IN THE COLLECTIVE IMAGINATION, the Royal Academies are linked to velvet curtains and old papers covered in dust. The Real Academia Española (RAE), devoted to look after our language, is the most famous of them all and maybe the most up to date, but the Instituto de España functions as an umbrella for another eight institutions, many of them at least two-centuries old (RAE itself celebrated its 300th anniversary in 2013). This heavy historic burden may explain why women are still today a rarity in these institutions.
"Only the Real Academia de Historia has a female head"
ONLY THE Real Academia de Historia, established in 1738, has a female head, professor Carmen Iglesias. The other ten institutions studied in this analysis scarcely include women in their governing bodies: three of them have none, and the majority have less than 20%, according to the Woman’s Institute data. With 40% of female directors, the Real Academia de Doctores is in line with the Gender Equality Law. It has also shown its commitment with gender balance by rising women’s presence in its board by 60% in just one year, far away from the Real Academia de Historia, which has increased the female share in its ruling body only by 9% (18% in 2015 up from 17% in 2014). The situation has remained stable in the rest of institutions, except for the Real Academia de Ciencias Veterinarias, where women’s proportion in the ruling board is now 12,5% less than a year ago, and the Real Academia de Ingeniería (9% less).
THE ROYAL ACADEMIES' boards of directors are elected among the “académicos numerarios”, who are the only members with voting rights. How many female “académicas numerarias” are there? Really few: they do not even reach 20% in any of the academies, and in half of them, women are less than one in ten “numerarios”. Even worse: a third of Academias reduced women’s share among its senior members in 2015 compared to a year before.
Source: Women's Institute and Royal Academies' websites
THE ADMISSION PROCESS is to blame for the lack of women in these wisdom temples. To begin with, the updating of their statutes in the 20th and 21th century has not been seen by the Reales Academias as an opportunity to include gender balance as a mandate. Besides, the election process itself is biased towards maintaining the status quo. The “académico numerario” is a life title, which means that vacancies only arise when one member passes away, and the turnover rate is therefore quite low. Besides, it is “académicos” who propose candidates for the possible openings. Each name must be backed by at least three senior members. Then it is up to the plenary to examine the candidate’s merits, and decide whether he or she deserves the position. The verdict cannot be appealed.
Source: Women's Institute
THESE ANCIENT institutions defend the system, though. A spokesman for the Real Academia de Jurisprudencia y Legislación, which has no women on its board, argues that they cannot “force anybody” to apply for a position as an Academy member, and insists that “the only woman to date to apply (…) got the nomination”. The board of directors in this Academia is chosen among the most senior fellows. “The only woman [who is an] ‘académica numeraria’ took up her post on December 10th, 2012”, explains the spokesman, “which means she is 28th in the list. That is why she does not hold a position in the board of directors”.
"Cristina García Rodero has not yet joined the RABASF, two years and a half after being elected"
ON THE CONTRARY, in the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (RABASF), they are very conscious of how unfair is this lack of women. Secretary general José Luis García del Busto gives a mea culpa. “The Academy is fully aware of the insufficient presence of women and ready to correct it”, he says. He gives a couple of examples as proof of the institution’s will: “Female members are two and not three because we are still waiting that the last one to be elected [photographer Cristina García Rodero] joins the Academy”. Besides, there are two vacancies at the RABASF. “For one of them, the only candidate is a woman. For the other, there are two candidates, a man and a woman”, unveils García del Busto. “So in a couple of months we may have two new female members”. There still another chance to increase the number of women in this Academia: after photographer Alberto Schommer passed away recently, another vacancy has arisen. Since the RABASF does not give priority to members with more seniority to be elected for the board of directors, any woman joining the Academy could become part of its governing body if they decide to go for it.
IN SPITE OF its efforts to keep pace with the times, the RABASF does not seem to be introducing any changes in its statutes, in order to include gender balance as an element to bear in mind when electing members or directors. “The last amendment is recent, from 2005, so I doubt this is something we will be dealing with the day after tomorrow”, sentences García del Busto. “Even if I agree that we need to improve our public image, and embellish our plenary sessions [with more women], I don’t think it is considered necessary”.