Following the initiative of our fellow female journalists and seeking the support of a sector made up overwhelmingly of women, we professionals from the world of books support the feminist strike on 8 March and add our voice to that of all the women who will come out to demand our fundamental rights in the demonstrations that will be held throughout the country on that day.
Our demands are not different from all those made by different social groups and include:
1. The elimination of the gap by demanding wage transparency, knowing the true situation of women in the industry and starting to put real names and figures to the inequality. We can only talk by hearsay and this is detrimental to the rank and file of women workers in the industry, who occupy the lowest paid and least responsible positions.
2. Equal access to positions of responsibility. The average ratio in any publishing house is between 70/30 and 80/20 women to men, according to the Guild. The publishing sector is 80 per cent headed by male entrepreneurs, a percentage that is reversed in positions of lesser responsibility.
3. Unequivocal denunciation of sexual harassment and harassment at work.
4. The demand for equal participation in platforms for the dissemination and promotion of literature.
Women only win 20% of the literary prizes in this country, according to data from the Observatori Cultural de Gènere. Only in the category of children's and young adult’s fiction is the percentage close to parity. The bias is partly explained by the composition of the juries and the generalised conception that literature written by women does not have the same universal character as that written by men.
5. We demand co-responsibility in reconciling family and care. This work falls, with few exceptions, on professional women colleagues who already bear a significant burden due to their work obligations.
Libros de las Malas Compañías (Bad Crowd Books) joins this manifesto and of course we also stop on March 8th, not only exercising our right to strike but also stopping in all areas of action that we have within our reach.
Let it be clear that if women stop, the world also stops.
