The acting Minister of Culture and Sports, José Guirao, attended the meeting of the Gender Equality Observatory in the field of Culture at the Ministry's headquarters, which reported on the status of the initiatives and studies in which we work to make women visible in this sector.
The Observatory, in the words of the Minister of Culture and Sports, should be a "forum for formal and informal dialogue to listen and discuss the different situations of inequality raised by the main associations of women in the cultural sector" and, always, has highlighted Guirao, "in tune with the dynamic and open communication that they maintain with the different general directorates". As pointed out by the Minister of Culture, the Observatory is a factor of change that "should not be limited to promoting and disseminating studies and reports, but should propose improvement measures and evaluate their effectiveness".
The meeting was attended by representatives of institutional organizations and the main associations of women in culture that make up the Observatory, the Association of Women in Visual Arts_MAV; the Association of Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media; the Classical and Modern Association and the Association of Women in Music. The Association of Women in the Music Industry has also participated as a guest association.
First studies disaggregated by sex
Following the Workplan, the Observatory has presented different studies aimed at implementing gender policies in different areas of culture, among them, the first reports disaggregated by sex in the film and book sectors. These reports, as planned, will be updated and published every two months.
Among other indicators, these studies show the significant differences by sex between employment linked to culture and total employment, with a lower proportion of women in the cultural sphere, 39.1%, compared to 45.5% observed in the whole economy.
There are greater proportions of women in employment in book or newspaper publishing activities (45.5%), and the figures of writers, journalists and linguists with rates above 52% of women stand out. The statistics published also show a greater female presence in activities related to libraries, archives and museums, 56.1%, compared to 43.9% of men. The lowest proportion is observed in graphic arts, recording, reproduction of supports, music editing, manufacture of image and sound devices and musical instruments, with 27.1% of women versus 72.9% of men.
In the field of cinema, the main results indicate that 23.7% of Spanish feature films had last year women's participation in their direction or in their screenplay (16.9% of Spanish-made feature films were directed or co-directed by a woman and in 21% of them there was participation of women in the elaboration of the script). In total, in 2018, the average percentage of women employed in cinematographic activities (video, radio and television) was 41.3%.
Next study on the application of the Law of Equality
Among the next steps of the Observatory is the development of a broad study on the application of the Law of Equality in the Ministry of Culture and Sport that will include proposals for improvement in situations in which inequalities have been detected.