REVEALED: A Place in the Sun is filming across these locations on Spain’s Costa del Sol and inland Malaga THIS WEEK 35 995

Jennifer Cunningham, Jennifer Cunningham Insurances SL

“I went into a man’s world of insurance as one of the first women to do so – and it was not easy to be part of a male dominated industry. I was viewed with suspicion which became worse in Spain. They regarded me as rather strange, they found direct eye contact difficult and then none of the banks took me seriously, which made life hard. I decided long ago to try and ignore the difficulties and just go forward. After 28 years, I am comfortable in my shoes and my business goes from strength to strength. Our predecessors fought for us and opened doors for us. I think as women we don’t always praise ourselves enough. There’s that saying ‘behind every great man is a strong woman’. Well, we don’t want to be strong women standing behind men. We don’t want to be strong women standing in front of men. We want to be strong women standing shoulder to shoulder with men.”

Women don’t want Femke Eliza Utrecht, Head of Marketing, BinckBank part of Saxo Bank

“F inance is a male dominated industry, but times have changed and it’s a much more level playing field now. I have never felt any prejudice. BinckBank is very inclusive. Women have the same opportunities as men here. My advice to young women wanting to get into finance is be confident and trust your abilities – women are great at investments. “Our predecessors fought for us and opened doors for us. I think as women we don’t always praise ourselves enough. There’s that saying behind every great man is a strong woman. Well, we don’t want to be strong women standing behind men. We don’t want to be strong women standing in front of men. We want to be strong women standing shoulder to shoulder with men.”

Gemma Broad, Telitec Business and Promotions Manager

“I’ve been working in Spain for over 17 years; I’ve been the public face of several companies, and currently with Telitec SL. In my role, I speak to many businesses,and men and women from all walks of life and have found on the whole that many are like me, want to advance, promote and have a great working relationship. However, over the years I have also come across obstacles put in my way by both men and women equally. I have been quite lucky regarding bad experiences in the workplace, but I think that is because in promotion and sales being a girl has helped me. This is one reason why I have organized the International Women’s Day on March the 8th at Altea Golf Club, not only to strengthen relationships between these women, but to show how by working together – men and women – we can be much stronger. See more by viewing the Facebook event ‘International Women’s Day’ hosted by Telitec Communications and Altea Golf Club.

Belinda Beckett, freelance writer and Olive Press columnist

Olive Press online ‘Spain’s best Eng lish news webs ite ’

“I grew up in 1960s Britain when ‘women’s libbers’ were mocked as bra’burning lesbians who cultivated underarm hair and slept with a copy of Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch under their pillow. “Fortunately, journalism offered equal opportunities – female and male reporters alike were sent off to cover football, darts and dustmen’s strikes, although only the women were forced to brave barrages of blue ‘humour’ to get their story. We were expected to be ‘adult’ about wandering hands and ‘show us your tits’ quips but not considered grownup enough to open a bank account without our father’s or husband’s signature! “Thanks to the Sisterhood, we’ve moved on. Harvey Weinstein’s recent conviction is another giant step for womankind on the rocky road to equality and perfect timing for International Women’s Day. As for female eunuchs, there’s no such thing. Show me a woman who doesn’t have balls!”

Strong role models Maura Hillen, illegal homes campaigner

“I think it’s a good idea to celebrate anybody who’s working on behalf of their community, but I understand the need for International Women’s Day,” says the President of AUAN (Abusos Urbanisticos Andalucia No). “I see myself as a leader, but it’s up to other people to decide if I’m inspirational. “There are a lot of women killed in Spain as a result of do mestic violence, there’s a certain amount of machismo in the culture. “I think it’s decreasing, but it’s still an issue, and I have seen studies to suggest that young men view themselves as superior to women. “I grew up in a traditional society in Ireland and had strong female role models. “I wouldn’t necessarily classify myself as a femenist, but I am independent and I know my self worth, and would encourage every man, woman and child to do the same.”

Gabriella Chidgey, self-employed businesswoman and hotelier

“ I first started developing Romantic Ronda, five luxury holiday apartments and country houses, around 15 years ago. There have been frustrations. The bureaucracy has been a pain, but finding the right people to work with has been a steep learning curve. Would I have faced some of them as a man? I’m not sure.“It is still a macho environment. I experienced a number of architects, lawyers,and builders until finally, I have found people I can trust to get the job done and who work well with women.These were not men that cemented a deal with a drink. They were immediately direct and professional, respected my viewpoint and what I wanted. Several years ago the constructor I worked with ignored me, threw my carefully drawn plans onto the floor of his car, and gave me design ultimatums that suited him.“He was the most successful builder in the region. I knew four women running renovation projects with him, and none chose to use him again. He did not survive the recession. “I don’t want special treatment as a woman, just to have my business acumen acknowledged and my viewpoint respected. It’s got so much better - at least contractors will deal with me now rather than asking when my husband will be there!”

THE Olive Press website continues its march across Spain. Our online portal www.theolivepress.es is entering uncharted territory as it soars up to 460th position in Alexa’s official ranking for the country’s top sites. The most trusted English website in Spain, we are also making huge in-roads in both the UK and Ireland, where we also sit comfortably inside the Top 500 sites for each country. We put this down to proper relevant content. Carefully researched and compiled, we stick to our remit of covering the key stories that matter around the peninsu- la and its islands. We are not interested in Eamonn Holmes’ tax bill, a shooting in a Manila shopping mall and, particularly, the death of the Monkees singer some 12 months late! And nor are the 1.5 million visitors who came to our site in the short month of February. According to Google analytics, they were treated to 2.1 million ‘hits’ (or pages read) on everything from the sustainability of patio heaters in bars to tax increases for British homeowners in Spain, and from the march of the coronavirus to a man who lost his view to a giant pile of rubble. The site has become the only re- source expats interested in Spain need to use, not to mention tour- ists arriving here in their millions each month. Visit www.theolivepress.es and see how much content we have... and if you’ve got a business just how much exposure we can give you. TOP 500 Users 795.3K 1.6 M 2.2 M 11,982 # 407 # 430 ON TOP: Olive Press website traffic for last four weeks

Here are the top five most read stories on www.theolivepress.es in the past two weeks are: 1 - BR EAKING: Family isolated for possible coro- navirus on Spain’s Costa del Sol after returning from Italy trip (70,843 visitors) 2 - BR EAKING: Four new coronavirus cases confir med on Spain’s Costa del Sol (66,316) 3 - REVEALED: A Place in the Sun is filming across these locations on Spain’s Costa del Sol and inland Malaga THIS WEEK (35,995) 4 - Weather warning for Spain’s Malaga and Costa del Sol as Storm Karine to bring strong winds and rough seas (26,830) 5 - Hundreds of workers sent home on Spain’s Costa del Sol due to possible coronavirus exposure (26,124)