In Spain, 44.1% of men “strongly” or “fairly agree” that “we have come so far in promoting women's equality” that they are now being discriminated against ―Those between 16 and 24 years old represent 51.8% of those who feel this way―, something that some people in the female population also think: 32.5%. This emerges from the first survey by the Center for Sociological Research (CIS) on perceptions of equality between men and women and gender stereotypes, published this Monday. If the level of education of the men who perceive this discrimination is analyzed, 47.2% of those who said they “strongly agree” have a high school diploma, 20% have higher education and 17.9% do not. They have training.
The CIS analysis, carried out last November among 4,005 people over 16 years of age, shows that despite this perception of offense, 48.2% of men believe that inequalities between women and men continue to be “very large or quite large.” big”. In the case of the women surveyed, 67.2% affirm this, and 22.4% consider that the differences are the same as a decade ago. In fact, 81.2% of them say that “they will not achieve equality unless men also fight” for their rights.
The doctor in Political Science from the University of Leicester (England) and feminism expert, Berta Barbet, believes that this “discrimination” perceived by men may be due to the lack of role models men who defend that they feel comfortable within feminism. “Reactionary political actors like Santiago Abascal (leader of VOX) have appeared who promote models that embrace patriarchy from resentment, they take advantage of the discomfort of some men who do not know how to act to fit into the new scenario and perhaps feel more lost.” There are many men, Barbet continues, who no longer know what they have to do to fit in and the right uses that insecurity to discredit feminism.
According to the information collected by the CIS, of the men who voted for VOX, 88.1% reported feeling this discrimination; 66.1% of the PP; 22.4% of the PSOE, and 9.5% of Sumar.
Regarding this rejection of the “promotion of equality”, the forensic doctor and former Government delegate against gender violence, Jaime Lorente, highlights that while more and more girls consider that gender violence is a very serious social problem, serious ―74.2% in 2021―, fewer men agree with this statement. If in 2017 54.2% thought so, in 2021 it barely exceeded 50%. These data were collected in the report Youth and Gender Barometer. Identities, representations and experiences in a complex social reality, from the Reina Sofía Center on Adolescence and Youth of the Foundation for Help Against Drug Addiction, which consulted young people between 15 and 29 years old. Lorente is concerned about the growing trend of boys who deny the existence of sexist violence. In four years, from 2017 to 2021, the percentage doubled to 20%. One in five adolescents and young men between the ages of 15 and 29 believed that gender violence does not exist and that it was just “an ideological invention.”
Lorente insists that when talking about the penal code it is assumed that it is not attacking all people, but rather criminals, but when the Comprehensive Law against Gender Violence is addressed, “some people believe that it goes against all men.” and not only against those who mistreat.” For this reason, he adds that measures in favor of equality are good for the population as a whole because “if a critical or negative situation in a society is resolved, the people benefit who see the injustices that affect them corrected, but also the rest of the community.”
Social networks, according to the forensic doctor, which host explicit and critical messages of influencers and youtubers against equality, and political denialism invalidate measures that advocate equality. “Pornography, the objectification of women or the victimization of men” are elements that also reinforce these factors,” she adds.
Conciliation and world of work
The CIS survey shows that on a working day, women spend more time on household chores (cleaning, cooking, shopping…) than men, they spend 172 minutes (almost 3 hours) on average per day and they spend 126.76 minutes on average. minutes (2 hours). But when asking about childcare during a workday, the distance between both sexes increases: while women dedicate 412.25 minutes (6.7 hours) to their offspring, they occupy about 228.88 minutes (3.7 hours).
In 2014, a study published in Harvard Business Review showed with data that women who did not feel satisfied with their professional career did not attribute it to having left their work in the background to take care of the children, but to having given priority to their career. of their partners. The objective of the study Life and Leadership After HBS ―for which they surveyed 25,000 former Harvard Business School students, mostly MBA graduates and from different generations between 26 and 47 years old― was to analyze the aspirations of men and women who graduated from the same school and were trained to assume leadership positions. and compare them with your current situation. After completing their studies, 75% of men expected that their partners would take care of children to a greater extent in the future; 50% of women assumed that this would be their fate. Furthermore, more than 70% of them considered that their careers would take priority over that of their wives; about 40% of them presaged the same.
According to this research by the American business school, among the reasons for their lack of opportunities when it came to accessing a position of responsibility, the majority of them agreed that they had stopped being considered candidates as a result of motherhood; They had been stigmatized for having requested flexible schedules or reduced working hours for a time.
The CIS survey indicates that for 67.8% of women the situation for girls in accessing a position of responsibility is worse, and the same is true for 50.9% of men who, on the other hand, also say by 39.7% that they have the same opportunities. When it comes to reconciling work and family life, 72.5% of women claim that they have it worse and 58.5% of men claim that they are the disadvantaged when it comes to combining both activities.
78.1% of the female population agrees with the statement “women have to work harder than men to prove that they can perform the same job.” This percentage drops 26 points when men are asked, a 51.8% agree and 46.3% deny that this is the case. Regarding discrimination based on sex at work, 9.7% of women claim to have witnessed it, compared to 5.4% of men.
Stereotypes
When asked about stereotypes, for 66.5% of those surveyed, watching pornography is more typical of men than women, the same goes for paying to have sexual relations: 84.9% affirm that it is more typical of the male sex. Furthermore, 83.5% of the female population affirms that “most pornography is sexist”, a thesis that men also support, but to a lesser extent (77.6%). On the other hand, 55.6% indicate that talking openly about feelings is more typical of women.
Regarding the statement “a woman with an active sexual life is criticized more than a man”, 87.2% of the female population agrees with this and 76.2% of men as well. When talking about compliments, almost half of men believe that “it is always nice to receive one” and the figure drops to 35.7% when asking them; in fact, 60.5% are against this statement.
Lorente insists that the CIS demonstrates that machismo is culture and behavior is a consequence of it. “For this reason, there is a percentage of women who think that the promotion of equality goes against men,” she clarifies. The reference of normality, explains the forensic doctor, is built on an androcentric model, on which men have considered what is normal: “Some perceive equality and critical social policies as an attack on their positions because they lose privileges, rather than as an advancement for the community. We can see how they are on the margins of that reality, which has a consequence as direct as the homicides suffered by women due to gender violence.”
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