When Barcelona resident Carla Forcada submitted her CV for an account executive job with Impulsa Comunicación, she heard back with a denial. But Forcada wasn’t rejected because of her experience or skills. Rather, the company noted that she wouldn’t work well in the role because it was “looking for a guy.”
“We are currently in the selection process but we are looking for a guy because the role requires [work] with accounts such as Carglass and Coca-Cola… and believe me, they need a man to be able to deal with the day to day, the visits, knowledge of production, etc,” Impulsa Comunicación wrote to Forcada, according to a translation provided by Mashable. “But we will keep your professional history at hand in case we need any future help.”
https://twitter.com/forcada_carla/status/963708108467068928
Forcada later shared a screenshot from the email on Twitter, criticizing the PR agency for not supporting “gender equality in the workplace.” The tweet quickly went viral, with Carglass España reaffirming that the company’s values are not reflected in the email. Coca-Cola España also criticized Impulsa Comunicación’s response and vowed to cease work with the Spanish PR agency.
“We are very sorry that our name has been aligned with this discriminatory and unfortunate response,” Coca-Cola España tweeted, Mashable translates.
La Compañía Coca-Cola no trabaja con Impulsa Comunicación y rechaza este tipo de respuestas discriminatorias. Contamos con una política de contratación inclusiva, diversa e igualitaria. Lamentamos ver nuestro nombre relacionado con esta respuesta discriminatoria y desafortunada.
— Coca-Cola España (@CocaCola_es) February 14, 2018
Hola @forcada_carla te pedimos disculpas personalmente a ti y a todas las personas que ofendidas por este mensaje, nosotr@s también lo estamos.Ya hemos expresado nuestra posición a Impulsa Comunicación. Nuestra empresa promueve la igualdad de género y actos así no nos representan
— Carglass® España (@CarglassEs) February 14, 2018
Forcada has since thanked the internet for the support, calling on an end to gender discrimination in both the workforce and the world at large.
“I deeply appreciate every word and gesture of support and dissemination, I hope and wish that little by little these types of cases will be reduced and that gender equality is achieved not only in the working world but in all areas,” Forcada said in a translated tweet. “Thank you.”
https://twitter.com/forcada_carla/status/964132092199276550