Spanish woman's 'sexist' rejection letter sparks furore
- Published
Ms Forcada said she felt discriminated against after receiving a job rejection for not being a man
A Spanish company has been criticised for allegedly rejecting a woman for a job on the grounds she was not a man.
PR agency Impulsa Comunicación told Carla Forcada the account executive role "needed a man who could handle the pace of working with big companies".
The agency has now been dropped by Coca-Cola and other firms after she posted about it on social media.
The PR agency said that it was never its intention to discriminate against Ms Forcada.
But Ms Forcada, 25, shared a screenshot of a message that read: "Believe me, they need a man."
She said on Twitter (in Spanish) that it was "incredible that companies that practice gender-based discrimination in the workplace still exist".
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Ms Forcada, who studied marketing and communication and lives in Barcelona, told La Vanguardia newspaper that she felt "insulted as she could do the job as well as any man"., external
She said she received a later email offering her a job opportunity because "someone in the company knew her".
To show her anger at the discrimination that she believes she experienced, Ms Forcada tweeted at clients who had contracts with Impulsa Comunicación.
Coca-Cola said that they would not work with the agency any more and expressed their discomfort at Ms Forcada's experience.
In a tweet, they said that they support companies which have "an inclusive, diverse and equal hiring policy. We are very sorry that our name has been aligned with this discriminatory and unfortunate response".
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Another client of the PR agency is the Spanish division of the window glass repair company Carglass.
In a tweet, Carglass apologised to Ms Forcada "and anyone else who has been offended by this message; we are too. We have expressed our position to Impulsa Comunicación".
It said that the company "promotes gender equality and acts like these do not represent our position".
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Impulsa Comunicación has shut down its website. However its director, Pere Terés, told the Spanish newspaper ABC that the situation was a "misunderstanding", external and that "in no circumstance would the company accept discrimination".
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