Successful forum Hypatia
Some seventy people participated in Hypatia, a forum for reflection on parity organized by the association 50a50 together with a dozen of businesswomen associations to commemorate 8M.
With the slogan “For parity, facts and not words”, Hypatia is a meeting place for associations of women entrepreneurs, managers and professionals in order to add synergies for the common goal: establish lines of work to achieve the equal presence of women in decision-making positions, in accordance with Sustainable Development Goal 5 of the UN 2030 Agenda.
In addition to 50a50, the participating associations have been ADEVallès, Agima, ASODAME, Círculo de Mujeres de Negocios, Dones Visuals, Esade Equal, For Gender Seal, Fundació Surt, Women Evolution, Women’s Progress and Xarxa DDiPAS. Hipatia has also had the support of the Departament d’Empresa i Coneixement of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Institut Català de les Dones and the Fundació “la Caixa”.
“The feminism is called to change the structures and to form a more equal society, and the key is to be united, the key is the union of women”, stressed Anna Mercadé, president of 50th and 50th, at the opening of the event. The Minister of Enterprise of the Generalitat, Àngels Chacón, agreed in the video message sent from Korea: “The future is not macho, the future belongs to all those who want to build it with equality”.
A great example of this is Eva Blanco, from HP Barcelona, who highlighted the success of the Woman Network initiative to make women and female talent visible, create references and train women to help them find a balance between work and private life. “Because we seem to say yes to everything!, she added.
Next, the first round table dealt with quotas as a necessary measure for equity. Cristina Oliva, from 50a50, introduced some very interesting data. “According to Davos gender parity in the company will take 202 years to arrive… I hope it will be sooner because I want our daughters to see it,” she said.
Lourdes Mourelo, of For Gender Seal, told “quotas are temporary measures of positive action, which allow a woman to be elected in front of a man with the same competences until a parity situation is reached”. Míriam Porté, from Dones Visuals, agreed, while Mercedes Aguilera, from the Círculo de Mujeres de Negocios, highlighted the meritocracy.
“Gender pay gap, economic violence?” was the title of the second round table, presented by Mar Gaya, from 50a50. The data are again enlightening: in Catalonia the wage gap is 23.9% and “creates a loop, is both cause and consequence, because when choosing who of the two stays at home to take care of the children or of the elderly, it is the woman who asks for the reduction of working hours because it is a matter of domestic economy”.
Representing the Xarxa DDiPAS and Fundació Surt, Fina Rubio has insisted on the need to establish a sanctioning regime for the law to be applied. Mónika Blasco, of ADEVallès, pointed out that “there is little interest in the wage gap because it is working well for the men”, while Lola Sánchez Tuduri referred to the sexual division of labor of the prevailing economic model as the mother cause.
The first edition of Hypatia has been a joint success, because it has managed to unite a whole series of associations of women managers, professionals and entrepreneurs to advance together towards the fulfillment of Objective 5 of the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations.