Palma City Council will reserve up to 40% of new positions in the Local Police force for women.
This is one of the measures contemplated in the Equality Plan for municipal personnel that was approved this week and which affects the 2,663 council employees.
The Councillor for Public Functions, Aurora Jhardi, explained that this plan is carried out in compliance with the 2007 law on equality of women and men.
“It is a plan with firm and effective measures, some courageous, aimed at alleviating gender inequalities,” she said.
“What is more, this law was passed a decade ago, but it has taken until now for it to be complied with here in Palma,” she added.
For its part, the general director of Public Administration, Joana Maria Adillón, explained that the plan includes up to 84 measures in favour of an equal administration.
One of those is the creation of body which will work in cooperation with the various unions to help promote more professional training of women, ensuring that more positions are made available for women and that the working day is more flexible for mothers or women with special needs. Another issue which the city council has agreed to address is the wage gap between make and female employees.
According to Jhardi, it is around 15 percent, in favour of men, and there are only three women which are heads of department.
Regarding the Local Police, Adillón noted that it is one of the most male-dominated council bodies, 90% of the force are men.