Dancing Backwards
in High Heels
Women, Leadership and Power
Dancing Backwards
in High Heels
Women, Leadership and Power
Virginia García Beaudoux
To my mother Dora Beaudoux, who imagined me independent
and encouraged me strongly to be so.
To Marisa Lorda, the joy and spice of life,
the better of my mother’s two daughters.
To my grandmothers “Memé” Carmen Romero and Elsa Greve,
two brave women who challenged
the gender stereotypes of their time.
Contents
Acknowledgements 9
Foreword 13
1. It’s men who wear the trousers 17
Where are we? 20
Why are we where we are? 24
Dancing backwards in high heels 30
Why do systems work and how well do they work? 32
What is being done and what else can be done? 33
2. Damned stereotypes 36
Why what we believe to be “natural” is not “natural” 36
What are gender stereotypes and why do they matter? 38
3. Leadership, that old boys’ club 43
Mirrored Stereotypes: Leadership and Masculinity 43
And how are we doing in the science world? 47
First edition, April 2017
Design: Poet Farmer
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76 DANCING BACKWARDS IN HIGH HEELS
4. Ceilings, walls, labyrinths and floors 51
Cultural, psychological and organizational barriers 51
The Invisible Woman 56
5. “Are you going to take make-up with you into Space?” 61
Women in the media 61
How do princesses lead? 66
The pink tax 69
“Are you going to take make-up with you into space?” 74
The portrayal of female politicians in the media 78
6. Equality, women and power in Sweden and the Netherlands 87
Sweden: much more than IKEA 87
Starting out the learning journey: the first interview in Stockholm 91
Interview with Angelica Broman 91
Second stop: The Gothenburg interviews 94
Interview with Maria Clara Medina 95
Interview with Adríán Groglopo 97
Interview with Tom Böhler 100
The Netherlands, where equality is not “life through rose-coloured
glasses” (yet) but more like “life through orange-coloured glasses” 103
The Academic View 104
Interview with Ingrid van Biezen 104
Interview with Corine van Egten 108
What do female politicians from the Netherlands have to say? 110
Interview with Sophie in ‘t Veld 111
Interview with Tamara van Ark 113
Interview with Nel van Dijk 117
Interview with Hanja Maij-Weggen 121
Interview with Kathalijne Buitenweg 125
Interview with Kathleen Ferrier 131
Interview with Tineke Huizinga 136
Interview with Esther de Lange 140
Interview with Tineke Netelenbos 144
Interview with Winnie Sorgdrager 148
What did we learn? 151
7. What is being done? 154
NIMD in Latin America 155
NIMD in El Salvador 161
NIMD in Honduras 168
NIMD in Guatemala 174
UNDP in the Dominican Republic 177
What did we learn? 182
8. You’ve come a long way, baby. What else can we do? 184
Equality, what equality? 184
Some useful ideas 186
Bibliograhpy 205
Notes 209
About the author 219
About NIMD 221
8
Had it not been for the support of the Netherlands Institute for Mul-
tiparty Democracy (NIMD), this book would not have been possible.
They gave their best welcome to my proposal. I received all the ne-
cessary logistics and economic support to move through each of the
required stages, including the financing and publishing of this book.
It was, as always, a real pleasure to collaborate and learn with them.
They opened doors to me without raising objections and made me
feel at home. Organizations are made up of people. In this case it was
Heleen Schrooyen, Senior Programme Manager for NIMD in Latin
America, whom I asked for help to carry out this project. I owe her its
fulfillment. She listened to me the way she always does, she gave me
her confidence and great freedom to work. She willingly joined me
on this journey with contagious enthusiasm. She embraced my idea
and made it her own. We enjoyed sharing our thoughts as we went
through this wonderful experience, which involved carrying out in-
terviews in her home in the Netherlands. I only have words of ap-
preciation for this woman of great worth. I consider myself lucky to
Acknowledgements
1110 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS DANCING BACKWARDS IN HIGH HEELS
have met her, to have been able to work together on different projects
and, most of all, for the close friendship we have built along the way.
