Twenty-Fifth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

On 19th August 2018, Ana Botín, the Executive Chair of the Santander Group, shared a post on LinkedIn entitled “On why I now call myself a feminist… and you should, too.” This post amassed a spectrum of reactions, sparking both support and opposition. In its Spanish version, the post received over 2,100 Likes and 115 Comments, whilst its English counterpart accumulated 2,950 Likes and 200 Comments. However, the post’s impact extended way beyond the confines of the social media platform. As the Executive Chair of the leading bank in Spain and the fifth largest in Europe, Ana Botín openly articulated the reasons behind advocating feminism and candidly addressed the #MeToo movement. Our exploration delves into the extent to which such initiatives contribute to feminism within traditionally masculinised domains of society: particularly that of the economic press. The main objective of our research is to assess whether Ana Botín’s message has engendered any discernible advancements toward gender equality in the realm of financial journalism. We aim to closely examine whether her declaration has played a role in introducing feminist agenda articles within the financial press: if so, how influential it has been.