Anosmic people

Editor-In-ChiefOf all the senses, the one that good politicians have the most highly developed, is the sense of smell. They are able to detect virtually imperceptible changes in the direction in which society is headed from a mile away, since they form part of it or they can read such changes intuitively. Some switched on politicians have their feet on the ground thanks to an environment that keeps them connected to reality instead of showering them with praise. Others have managed to hone their sense of smell so that it enables them to interpret reality based on the subtle whiffs given off by society. Meanwhile, some politicians appear to suffer from anosmia and, lacking a sense of smell, they are left on the side-lines. This is what happened to many politicians and also many influential business people and journalists this week. Many of them were completely caught off guard by the mass demonstrations on 8 March. They hadn’t seen them coming, or even caught a whiff of them, even going so far as to disparage them.

The outpouring of protest was a success since it provided a release for all the feelings of frustration that had been building up over a long period of time. Many women earn less than men for the same work, more often than not they have the role of caregiver, a psychologically tough, unpaid undertaking, they are more likely to opt out of the career ladder and to collaborate more in their partner’s career. They know that they are smirkingly objectified and they must be wary of sexual abuse and gender violence.

This is not a list of tearful grievances but, instead, the everyday reality of many strong women. The 8 March served to put across a point of view that helped many men involved in gender equality to understand the women who surround them. Women on both the political right and left, young and old alike, continue to be victims of the persistence of certain sexist stereotypes. From Anna Gabriel to Inés Arrimadas, women are judged on their physical appearance and patronised at particular moments in their public life. Since they share this common denominator, it is hard to appreciate how some women have distanced themselves from a protest which they need not agree with one hundred percent.

Teaching others how to see

The grandmothers and feminists of the seventies have passed on the baton to a younger, care-free generation, one that is not afraid to criticise the grievances of everyday life; a generation that teaches those who do not wish to look, how to see. The following scene was played out early in the morning of 8 March. It involved a couple of thirty-something liberal professionals:

Her: Toni, I won’t be taking our kid to school today.

Him: But I’ve got a lot on, I can’t do it.

Her: I’m on strike today.

Him: Okay... I'll call my mother.

The domestic chore was instinctively resolved by calling another woman, the grandmother of the child that didn’t know how to teleport itself to school.

The second scene was provided by a seventy-year-old businesswoman a few hours later. She told me how the person in charge of an organization, one who had held the post for many years, had told him they did not integrate women into decision-making bodies since he was "annoyed" at not being able to "crack jokes" and he was uncomfortable "travelling on business with women".

Women’s entry into traditionally male institutions is a question of democratic hygiene, since it entails an improvement in the criteria of meritocracy, transparency and good governance. Women promote the ability of many ecosystems to renew themselves and are more numerous in key public positions which are obtained on merit rather than in those that are obtained by cooptation or by a selection process possessing the characteristics of a political pact.

Private vices and public virtues

The third scene took place the following day. The malevolent workings of an anonymous secret service leaked the recording of a private telephone conversation [where the Catalan government's former Secretary of the Treasury, Lluís Salvadó, can be heard cracking crass, sexist jokes] with a friend (Josep Caparrós, the mayor of Sant Carles de la Ràpita). Conversations like these are not so unusual in our society and it is good that we ask ourselves in what way this insight affects people’s decisions and behaviour.

The value of the mass protests on 8 March is that this year "Time’s Up" will last more than one day. Women have decided to make themselves visible and their demands have turned to action. If birth rates are low, it is because wages are low and because public policies are insufficient to help change the situation. If women are giving birth later and later, it is because their consolidation in the workplace is also arriving late. The call for equality is complex and the struggle will be a long one, but women have unequivocally demonstrated that they have grown tired of their Sisyphean task and are calling for egalitarian public policies.