Life as a female expat in Spain

Obviously enough, from the photo, you can see that I'm the wrong gender to answer this question but Spain is a safe, secure country with a whole host of anti discrimination laws and protections in place for identifiable groups of people - women included.

Bad things happen to women in Spain just as they do in most of Western Europe. Sexual innuendo, sexual harassment, patriarchal attitudes, traditional stereotypes etc all work against women in Spain just as they do in the UK or the USA.

So, given all the provisos that the world is still a world controlled by men and given that this is a male opinion I would say that Spain is a good place for women to live.

Obviously a man can not share experience of a female living in Spain and I am not surprised that is the man who is responding the question.

I have been travelling around the world a lot and besides Spain I have lived many years in Australia and Central Europe. Unfortunately I must say that I have never felt so much harassed by men in any other country as I am in Spain.
I live in Barcelona and walking on the streets out of the city center/tourist sites I hear from every corner sexual comments by men and surprisingly including the seniors which should be the example of wisdom and behavior. It is so extreme that I do am afraid walking alone on the streets  and I buy clothes to cover myself as much as possible to avoid the harassment. It happens almost always when I walk alone and not when I am with a man or with a big group of friends.
There is a rise of group rapes recently over Spain, please look for example the case LA MANADA where after all the evidence of crime rapes the Spanish judges let the rapers free.
I really love the country the culture the food almost everything except the man behavior towards the woman. Maybe I feel it even more because I am a foreigner and blond.

Yes, the judge released the group, but as I understood it, waiting for the next trial. In the first, the 5 men received 9 years of prison and a major compensation for the victim.
The citizens of Spain, most feminists were not satisfied with the low punishment and want the men sentenced to 25 years in prison. We'll see how it goes ...

The Spanish woman, by the way, wants to show that she's beautiful, sexy, lightly dressed, challenging and showing her attributes, not least on television.
All women are "Guapa" (beautiful) in Latin countries and seems to have no greater fear of men.
Being a "foreigner" beautiful and blonde may be exotic despite the fact that there are many blond Spanish women.
Spain is a large country, about 45 million inhabitants, so surely there are villains here too.
In Spain, women have a direct phone number to call if they feel threatened, etc. Women's security is high on the list.
There are many female organizations in Spain, which make sure that the woman does not stand alone, if anything happens.

I took a look at the LA MANADA case.   

It would appear the facts required to prove rape in Spain were not met. In other countries, such as UK, a conviction probably would have been achieved. Thus one can reasonably complain that the Spanish  law needs revising but it displays a lack of legal training to criticise a judge who is correctly following the law.  He/she cannot change the law.   

The sentence allowed for the offence for which convicted, is determined by law. Common sense cannot be applied. 

That applies in every civilized country.


PS  I have worked with the National Police for 20 years and I know that offences against women, including wives and partners,   of a sexual or violent nature, are treated with an incredibly high level of concern and  attention

domenica1 wrote:

Obviously a man can not share experience of a female living in Spain and I am not surprised that is the man who is responding the question.

I have been travelling around the world a lot and besides Spain I have lived many years in Australia and Central Europe. Unfortunately I must say that I have never felt so much harassed by men in any other country as I am in Spain.
I live in Barcelona and walking on the streets out of the city center/tourist sites I hear from every corner sexual comments by men and surprisingly including the seniors which should be the example of wisdom and behavior. It is so extreme that I do am afraid walking alone on the streets  and I buy clothes to cover myself as much as possible to avoid the harassment. It happens almost always when I walk alone and not when I am with a man or with a big group of friends.
There is a rise of group rapes recently over Spain, please look for example the case LA MANADA where after all the evidence of crime rapes the Spanish judges let the rapers free.
I really love the country the culture the food almost everything except the man behavior towards the woman. Maybe I feel it even more because I am a foreigner and blond.

