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SEXISM

Spain’s PM blasts ‘repugnant’ video of students insulting women

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Thursday described as “repugnant” a viral video of male students at a Madrid university residence cheering after one of them screamed obscenities at female students, including calling them "nymphomaniac whores".

Published: 7 October 2022 09:09 CEST
spanish university sexist insults
The video, which spread widely on social media, has dominated headlines in Spain and was condemned by various politicians, including Sánchez, a self-described feminist. Screenshot: Twitter

In the video recorded at night a man at a building across from a residence for female students can be heard screaming “Whores, come out of your burrows like rabbits, you are nymphomaniac whores. I promise we’re going to fuck all of you at the bull festival”.

The male student also threatened sexual assault before groups of men at windows of the male residence hall raised their window shutters in unison and cheered and shouted their own insults.

The video, which spread widely on social media, has dominated headlines in Spain and was condemned by various politicians, including Sánchez, a self-described feminist.

“We can’t tolerate such behaviours which generate hate and attack women…Enough of sexism,” he tweeted.

Asked about the video at a gathering of European leaders in Prague, Sánchez called the behaviour of the men in the video “inexplicable, unjustified and absolutely repugnant”.

The incident took place at Colegio Mayor Elías Ahuja, a residence for male students run by a Catholic religious order at the prestigious Complutense University.

The directors of the residence condemned the “unacceptable expressions made by a group of students” and apologised to the students at the female residence.

The residence said several of the male students involved had been expelled.

Another video from a previous academic year has surfaced showing Elías Ahuja residents performing a song which includes a Nazi salute and the words “Sieg Heil”. 

Opened in 1969, a room at the Colegio Mayor Elías Ahuja costa around €1,100 a month.

A former head of the main opposition Popular Party (PP), Pablo Casado, stayed there when he was a university student.

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EDUCATION

Only a few degrees in Spain offer graduates salaries of more than €1,500 per month

New data has revealed that there are only a handful of degrees that allow graduates in Spain to earn €1,500 or more a month, and that Spanish graduates struggle to get into the job market far much more than their European neighbours.

Published: 18 May 2023 10:48 CEST
Only a few degrees in Spain offer graduates salaries of more than €1,500 per month

According to Eurostat data, three out of four Spanish graduates get a job within three years of leaving university, however, there are only ten degree programmes that earn Spanish graduates salaries of €1,500 per month or more.

The new study has also revealed that moving from university into the job market can be a little more complicated in Spain than it is compared with other European countries. 

While across the EU an average of 84.9 percent of recent graduates find a job relatively easily, in Spain that figure falls to just 76.8 percent, far lower than the Netherlands (95.2 percent); Germany (93.8 percent), and France (83.7 percent).

In fact, of the 27 EU member states, only Italy and Greece have worse rates than Spain, with averages of 67.5 percent and 63.5 percent, respectively.

High paying degrees

According to the joint study done by the Valencian Institute of Economic Research and the BBVA Foundation only a select few degree programmes in Spain guarantee newly graduated students a monthly salary equal to or greater than €1,500 upon leaving university.

In the rankings, the overall percentage of employed graduates in Spain with a salary greater than or equal to €1,500 is just 54.3 percent.

The study concluded that the degrees with the highest employment rates, an average of 96.3 percent, were computer and informatics subjects, of which 79.7 percent had salaries greater than or equal to €1,500. 89 percent of graduates were working in jobs related to their studies.

This was followed by graduates in the engineering, industry and construction fields (92 percent in employment and 72.9 percent earning €1,500 per month) and those who studied degrees in medicine, health and social studies (92.1 percent and 60.6 percent respectively).

Among the list of engineering degrees, graduates in Aeronautics, Industrial Technology, Telecommunications, and Electrical and Energy Engineering performed particularly strongly in the job market.

82.8 percent of graduates who studied education were in work upon graduating, and slightly over half (50.5 percent) earned €1,500 per month.

Those who studied business, administration or law subjects were employed at a rate of 84 percent, with 52.7 percent making €1,500 per month.

The lowest-paid degrees

The study also revealed the degree subjects with the worst employability prospects and lowest wages for recent graduates.

Though 88.6 of those who studied for degrees in agriculture, livestock, forestry, fisheries, and veterinary medicine were employed shortly after graduating, just 48.1 percent were earning over €1500 a month.

Similarly, students who studied for ‘services’ based degrees were fairly well employed after leaving university (84.4 percent) but just 37.9 percent made €1,500 per month.

The arts and humanities degrees were the worst performing in the study. Overall only 77.1 percent of arts and humanities graduates were employed, with just 36.4 percent of them earning €1,500 per month or more.

Within this group degrees in Archaeology, Art History, Fine Arts, Occupational Therapy, Geography and History were among the lowest paid.

In the broader Arts and Humanities field, over 60 percent of recent graduates don’t receive a salary of €1,500 per month. In some cases, notably in Archaeology or Occupational Therapy, only 1 in 10 graduates reach that income threshold.

Unemployment by region

The study also highlighted some interesting regional disparities in the youth and graduate unemployment rates.

According to the report, in 2022, recent graduates between 22 and 26 years old were most likely to be unemployed in Extremadura (29 percent), followed by Asturias (28.3 percent) and Andalusia (27.2 percent).  

Navarre was found to have the lowest rate, with 9.6 percent, followed by Madrid (10.5 percent) and the Basque Country (12.5 percent).

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