00:00There are more versions of the iPhone than there are women occupying a seat in the Royal Spanish Academy.
00:03The Royal Spanish Academy has a long, very long, history of excluding women.
00:08And as proof of this, there is María Moliner, whose name you probably don't know but who you have certainly read,
00:12He wrote one of the most important dictionaries of Spanish.
00:15Despite all that, he did not manage to enter the RAE (Royal Spanish Academy).
00:17In 1952, María Moliner decided to write what she thought would be a small dictionary.
00:23But it dragged on for quite a while.
00:24For 15 years he dedicated himself to writing the dictionary of Spanish usage,
00:27which has two volumes and about 3,000 pages in total.
00:31Praised by writers as the best reference material.
00:34But let's put ourselves for a moment in the context of Moliner's time
00:37so that we can understand how sexism left out so many brilliant female minds.
00:41And despite everything being against them, they kept trying.
00:46When he began writing his dictionary, barely two decades had passed.
00:49since women gained the right to vote in Spain, the country where she lived.
00:53She belonged to one of the first generations of women who were able to access university.
00:58She had a degree in history, librarian, lexicographer and philologist.
01:02She wrote alone at home during the hours she had free from her job as a librarian.
01:07In addition to her responsibilities as a wife and mother,
01:10in an era when it was not normal for women to participate in intellectual work.
01:14And to make matters worse, it all happened during the Franco dictatorship.
01:17For her work, she was a candidate to occupy a seat in the Royal Spanish Academy in 1972.
01:22But they didn't choose her.
01:24She would have been the first woman accepted into that institution, but instead, a man was chosen.
01:28The reason?
01:29Although there is no single known explanation, there was a long tradition of not admitting women,
01:34as an unwritten agreement of discrimination.
01:37In fact, the director of the RAE himself, Santiago Muñoz,
01:40He acknowledged that antifeminism was very prevalent at that time.
01:43And that the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) was not to blame for the discrimination against wise women.
01:47Because, according to him, it was something that happened in all institutions of the time.
01:51Recognition for María Moliner came late.
01:53Over the years, his contributions ended up being used in other dictionaries,
01:57even within the Royal Spanish Academy itself.
01:58Before his death, Moliner paradoxically suffered from cerebral arteriosclerosis.
02:03an illness that gradually caused him to lose the words he had studied so much.
02:07One would think that lesson learned, wouldn't one?
02:09Well, not really.
02:10The Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), the same one that claims to have over 300 years of history,
02:13It has only allowed the participation of 12 women among its academics.
02:17In fact, one more joined this month, the philologist Cristina Sánchez López.
02:21More than 300 years of existence, more than 400 academics throughout its history
02:26and only 12 women have entered.
02:28We are talking about an academy that was founded in 1713,
02:31when women's rights weren't even on the table.
02:35The same one that continues to defend today that the generic masculine is suitable for talking about everyone,
02:39without needing to mention them.
02:41It questions forms of inclusive language that many people already use
02:45and they serve to ensure that all people are included,
02:48but it does have room in its dictionary for words like almóndiga and aiga.
02:52But hey, according to them, sexism is one thing and grammar is another.
02:56Are you sure?
02:56What do you think?
02:57We'll read your comments.
02:58We'll read your comments.
02:58Thank you.
