18 Feb ARE WE MIXING GENDER WITH TALENT RECOGNITION?
Apologizes for using this tricky title for these short thoughts about gender balance and some news that today shock a bit to me:
Spanish government is revising the Cinema Law from 2017 introducing a variety of new articles to be more open to diversity. This must be discussed at the Parliament. As the newspapers explain , this new law is introducing special funding up to 75% of recognised cost, to such movies in which the Director is a woman.
Who knows me, an specially women that has been working with me, I am enthusiastic of including women in the teams I worked with. I had great experiences, and they help a lot to balance the team spirit and consolidate excellent results. I also had the experience to find women that are smart, oriented to results, with vision… all qualities we look for a professional person.
My shock comes from the fact that looks that women need extra help to demonstrate their professional value. Honestly, I am not so sure. There are Spanish women already recognised in the film industry as Iciar Bollain, Isabel Coixet, Gracia Querejeta, and others also in the past, as Pilar Miro and even Rosario Pi born in 1899. Just to mention some, and not all.
Spain, and others European countries, already move years ago to recognise the talent of women in many professions. But today looks that it is not enough. Surely, we need to do more. But we should not, just in my opinion, mix gender with talent recognition. This women Directors I mentioned above should demonstrate their talent to reach their position today. And they did it. As well as many other men Directors we have in Spain. We should made equal the opportunities to grow in any profession and not discriminate just by gender, in one or other side.
I know this is complex. Also, that there are still more men than women in managerial posts. There are a variety of ways to assure that qualified women with talent reach directive roles, many already in place in many companies. But also, we should avoid that we open opportunities to less qualified persons, whatever gender they have, in detriment of people with talent.
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