Un saludo

That separation of duties and activities by gender you describe is true in the case of the older generation, but not anymore, at least not the people I know. I guess it depends whether you live in a small town or in a city and on which Spanish region we are talking about.

Erik, it’s the same here in Spain, as soon as I hear someone speak, I immediately know how much education they have and what general social class they’re from and even which region they come from. Spanish is not your first language and perhaps that’s why it’s not easy for you to notice these things. But they are pretty obvious, believe me. I may sound a bit pretentious, but I bet I would be right 99% of the times. And yes, Spanish people, me included, speak badly and write even worse.

Regarding Minister Aído and her “miembras,” I think she just should have said that she was trying to make Spanish less sexist and help all those women out there who feel oppressed and looked over by having to refer to themselves as “miembros.” As Minister of Equality it would have made sense and not reflected as poorly on her intelligence. Ah well, hindsight is 20/20.

Obviously all generalizations are false, but I’ve continued to see a clear separation of duties and activities by gender in Spanish households. I’ve lived in the US, England, and Denmark, and I’ve never seen such a strict divide as in Spain.

It’s funny, Roberto, that you think Spanish is spoken so poorly and “uneducatedly”. One of the biggest differences I’ve noticed between the cultures of Spain and the UK is that, in the UK, as soon as you hear someone speak, you immediately know how much education they have and what general social class they’re from. That’s not at all true in Spain. Accents vary from region to region, but it’s all pretty close to “correct” Spanish. I have no experience with American Spanish, so I can’t comment on that side of the ocean.

Regarding where or where not the purest Spanish is spoken, a Spanish Literature teacher I had at High School told us there’s no place where a language is more purely spoken, it’s the individual speakers, no matter their nationality, who make the language “pure” (meaning correct) or not.

In my opinion, the Spanish spoken on both sides of the Atlantic is quite poor. It has to do with low standards of education. Usually, the poorer the country, the worse the Spanish you will hear.

And finally, Erik, are you sure Spain’s behind other western countries in “women’s liberation”? Honestly, I’m not so sure. That’s what I used to think also, but I’m starting to think it’s a myth. I don’t know about the US, but, according to what I’ve seen, machismo seems to be alive and well in most of western Europe.

Of course it’s not like English doesn’t have it’s share of perceived sexism. The default “he” pronoun for anyone. The “womyn” nutsos (nutsas?) that are annoyed by the word “woman” containing the word “man”.

Do our languages contain centuries-old sexism? Sure. Does “serviceman” really need to change to “serviceperson” for sexism to be abolished? I’m not so sure.

It’s an interesting topic for sure. Spain is considerably behind other western countries (certainly the US) in “women’s liberation” or whatever it’s properly called these days.

Thank you for highlighting this issue.

P.S. Wow, I just noticed that I unconsciously used the term “news person” in this comment.