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And it's not just about women demanding to wield the whip and keep men down, as some sectors of society believe – it's about both men and women having access to the same rights and opportunities, and being subject to the same moral and legal duties, as each other.
Although it seems like a tired subject for some, 'feminism' or, better termed, 'gender equality' is actually quite a new battle in historical terms: plenty of adults from western cultures who are not even yet retired will remember a time when women could not take out loans or hire purchase, open a bank account or sign for a mortgage, without their husbands' permission; when men were denied the chance of being stay-at-home dads or to work part-time and become chief childcarer; when married women were barred from promotion at work or even forced to leave when they wed; when men would have been unable to apply for jobs as secretaries or nurses, or sure to be rejected in favour of women if they did.
Effectively, in all fields of the global economy and as little as 40 or 50 years ago, the ideas, talents and perspective of half the population was excluded – men's ideas and talents, as well as women's.
For today's young adults, the thought of a 'house husband' being the subject of a double-page magazine feature, or a woman earning less than a man for the same quality, amount and relevance of work, are unthinkable, or even laughable; but figures show that even in the first world, there is still plenty to achieve to close the gap and give males and females equal consideration and chances.
And Spain is the place where they can achieve all this – it's officially in the world top 10 for gender equality.
Here's how and why, and what Spain as a nation has accomplished so far this century.
How Spain managed to be world number eight
According to the Global Economic Forum's Gender Gap report, Spain is eighth-best in the world and has made massive leaps in the last year alone.
Whilst in 2018, the western Mediterranean country sat at number 29 in the world – still among the top 10% of the planet or 20% of countries studied – by the end of 2019, it had soared an eye-watering 21 slots up the ranking.
Overall, Spain has managed to close the gender gap in all areas by 79.5%, and the countries which are ahead of it in terms of progress are exactly those you would expect: the highly socially-evolved Scandinavian nations.
Iceland is the planet's most gender-equal country, having closed the sex gap by 88%, followed by Norway, at 84%, Finland at 83.2%, and Sweden at 82%.
Surprisingly, Nicaragua is above Spain – one of Central America's poorest nations, it nevertheless needs its women for survival and, like many regions in this area, men are more likely to emigrate to find work to feed their families, meaning it is the women who practically run the country.
Whilst Nicaragua has closed its gender gap by 80.4%, New Zealand is just behind at 79.9%, and the Republic of Ireland at 79.8%.
The fact that the African republic of Rwanda is at number nine is less surprising than would first appear – although a developing nation, it has the highest ratio of female government members on earth, which has helped reduce its gender gap by 79.1%.
Spain – and Rwanda – beat Germany, which is at number 10 after closing its inequality gap by 78.7%.
And Spain is one of the top five countries on earth which has most improved in the last year – others which have made excellent progress are Ethiopia, Mali, Albania and México.
All of these five have seen a substantial increase in the number of women present in their political institutions – and this is necessary, because it is scientifically proven that male and female brains are wired differently, so the world views, suggestions, and interpretations of situations that each comes up with for society's main challenges are clearly going to be diverse; and versatile thinking is crucial in these times of increasing international cooperation where countries and continents have to work as a team.
A large part of Spain's equality achievement has been in its female-heavy political make-up. With socialist president Pedro Sánchez's new cabinet – the first coalition government, along with left-wing Podemos, in the country's democratic history – being slightly more than half-female, half-male, there is every chance that both sexes will feel their needs met and their concerns represented.
Spain's Lower Chamber is now made up of 47% women, and 65% of its ministers are female, making it the number one country in Europe for women in politics and one of just 10 worldwide with 50% or more females in office.
Other countries whose numbers, or percentages, or both, of women ministers have increased are Latvia and Thailand – although on a global scale, still, women only occupy 25% of seats in Parliament and only 21% hold ministerial rôles.
This is largely skewed by the fact that in some countries, no women are present at all – and, in the last 50 years, 85 out of the 153 nations analysed have not had a female leader.
Spain is, in fact, one of these, but for the first time, four deputy presidents are now in office, and three of these are female (second picture).
Health, survival, employment, pay, care duties...
