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 We may physically have left Spain behind, but she is still on our minds. The Lattice Group reported from Madrid during the elections, now we return with the news that with Zapatero’s new government, Spain has become the first country in history to have a government consisting of more female than male ministers. Even the defense minister is a woman, and a highly pregnant one at that.
But politics and business are different ballparks. The public sector is famously, in any country, more accommodating to change than the private one. And so it should. If the public sector didn’t follow it’s own rules, what kind of example would they be setting in the first place?
No matter, the reality is still such that, according to a recent article in the Economist entitled “Jobs for the girls,” only 1.4% of corporate Spanish boards are made up by women, compared to the 11% European average (not much of model figure, either, might I add). Except for Italy, Spain is the European country where least women enter the work force. The Economist reports:
“Reconciling family life with work, a struggle anywhere, seems to be harder in Spain than in other countries. Spanish women spend far more time on domestic chores, including childcare, than men. The length of the working day, which is extended into the evening thanks to long lunch breaks, does not help.”
This is where Big Brother comes back into the picture. The Spanish government has decided to follow Norway’s example by passing a law requiring companies to up the female board representation to 40% by 2015, though this may be more symbolic than pragmatic since the companies won’t be penalized for not meeting the goal.
Yet, there is still hope. From our brief Spanish experience, young people appear not to share the macho attitude that the poor numbers reflect. As the Economist notes,
“A bigger share of women in their 20s are joining the workforce in Spain than in America. Eva Castillo, a banker and board-member of Telefónica, a telecoms firm, believes it is only a matter of time before women's lot at Spanish firms improves: ‘It's changing naturally, it's a generational thing.’”
What that means for Spain seems obvious: change is in then air. What that means for America may be more odious: change is in the air, but what kind of change? If less young women are entering the workforce, are American women letting the great leaps they’ve made over the past decades slip?
- Astri
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