This is the life story of an innovative woman who was overshadowed by the men in her family.
Daughter of and Indian man and a Catalan woman, Mercè Pàniker grew up in Barcelona in the 20’s of the past century and spend her teenage years in a boarding school in the Nazi Germany, where it started the Second World War. She studied chemistry in the University of Barcelona and a Master’s degree in the University of Leeds, where there was only four women among twenty men. Often, she was the only woman in a world of men, and she always stood her ground with her head held high, without making excuses, without asking permission.
When she came back to Barcelona, she started directing her family business Pàniker, S.A. and promoted a strong associative web inside the chemical sector. When her husband suddenly died, she will have to raise her four children alone. With the arrival of democracy, she will involve herself in defence of liberties and the equality of women.