March 14, 2018

Classic Madeleines, and a Day for Women (videorecipe)

Natacha Sanz Caballero Desserts and Sweets equal rights, equality, french country table, madalenas, magdalenas, videoreceta, videorecipe, women, women's rights

Madalenas caseras,  classic madeleines, are very popular in Spain, and even though they might look like muffins, they have one major difference, they use olive oil instead of butter. And here I am, watching the news while sipping an espresso and having a madalena, a madeleine, savoring the sweet and lemony treat, and thinking about what to write about for this week’s post, when it suddenly hits me. Sometimes I have a preconceived subject I want to write about, but for the most part, my post is usually about “that thing that won’t leave my mind”. And today, that thing is women.

It wasn’t until March 9, 2018 that I came to realize what March 8 represented. For years I felt International Women’s Day was a celebration that didn’t apply to me. Yes, I am a woman, but that day had always been very politicized, with women’s demands I supported, but with many others that responded to a certain political propaganda I did not identify with, nor wanted to be associated with. I had grown up watching the demonstrations where agitated women, many times wearing only bras or showing their breasts and screaming for abortion and reproductive rights, would make the front pages of the news. Not only did I not identify with their ideology, even their manners turned me off. Many other demands and rights I agreed with, but they were not so clearly seen in the demonstrations, probably due to the fact that those were demands of the more moderate women, who didn’t need to expose themselves to be seen or heard. This year, the #MeToo movement came along, which followed a series of allegations and accusations of sexual harassment by powerful men. I felt for all those women that had been disrespected and abused, and wondered, too, how many more women, in regular jobs and in towns and cities away from the glitter of Hollywood, were suffering for the same reasons. But again, since I hadn’t experienced that kind of harassment, it felt somewhat distant to me.

Then March 8, 2018 came along, and the week prior to it, and the day after it. I watched the massive, historic demonstrations in Spain, and listened to the arguments of very influential and respectful women in all fields, ideologies, and walks of life. The tone had changed. The demands had changed. Having already obtained the reproductive rights they claimed for in the past, the demands were different now. And they hit home. Equal pay for equal work. Conciliación familiar, work/family balance. Shared and mandatory maternity and paternity leave. Cultural shift. A veil had opened in front of my eyes, and I realized how much those demands applied to me, and my life, 20 years ago and to the present.

Let’s take a practical example. A woman and a man graduate from college and start their careers. They advance in their fields, and are happy and good at them. Eventually, they decide to have a child. They’ve always felt as equals in all aspects, from sharing house chores to household expenses. The baby’s born, and the woman takes 4 weeks maternity leave. They live in a country where maternity and paternity leave coexist, and the man is ready to take a 4 week paternity leave so the woman can go back to work. After eight weeks, they’re both ready to retake their working lives and look for good, quality childcare for their child. They realize it’s more costly than they thought, and it will make better sense for one of them to take a longer leave. The one with the lowest salary (the woman in general) will stay home. This will be their only child, so after three years, when the said child starts half-day preschool, the woman goes back to a part time job. After another three years, when the child is in kindergarten all day, the woman goes back to a full time job. By then she’s had to accept a lower level, lower paying job, than when she left off.

Let’s take another example. The same woman and man graduate from college and start their careers. They advance in their fields, and are happy and good at them. After a few years in the work force, they go on to post-graduate school. The two eventually marry, and have to decide where to live. The woman has a good, fulfilling job, and is well recognized by her peers and superiors. Her career is on the rise. The man has just graduated from grad school and is eager to start his own career. The best offers come from overseas, and the woman decides to quit her job to follow the man. Her career, she argues, can surely pick up wherever she goes. And it does, eventually, after a year of imposed “sabbatical” while her immigration documentation gets sorted out and approved. She then starts her job search and is eventually hired in her field. She has to adjust to a new business culture, in a foreign language. Unforeseen and surprisingly for her, there’s some scrutiny and prejudice by her new employer. She eventually overcomes the scrutiny and manages to feel somewhat comfortable at her new workplace. Life is swell, and the couple start thinking of enlarging the family. Soon, the husband is offered a promotion, which requires relocation to yet a different country. This will represent a step forward in the man’s career. The woman is pregnant, and therefore this seems like the right move at his point in their lives. Little do they know that maternity, and not gender, is the main factor in a woman’s career stalling. That the real salary gap happens at maternity, and it does not recover from then on. Little do they know that a woman’s marketability decreases with maternity and beyond. They don’t know people in the new country, and by default, the woman quits her career to take care of the growing family, while the man’s continues to rise. With the man’s high travel job demands, there is no question, or practical possibility, for the woman to retake her career. Meanwhile time passes, months, and years, the family keeps growing, and the woman’s career goes from her recent past, to her past, to a distant memory.