Elsewhere, Spain's gender-gap closure did not improve, because it barely had room to – in the category of health and survival, the breach between men and women had already been closed by 97.2%.
The country still has plenty to do in terms of the gender pay gap – where men and women in jobs of equal value, standing and workload, not necessarily identical rôles, earn the same wage – although ongoing campaigns and the newly-introduced right of all staff to consult pay scales in firms of over 50 employees means improvements in just 12 months have been significant: from 66.8% in 2018 to 68.1% in 2019.
At present, in both the public and private sector, just 32% of top company jobs are occupied by females, and only 22% of boards of directors are made up of women.
Whilst the Global Economic Forum report refers to 'strong commercial and cultural barriers' to 'providing women with the same opportunities as men', some would argue that, as these high-ranking company positions have been carried out by males for so long, they have 'moulded' to the male psyche and are not attractive to women; the process of 'remoulding' these rôles to make them more unisex in nature could take another generation, or more.
Additionally, in Spain, 68.8% of women versus 78.9% of men are active in the job market – the reasons for which have not been fully analysed. Some of it is the ongoing issue of women being the main caregiver for children and elderly or disabled relatives; this may be a personal choice, may be against men's wishes; could be because women live longer, meaning elderly care is likely to focus on female dependants who, logically, would prefer female carers; or could be because of the historic difference between maternity and paternity leave.
Until recent years, men only had two weeks' paternity leave to women's 16 weeks, both on full pay for employees; the former has been progressively increased and now sits at 12 weeks, with some arguing that mums do need a few weeks longer than dads as they need to recover from pregnancy and labour.
Anecdotal evidence, however, points to there being few barriers to accessing different types of work based upon gender, except in cases where this may make more sense: overnight hotel receptionists or service station staff may be more likely to be male, for safety's sake, but construction workers, gas-bottle delivery employees, scientists, and engineers are often women, whilst men make up nearly half of all nurses in hospitals and teachers in schools, unlike in many developed countries where males and females continue to gravitate towards certain jobs or careers.
Why is it important?
No country on earth has managed to close its gender gap by 100%, says the Global Economic Forum, but the report stresses that doing so is 'becoming urgent'.
“Without the equal inclusion of half the world's talent, we cannot grow our economies to the maximum prosperity possible,” the paper warns.
“At the current rate of change, it will be another 50 years before full parity is reached – a timescale which is simply unacceptable in today's global world, especially among younger generations who are becoming more and more progressive in gender equality terms.
“Companies and governments need to take advantage of the differences between genders, and allow both to invest all their talent in continuous improvement and re-skilling.
“Governments need to create policies which permit talent development, integration and opportunities for all genders, diversify their leadership groups, provide support to carers and those with families, and to all ages.
“Firms and governments need to work together to create a new social and economic narrative for action to enable them to coordinate and accelerate the process of change.”
Gender job split
The Global Economic Forum report shows the job split by gender worldwide, and also by country, showing which careers men and women need to be encouraged to take up in order to ensure an equal representation in all areas of industry.
Women are the dominant players in content production and 'people and culture'.
Figures for Spain are very similar to those for the world as a whole.
What is 'the feminist economy'?
The Global Economic Forum considers the 'feminist economy' – or 'gender-equal economy', if you prefer – to be one that 'puts life at the centre of everything'.
Wellbeing, quality of life, social and environmental justice are the key points to consider, not just finances.
This includes recognising the value of care duties, which remain, at present, often invisible, since they do not earn money, even though looking after children, the elderly, the sick and disabled are necessary rôles for life and society to continue.
According to Alicia Rius of the Feminist Economy Network, these care rôles are equally as productive as they 'create assets and services and save money for the State'.
“One of our key objectives is to move the focus of the economy from profits and markets, and re-direct it onto life as a whole, putting life at the heart of the system,” Sra Rius says.
“We need to reconsider our perception of 'production', since there are jobs out there which are not really necessary to life and the planet.
“For example, although the traditional economy tells us it's beneficial, manufacturing weapons is not necessary; on the other hand, caring for children and other dependants is, in fact, necessary to life.
“Change is happening,” says Alicia Rius, confidently.
“But we need to be knocking on the doors of the world's largest fortunes and biggest corporations.”
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