I feel exactly the opposite in Barcelona, I also travel a lot, I lived in Paris, Australia, use to live half time in London on my own, and I feel really safe in Barcelona, My only issues were with tourists

I am wondering if it is because I look like a local, or is it particular to the area where you live ? (I know some part of Barcelona have a really bad reputation)

Marnie. 
                              Glad to see you live in the same Spain as me where crime levels are low. 

I have no idea how Domenica has come to her view.  Having had connections with Spain for almost 60 years, having lived here for 30 I know it is so much safer than many counties and with UK in particular.

Examples:-  Murder rates per 100,000 of population

Spain   0.69
UK       1.20

My daughter in law is 29, very attractive and Spanish. In our weekly family lunches lots of subjects are discussed and I am sure if Spanish guys were over-agressive that point would have come up, but I've never heard anything like that discussed. I am from the US, and I find Spain to be a very safe place, very contrary to the USA.

Even the travel guides/sites say the same. Spam is safe place to visit and live. I dont understand where these ideas it isn't comes from. My cousin and his wife who are French and live in Barcelona both love the city. He is a doctor and she is a teacher. They are also raising 3 children.

Unless the ones that have trouble are visiting some underground strip club I have no idea.

Clearly Domenica has had some bad experiences, and it really isn’t appropriate for anyone to suggest that they didn’t happen.
Personally I suspect that Spain is no better or worse than most other European countries with regard to treatment of women. A shame that we feel the need to make it a point of discussion at all,I feel. Substitute the word “man” for the word “woman “ in Pricilla’s original post and it sounds a bit nonsensical.

lsmith59 wrote:

Clearly Domenica has had some bad experiences, and it really isn’t appropriate for anyone to suggest that they didn’t happen.
Personally I suspect that Spain is no better or worse than most other European countries with regard to treatment of women. A shame that we feel the need to make it a point of discussion at all,I feel. Substitute the word “man” for the word “woman “ in Pricilla’s original post and it sounds a bit nonsensical.

Are you a man making guess about how is it to live in another country as a woman ?

No Marnie, I am female. My point is women and men should expect to be treated with the same level of consideration and respect wherever they live. Should be a given.
Not sure what it is that I said that made you think I am male.   

Hey come on guys let’s play nice and the first post by ‘domenica’ might just be a wind up !

I think it would make more sense if more WOMEN share their OWN experience. The women who live like a local; hanging up with locals in all the neighborhouds using local transport (not taxi) going out also at night and walking alone.

My wife came to spain from a quiet Asian town, no experience of big city life so one could say not worldly wise,  aged 34. She has lived here in spain in a busy town for 12 years.  She and her friends use public transport and are often out and about after midnight walking home from a party, disco etc.   She and her friends get the odd ‘complimentary comment’ from guys and very occasionally women, but they have never felt threatened

Domenica’s account has not been reflected in complaints to the police, to my knowledge over the past 20 years, in the areas where I have lived, as one would have expected had it been typically representative.

I have lived in Spain for about a year, in Alicante in 2016. I am a South American middle age woman, so I may not be very attractive to most young men; so I haven't experienced any type of vulgar harassment, only few not offensive compliments by men my age or older.

I understand that every situation is different, and because of that, I don't judge domenica1; she is the one who has lived the experience, not us. Many people only like to be right, putting other's opinion to doubt only because it doesn't match theirs.

Anyway...I could notice that doing and dealing with certain things like going to the garage to fix your car ... could be challenging because men treat you like you are stupid and try to put you down, but this type of behaviour is seen in any chauvinistic country, I am not excusing men for that, I am pointing out the fact.

So in general, in my opinion, could be a bit challenging for a woman doing certain things in this patriarchal country, so you as a woman have to be firm.

My social life was mainly surrounded by women and ALL of them were nice, kind, charming, smart, emphatic. I have only nice words for Spanish women and British, since I made several good British and Spanish friends.

I have also experienced some racism from Spanish and other European countries people, but not really heavy, besides I am used to it... sadly.