I owe the publication of this book and its original edition in
Spanish to Editorial Grupo 5, the prestigious Spanish editorial. Had
it not been for the trust and interest of the editors, Miguel Fernández
González, José Francisco Morales Domínguez and Esther López Za-
fra, this book would not exist. I thank them for their careful work on
its pages and the quality of treatment I received.
NIMD also gave me the chance to enrich myself by getting to
know extraordinary and committed people who act as its representa-
tives in Latin America. In Guatemala, Ligia Blanco was a very hospita-
ble hostess and efficient work companion. In El Salvador, I was made
to feel welcome by the intelligence, warmth and sunny disposition of
Patricia Navarro. The boundless generosity and constant support of
Miguel Cálix, a priceless friend, in all the adventures we embarked on
in Honduras. Also in Honduras I am blessed with the comradeship
of Ana López, my dear and cherished friend. I know that they have
a heavy workload and I thank them for their time and dedication to
tell us about the initiatives that they pursued with NIMD in their
respective countries, in order to improve equality for women and the
quality of democracy.
Raissa Crespo, UNDP Gender Officer of the Dominican Repu-
blic, is definitely another example of the extraordinary people, per-
sonal relationships and friends that my work has presented me with.
I thank this intelligent woman and valuable ally for allowing me to
be part of her projects, which she coordinates with great conviction.
Likewise, I am grateful to her for the long interview she gave me
despite her busy schedule.
The interviews included in this book started in Sweden, in Stock-
holm. This was the place where Angelica Broman opened the doors of
the Swedish International Development Corporation Agency (Sida)
to me. I thank her for having invited me to that thought-provoking
place so that I could give a seminar on the importance of women’s
political participation. I also thank her for her committed and frank
opinions about gender issues in Swedish politics.
In Gothenburg, I was welcomed by Maria Clara Medina’s warm
heart and kind face, a virtuous friend who makes me both think and
laugh (a lot!). I owe her not only the time she dedicated - in spite of
her academic activities at University of Gothenburg - to share with
me her understanding of the current position of women in Swedish
politics, but also the time she spent coordinating and making possible
the rest of the interviews that I conducted in Gothenburg thanks to
her alone.
Once in the Netherlands, the experts’ voices bore the names of
Ingrid van Biezen of the University of Leiden and Corine van Egten
who worked at the time of the interview, for the Knowledge Centre
for Women History and Emancipation (Atria). Both of them enligh-
tened me, in a deep and didactic way, on the unknown aspects of the
complex fabric of the social, political and historical processes which
account for the “debit and credit” of women’s current situation in
the Netherlands. I am very grateful to them for having shared their
knowledge with me.
Ten women who have devoted, and are still devoting, their lives
to politics are the undisputed protagonists of this book. In the order
in which the interviews were carried out, these women are: Sophie
in ’t Veld, Tamara van Ark, Nel van Dijk, Hanja Maij-Weggen, Katha-
12 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
lijne Buitenweg, Kathleen Ferrier, Tineke Huizinga, Esther de Lange,
Tineke Netelenbos and Winnie Sorgdrager. Their stories, experien-
ces, learnings, insights, thoughts and recommendations form the basis
of this work, which wouldn’t exist had it not been for them. I thank
them for the courage and sincerity with which they spoke, for their
time and patience during the interviews, and for the lucidity and cla-
rity with which they introduced me to their world and the situation
of women in the Netherlands.
Since gender issues are human problems and change must involve
everyone, otherwise it will not materialiase; I would like to give a
special mention to two men who have taken part in and formed part
of this project. They are Tom Böhler, Professor of Human Ecology at
the School of Global Studies at the University of Gothenburg; and
Adrián Groglopo, sociologist, President of the Antiracist Academy of
Sweden and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Social Work at
the University of Gothenburg. Not only have they contributed with
their opinio
