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On January 15, the Sociological Research Center revealed to us that 44.1% of men claimed that “we have gone so far in promoting women’s equality that men are now being discriminated against.”
However, as an antithesis and in the purest form of Pablo Neruda, it was also revealed that 81.2% of women claim that “equality will not be achieved unless men also fight for women’s rights”, and, Although the figures drop to 74.2%, men also think so.
Days later, on January 22, in France, the sixth report on the situation of sexism was published by the High Council of Equality (Haut Conseil à l’Égalité entre les Femmes et les Hommes), which shows, among other points, that families, schools and digital technology are “incubators of sexism.”
These two documents have generated a lot of debate in recent days, as if something of what is presented was revealing and new.
On November 25, on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and supporting the UN Women campaign, I carried out a voluntary and intuitive session with a fifth grade class, in a center in Barcelona. This school could be described as public, secular, middle class and with a marked diversity of student profile.
As part of this session, I did an exercise on defining gender roles. I divided the class into four groups, two mixed, one with only boys and one with girls. I offered each group to choose between two colors of markers (pink-blue) and I gave each team a piece of white cardboard. I asked two groups to make a list of things, ideas and definitions (sports, professions, colors, games, etc.) that represented and defined girls, and the same with boys. Then we compare the results.
I repeated this same exercise a few weeks later in Ethiopia with a mixed group of 25 communication professionals.
The results left no room for doubt in any of the sessions: the traditional and sexist gender roles assigned to women and men continue to be deeply rooted in our minds, from a very early age and with patterns copied worldwide.
The only difference that I could observe and that gave me a ray of light, is that the boys and girls in this primary class (10-11 years old), during the initial debates, were confused with the idea, they seemed to understand that the traditional roles They represented him to us and discussed it with their group colleagues with conviction. Unlike the adult group who mocked and had fun exposing these gender roles.
Unfortunately, when the time came for the Primary students to report the results, they let themselves be carried away, supposedly, by political correctness.
Below I will reflect some comments collected in the two sessions:
Boys/Men (blue marker)
Girls/women (Pink marker)
Seeing the results, I asked myself if we can really continue advancing in this matter, without being able to create a solid and strong foundation from an early age. Without even being clear that men and women are equal by law, that gender is a social construction or that machismo is not the opposite of feminism, how can we continue moving forward?
Returning to the study carried out by the CIS, 49.2% of men have heard sexist comments from friends or family, the figure is similar among women (45.6%). 13.8% of women claim to have witnessed a man sexually harassing a woman and 8.1% of men as well.
On the other hand, 55.6% of those surveyed indicate that talking openly about feelings is more typical of women. The report reveals other data that is not unprecedented, but is unusual in 2024, which makes that oasis of equality between men and women that many believe they have achieved disappear.
In the French report, as mentioned at the beginning, it places clear emphasis on the role of schools and families, and reveals how these sexist stereotypes have a clear relationship with violence against women. As data, the Spanish Ministry of Equality publishes that, from January 1, 2003 to January 15, 2024, there are already 1,239 fatalities due to gender violence.
Clearly we continue to progress in what appears to be a false equality that seems to be embedded in our DNA; making us unable to understand how machismo limits the choices of women and girls in their lives, generating a negative impact on something as important as human relationships and as legitimate as human rights.
This social inequality that is imposed simply by being women and that is intrinsically interconnected with other social factors, translates into unacceptable consequences.
And this is clearly revealed in many areas, such as discrimination in the labor market (salary gap, social and economic devaluation of caregivers and domestic workers, or lack of women in leadership positions); in sport (lack of financial support, sexualization of sportswear); in the transmission of emotions and ethical values ??(children who start watching porn at 8-12 years old, the “period” taboo, myths related to motherhood or violence against women); in culture and research (invisibility and lack of support for women, naturalization of the dissemination of musical genres that promote machismo and violence towards women and girls and that are even played in schools). Among many other examples.
We need to understand that respect for gender equality must be transferred from a very early age in schools. That it is not indoctrination but rather a social and legitimate duty. An individual and joint work with families, professionals and policy makers to be able to once and for all eliminate sexist myths, ideas and attitudes, which many times without assessing the consequences we continue to replicate and pass on to new generations in small doses.
Every time feminists shout loudly and ask to accelerate progress towards real equality, the foundations shake, but not enough to break with the current system and make a structural change on a vertical and horizontal basis, continuously and not sporadic or occasional. .
50% of the world’s population continues to be discriminated against because of their sex (among other reasons), and this is unacceptable! The oasis of equality, like any oasis, may seem real, but when you get closer and look at it, it disappears again and again and in the meantime many warriors fall by the wayside.
