Equality from an Intersectional Perspective' on October 23rd and 24th. Organized by the Vice-Rectorate for Equality, Diversity, and Social Responsibility of the University of Jaén, the congress was funded by the Ministry of Equality-Women's Institute. Participants reflected on the difficulties and barriers in applying an intersectional approach to better understand and study women and diversity, considering fundamental dimensions such as gender, sexual orientation and identity, ethnicity, and disability, among others, within society.

Likewise, this congress aimed to reflect on intersectionality, as an approach that allowed for the analysis of the richness and complexity of female identities and, therefore, on the various causes of vulnerability or privilege that could coexist.

To this end, it featured the participation of prominent academics and professionals in the field, such as Wendy Harcourt, Professor of Gender, Diversity and Sustainable Development at the International Institute of Social Studies at Erasmus University The Hague, who had previously served as president of the Women in Development Network in Europe and coordinator of the EU-funded Innovative Training Network on Ecology of Wellbeing, Gender and Community. Harcourt opened the congress with the inaugural lecture entitled 'Pedagogies of care: feminist practices of belonging rather than othering'.

In addition, the congress also featured Alma Pérez, Regional Advisor for Women, Peace and Security at UN Women for the Americas and the Caribbean; Lucas Platero, whose career has been marked by activist commitment and advocacy for the rights of the LGBTIQ+ community; and Isabel Martínez Lozano, then Director of Universities and Talent Development at the ONCE Foundation, who until December 2011 had been Secretary General for Social Policy and Consumer Affairs at the Ministry of Health, Social Policy and Equality, and previously Secretary General for Equality Policies at the Ministry of Equality. The closing conference was delivered by María Rodó-Zárate, entitled "Mapping Intersectional Gender Inequalities: Methodological Contributions and Results of the INTERMAPS Project."