Jenara Vicenta Arnal Yarza was born into a family of farmers and worked for numerous years as a primary school teacher.
However, she left her school in order to pursue higher education in chemistry. In 1930, Yarza was approved to attend the University of Basel in order to study with Friedrich Fichter (1869-1952), a professor of inorganic chemistry who focused on electrochemistry and the vice president of the International Union of Chemistry. In 1931, she became the first woman to receive a PhD in chemistry in Spain. After receiving her degree, Yarza returned to teaching and became the second woman to ever work as a director of a department of physics and chemistry in a Spanish secondary school.
While at university, Yarza worked with Fichter on the chemical oxidation of metals. Through her research, she prepared fluorine through the electrolysis of molten potassium bifluoride. Fichter and Yarza ultimately published an article together in the prestigious Swiss journal Helvetica chimica acta.