Gender-issue disruption in multiple life settings in Spain is at its peak. Social, work, relationship, and other scenes seem to be ready for change and redefinition, and it looks like these changes are here to stay.
Gender issues in Spain at a social level
The fact that women in STEM professions (acronym for science, technology, engineering, mathematics) are promoting an endless number of small projects at a visibility, early childhood education and other several levels so that female inclusion figures in these spheres increase and turn out to be a truer reflection of society, is not just a coincidence; for example, and in the case of IT (Information Technologies), we‘re talking about a 17% of women within technology production’s workforce in a social collective where women are about 50% of the population.
Money drives money
Being honest, we, women in these professions, have advantages; other women who work in mining, transport of merchandise or any other male-dominated sector who would claim more opportunities in their fields of work, would not have as many possibilities as we and our male counterparts are currently getting, since we are in a sweet economic spot in comparison with other professions that are either restructuring or disappearing.
All of this is the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution and it affects us all, both men and women, but if the gender scale in this new market doesn’t lean towards a more diverse approach, women’s economic situation will be much more precarious than it is nowadays.
To sum up, we are privileged within the women spectrum, since we are right in the place where money is being generated and there are growth possibilities, and that’s the reason why we can raise our voice louder than ever and be heard, unfortunately, compared to women in other sectors, not to mention other social systems.
Contrasting opinion with a voice of command
But talking about myself and being a techie woman in Spain with a few combed white hairs, I can’t ignore the voice of my conscience when I hear about opportunities and initiatives where we are being given space and impulse, that’s why I sit with the Researcher, Engineer and soon MD in Computer Science, Nerea Luis Mingueza, at Universidad Carlos III in Madrid.
Nerea is a professional who is currently dedicating most of her time to investigating Artificial Intelligence, but she is also a very active person in the area of discussion of this article, which is the female technology producer and the specific opportunities that rise up for us, women.
And when I say authorised voice and active in female-specific job opportunities in Spain, I really mean it, since Nerea, graduate student with honours after entering university with an outstanding record, and, in her own words, “as a result of constant effort and dedication”.
Second of her class out of 170 students in the Engineering Degree, currently taking a PhD, active in research groups at university, throughout this path being acknowledged at a world level with the much-appreciated Google’s “Anita Borg” scholarship and attending events such as the “Grace Hopper Conference”, or being able to share moments with Manuela Veloso (robotics leader and creator of the RoboCup), a renowned person within the women and engineering world.
I could go on talking about Nerea because, apart from being a role model in her field, she is all the time doing and sharing, and that’s why she has now created a tool in the shape of a newsletter so that we can be in the loop on events, conferences, scholarships, awards, etc. related to gender opportunities that arise specifically for women, but with the aim that men also join and get to know the reason and the importance of these series of actions.
I have already signed up and I encourage you to subscribe too and be up-to-date; there are already some appointments in my calendar for several dates, which would otherwise have been difficult to be on the lookout for through email groups, twitter ads or reminders among colleagues.
Gender issues at an institutional level in Spain
Sitting with a computational researcher and talking about gender issues in Spain, the first thing we deal with is the institutional part. That is to say, I have in front of me a person that has been able to experience the differences at a university level related to the lack of women in STEM in the U.S. and contrast it with Spain.
I always wonder why there are more events in Spain under the names of U.S. companies than from Spanish ones like, for example, the Women’s Institute (Instituto de la Mujer) or the IT Engineering School (Colegio de Ingenieros Informáticos). I’m not saying there are no such events, but in comparison, the number of them is smaller, and they are in earlier stages with regard to size and shape.
But while talking to Nerea, the cause is revealed; the degree of gender action treatment in STEM that comes from “the Americans” is normalisation. Nerea explains to me how, for example, in the university where she lived for about 10 months in Pittsburgh, the “Carnegie Mellon University”, they had been encouraging initiatives with the aim of increasing the number of women in their lecture halls for 10 years, and by 2016 they finally achieved a 50% of female students.
She also tells me about how her (astonishing) accomplishments at an academic and international recognition level were praised and emphasized out of the border, but that inside the boundaries at a curricular level they were of no use, both because of the scientific professional development system based on publications and not on events, and because of the institutional support to a problem that is starting to be more noticeable, but that in the U.S. is even something worth battling for.
Gender issues at a private level in Spain
And now we will focus on rivalry among companies for being on top of diversity rankings, shifting to a matter of private companies and seeing how we are, again, playing in another very different league where there are still very few Spanish companies that bet on gender diversity, and most of them have started doing it only a while ago, and in a residual way.
The initiative is being driven inch by inch almost only by individuals, small communities that grow little by little, and emerging projects that are still marginal but that are struggling to get funded. There are also moves by bigger companies, but they are still superficial and do not trigger a real change… but at least they are awakening the lacking awareness of these problems in Spain and putting it into debate.
From my point of view, we are at an early stage of national consciousness awakening, which is already an improvement, bearing in mind that until recently this consciousness didn’t even exist. An odd awakening not comparable in form and content with actions promoted by companies whose origin or leadership is not local.
Welcome, Mr. Marshall
The Marshall Plan provided several aids to the Spanish population after the end of World War II, creating a collective image of rescue by “the Americans”. My own mum, who lived in those years, has explained to me that when she was a girl, she used to eat yellow cheese presented in cans thanks to the American aid, and movies like the awesome “Bienvenido, Míster Marshall” (Welcome, Mr. Marshall), reflected the irony of having to wait to be rescued by third parties.
Being a techie, I’m used to living in a world and an environment of imported goods and trends: if Google makes popular having table football in the office, we do it here as well; if it’s really cool to sell your products by using the “Elevator pitch”, we do it too…, and so on.
But talking about the worker himself/herself, of its gender and the labour and social environments, we can’t just talk about simplistic importations or devices; we can’t just import a trendy speech pattern that is in fashion or play a couple of specific actions to the gallery, or, to put it another way, to marketing, since it will be of no use.
Instilling gender diversity (and I’m leaving aside cultural and religious issues, among others, since that would be taking a step further) in our industries, at our universities, in our understanding of conceiving that the environment is related to the specific area, (to Spain, in this case) and we can’t just shout out other’s chants, because we need to shout our own, that must suit our identity as a society. At this point importations may be used as a guide, but they are of no real use.
Can’t we really bet in a decisive way on a greater gender equality in the STEM professions with its own trademark?
We need to build up a diverse speech tailored to our own needs as a society!
I’m optimistic and I think that it’s just a matter of time, and that the several conversations and indicators that I observe prove that we are at previous stages to the ones I would like to see already instilled, but there’s still a lot of work to do and we need to stick our necks out.
