Implementing gender equality policies in the Spanish film industry: persistent prejudices and a feminist will to ‘exploit the centre into concentric circles’

Abstract

Over the last decade, gender equality measures like positive actions in public funding have been implemented in the Spanish film industry. This article discusses these measures by looking at both the gender order that has been embedded in the Spanish film governance regime since its origins and the ways in which such gender order re-emerges in the current context as expressed by women film workers. Two persistent prejudices that can be traced back to Franco’s dictatorship are identified: Public funding as connected to censorship and/or lack of profitability, and the representation of women as incapable members of a so-called ‘minority’ that has to be assisted. Concrete measures including quotas are necessary for adjusting the unbalance in women’s participation, but they are means towards an end that goes beyond quantitative changes, for the ultimate goal would entail transforming the structure of a patriarchal film governance regime from a bottom-up feminist approach.