- You have been the Executive Director of the Catalan Women’s Institute (ICD) for a year now. What are the most recent actions of this body?
The ICD’s mission is to promote, implement, and evaluate intersectional gender mainstreaming in all policies and departments of the Generalitat; therefore, it dedicates many of its resources to this monitoring and promotion. Over the past year, we have been working to introduce this
intersectional gender perspective from the very conception of
public policy. We do this to guarantee the feminist transformation promoted by the Government, as it is the 5th axis of the Government Plan for this 14th legislature (for a feminist country based on the guarantee of human rights).
Through the Department of Equality and Feminisms, we can carry out this task at every step of public policy development, allowing for a fundamental transformation in the way we work that should enable us to move towards an egalitarian society. 2023 has been a year of materializing universal policies that have a great impact on society, such as the menstrual equity plan or the plan to combat aesthetic pressure. These have allowed us to take the activities and demands of feminist movements and transform them into public policy available to all citizens. Additionally, given my professional background in the field of teaching quality, the ICD has continued to promote methodologies and the incorporation of new impact indicators to evaluate the transformations of government action.
- One of the pillars of action for the Catalan Women’s Institute is aesthetic pressure. How does this affect the workplace?
Aesthetic pressure is a form of
symbolic violence against women that aims to discipline us: what and how much we should eat, how we should dress… and therefore, as a form of violence, it affects all areas of our lives, including work. It is not normal for women to be continuously judged by our physical appearance based on beauty ideals that determine which bodies are accepted, reinforcing gender stereotypes and affecting our self-esteem, and for this to condition our professional careers.
This specific form of symbolic male chauvinist violence, exercised against non-normative bodies and hindering the right to enjoy a life without discrimination and free from violence, can be expressed through various mechanisms such as stigmatization, the violation of rights, violence, discrimination, and pathologization. Working to prevent these consequences in the workplace is one of the objectives of the plan.
Aesthetic pressure also takes place in the professional world, especially in professions involving direct interaction with the public to whom a good or service is offered. Physical appearance is not only decisive in many selection processes for obtaining a job, but it is also a determining factor in keeping it. For this reason, the plan includes specific measures in the workplace as well as other generic ones that should help us as a society break these stereotypes, ultimately influencing how we relate with body neutrality in the professional sphere.
- According to the latest report on the Evolution and Profile of Self-Employment, the number of self-employed women in Catalonia is 122,460, representing only 36.9% of the total. What additional difficulties do female entrepreneurs face when starting and consolidating their projects?
Studies and research conducted in both the labor and academic fields indicate that
self-employed women face more difficulties than men in their professional development. Beyond the difficulties inherent to self-employment, which experts in the field can speak about much better, there is a set of
stereotypes and
social practices that affect women’s professional development. The main grievances are problems with
work-life balance, accessing or exercising leadership positions, and social recognition.
We must be able to promote policies based on the principles of feminist economics where life is at the center. This means promoting policies and actions for a dignified life, making care the foundation upon which life, community well-being, and economic and social progress are sustained. But it also means making different uses of time visible, talking about them, and providing data to redistribute them equitably, thus reorganizing life and work time.
- Since 2020, all companies with more than 50 employees have been obliged to have an equality plan. What impact has this measure had on equality between women and men?
Equality plans are the result of the application of Law 3/2007, of March 22, for the effective equality of women and men, and Royal Decree 901/2020 and 902/2020, of October 13, which regulate Equality Plans and their registration, as well as pay equality between men and women. They aim for companies, after evaluating their situation regarding equality between men and women, to be able to plan and execute measures to achieve equal treatment and opportunities within the organization. The ultimate goal is a cultural change—transforming corporate culture by incorporating equality into people management, as people are one of the most important assets of any company.
The impacts have varied depending on the type of company and its sector because they respond to the specific circumstances of each case. However, some are general, such as the
introduction of the gender perspective in the company because both employee representation and management participate in its development, or the
incorporation of equality officers in the field of labor relations. There is a key element for feminist transformation, which is naming things to make them visible. Discussing selection and hiring processes with a gender perspective, professional promotion, working conditions, work-life balance measures, or the prevention of sexual and gender-based harassment and non-sexist language and communication within the business environment—and doing so with the company’s human capital—is the first step toward introducing the necessary improvements to eradicate inequalities in the workplace. Above all, doing this in partnership with all agents and co-creating the measures is one of the ways to ensure they are actually implemented and incorporated into the corporate culture.
- Autoocupació’s motto is “I am what I want to be.” And you, are you?
The social construction of our country, Catalonia, throughout history has been the sum of diverse cultures, leading us to a very diverse society with distinct personal values. In both my professional and personal life, and with respect for personal values, I work to advance towards the goal of building a critical, committed citizenship with a transformative and active vocation for their country. I don’t think I am yet what I want to be because as humans we must accept certain contradictions, but I can say that I am where I want to be, being one of the many pieces that, through effort and work with a vocation for public service, work to strengthen civic and democratic values developed in everyday life, and to involve citizens in adopting these values. Since the ICD and the creation of the department, the resources allocated to equality policies have tripled, providing an unprecedented boost to the feminist transformation of the country.
