Spanish sex equality law
Spain has enacted a new sex equality bill which will enforce quotas for women in companies and on electoral lists. The gender equality bill includes parity on the electoral lists and stipulates that by 2015, women should occupy 40 percent of the seats on the boards of the country’s biggest corporations. The law includes measures such as 15 days of paternity leave, which will be expanded to one month once an employee has six years in the job and, in the case of the births of premature babies, maternity leave will be increased to start at the moment when the infant leaves the hospital. In addition, it includes the right to a reduction in the length of the workday, it increases unpaid leave to care for a sick relative from one year to two, and it sets forth that sexual harassment is any verbal or physical behaviour that attacks a person’s dignity.
One provision of the law deals with the communications media, mandating that the state radio and television broadcaster, RTVE, and Spain’s international news agency, Efe, promote the incorporation of women into positions of managerial and professional responsibility. They will also have to adequately reflect the presence of women in all areas of social life and not use sexist language. In addition, they will also have to collaborate with institutional campaigns directed at fostering equality among men and women and eradicating sexual violence