This past week I’ve been hearing demands from women that I hadn’t heard before, or had even imagined as a possibility, assuming that just like men cannot carry babies, it is the woman’s default job to care for them. But my mind has shifted. Those demands include:

• Equal salary for an equal job, regardless of gender. This is the first and most fundamental of all rights. When faced with parenthood, it is usually the partner with the lowest paying job who takes a leave to care for the child. This applies to caring for elderly parents, or for a sick family member.
• Make job applications gender neutral. Like the previous one, it’s sad that this should even be a demand, but unfortunately, women have the short stick here too. Nameless job applications would level the field, and both men and women would be hired based on their assets and qualities to match a job description
• Equal and mandatory maternity and paternity leave (or in general, leave for any justified personal reason). Statistics and a number of studies have shown that a woman’s career stalls when she becomes a mother, as it is assumed, and expected, that she will bear the weight of the children’s care, both in the early months of the child’s life, as in the years to come, which will include illnesses and doctor’s visits. Having a mandatory paternity leave will level the field, and will de-stigmatize the role of fathers as nurturers and not just providers. Motherhood will cease being a deterrent for hiring women, as we will not be speaking of motherhood, but parenthood, where either parent could take a leave. This will have multiple benefits for men too, who will not only bear half of the parenthood responsibilities, but will decrease the feeling of dignity always attached to a paid job.

Women are resilient, and find ways to fill the void left by a stalled career. But finding new, fulfilling outlets for their talents and education is no justification for their conformity. For the sake of out daughters, and our sons,  we should make it a choice, and not a default.

Women’s rights are not a politically aligned perception anymore, but a human right, the right of equality as human beings. A cultural shift is needed to stop associating a man’s dignity to what he does for a living, and a woman’s to her nurturing capacity, and start thinking of them as equals, with the same dignity and value.

What are your thoughts? How does this apply to your country’s situation? Do the laws in your country support equality? Has the culture adjusted to those laws? I’m very curious and eager to know.

I’m showcasing in this post event planner and friend Yisette Staulcup, an immigrant in the United States like me, and name other friends like Gema, Erna, Conchi or Rosana, all brave, talented women that now call the United States home, and that, like me, had to re-launch or re-invent their careers in their new country. And a shout-out to the next generation, like my son Matthew, who has been cooking for himself since last summer. He learned a few dishes alongside me while at home, and has been trying new recipes from Mama Ía blog on his own. One day, I know, he will be a great husband (if that’s the way life takes him). And I know he will not just help at home, but he will be an equal contributor to his family’s wellbeing. Madalenas caseras, classic madeleines, are a recipe I’m sure he will make at some point.

 

 

CLASSIC MADELEINES

Madalenas Caseras

Ingredients:

3/4 cups granulated sugar

3 medium eggs

1/4 cup whole milk

3/4 cup low acidity olive oil

Zest of 1 medium lemon (or 1 Tbs)

1 1/2 cups flour 1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 Tbs granulated sugar, for sprinkling

 

Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda into a medium bowl.

In a separate bowl, beat the granulated sugar with the eggs until well mixed and lighter in color. Continue beating while incorporating the remaining ingredients: add the olive oil in a thin and slow stream. Add the lemon zest and salt. Add the milk.

Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients (if using a stand up mixer or electric beater you might want to reduce the speed and add the flour mix in several batches, to avoid a cloud of dust). Continue beating until all the ingredients are fully incorporated. Cover the bowl with a wet towel and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (this helps develop a nice “hump” on the madeleines).

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Remove batter  from the fridge and stir to soften it. Line a muffin pan with paper baking cups and evenly distribute the batter (about 3/4 full). Sprinkle with granulated sugar and bake for 18-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a rack.