CHANGE

some questionable statements about women’s working roles. And when it comes to the workplace itself, the proportion of women in managerial positions remains around a third of that of men with the numbers dropping even further as careers progress. There is work

HOW TO BE A ‘GOOD WIFE’:

to do and Spanish women earn around 10% (about €6,000) less per year than men and occupy more than 70% of part-time contracts. Of

A 1950’s pamphlet these women, 46% affirm they are part-time because they care for dependents or cannot afford childcare services.

WHEN chemistry graduate Robina (Valladolid, 1965) joined Vitoria’s Michelin factory in 1988, she was the only woman there. Now she’s the first female boss for Iberia, responsible for a €2.6 billion turnover and 7,300 employees – most of whom (despite her sterling example) are men. ‘It is difficult for us to find women to fill mechanical positions,’ she says, blaming childhood stereotyping that leads to the notion there are things that girls just don’t do.

GO-GO FRANCO

CARNIVAL organisers who warned participating floats against playing sexist songs during their parades have been likened to officials from the Franco era.

Those taking part in the amazing orgy of fancy dress, street parades and pageantry were told they could lose their public subsidies if they played songs on a proscribed list.

The festival, held each February, is a huge event in the community that inspires young and old, but there have long been accusations that it harbours a dark side that seems to revel in chauvinism.

Accordingly, in recent years there has been a groundswell of public support to combat this by town halls in Catalunya.

Reading between the lines

Nothing can show how far women’s rights have moved forward from the female author censorship of the Franco era, than to have an all female bookshop in the heart of the capital.