Her sofa is purple, but that's just by chance. What is not by chance is that the image welcoming visitors into the European Parliament (EP) office managed by Maria Andrés (La Rioja, 1977), shows a father devoted to caretaking activities.

Since 2016, she is the director of the European Parliament office in Spain, a position she reconciles with being a mother of three little girls. The name of her social media accounts are a declaration of intent. In Twitter @MariaenEuropa [Maria in Europe] and in Instagram @conciliacomopuedas [reconcile as you can].

This journalist is the promoter of a recognized initiative called #DóndeEstánEllas [where are the women], aiming at making women visible and fostering an equality in debates and conferences we are still far from achieving.

How did the #DóndeEstánEllas initiative arise?

In the most spontaneous manner, just consulting with the team on how to add our small contribution to the struggle for equality.

After a year collecting data, what are the key findings?

The reality is that there is a total lack of knowledge about the degree of representation of women in public debates and conferences in Spain. Since there was a lack of data, our first commitment to all the endorsers was to count the number of women participating in our events. Without imposing any quotas, because I am not in favor of a mandatory quota reducing this exercise to a mere "if you are not a woman you cannot participate", nor of the trophy wife stereotype, a person who's there just because she's a woman and not based on her talent. What we do is to give visibility to female talent and to reach a particular number at the end of the year. This first recount was 39%. This it may seem like a failure, but I say that this number is better than any other to be found in Spain because, they probably won't have the sensitivity we have. And this number gives me a lot of energy to keep on fighting.

Why do these women need visibility?

It's important for the girls today to find role models they can identify with. There's a lot of talk about the glass ceiling that doesn't allow women to make it into the board of directors, that doesn't allow them to reach a certain level... but for me there's another ceiling that is much more powerful, which is the lack of references in our societies in certain industries, employments or positions. Until we see girls in there, the girls of today won't be able to imagine they can reach it.

Will your initiative reach other countries?

When we received the Simone Veil award, other EP offices told us: "Hey, that's quite interesting" But it's true that they haven't implemented it yet. I'd say that we should be able to mobilize other countries by 2020. Hopefully.

How many women are there in your same position?

We are a minority, around 30%. There's a majority of men, and I do believe that not having women in positions of responsibility is a serious mistake. Not having women sitting around a table, especially when it's on an important matter, means not having the views and viewpoints of 50% of society represented.

Are you a reference?

No (laughing). It's true that I am in a position of responsibility and I have the privilege to be able to reconcile, but I am just one of many and I work my guts out every day, as every other working mother. Reconciling is a very intimate struggle, I don't know whether or not I am a reference for that.

Is it even possible to reconcile when you are working flat out?

I would tell you that reconciling is the art of trying to reach everything and yet, in the end, reaching nothing. Do I manage to do my work and are my daughters happy? Yes. Did I shake off my guilty conscience? No. It's a burden all women managing to do both things to a certain degree of success carry on them. I still think that as women we need and we have the right to have the opportunity of working, of doing interesting things and of being away from home. Shared responsibility is a key issue, but we also have a lot to change inside our heads.

This is pressure is not only internal, the environment asks executive women travelers what they do with their kids.

And they would never ask that to a man. That's wide awareness is so important, because until we change as a society, there'll still be many hidden microaggressions against women. Many years ago, a recruiting agency told me that I was their number one option, but that they would not hire me because I was young, I was going to get married in the near future and, as they understood it, I was going to be absent.

Are you still seeing these microaggressions against women?

Quite often. More often with the elderly. When you attend a meeting and everyone is over 50 years old and male, and you're the only woman and much younger, you feel that they treat you differently. There's a certain degree of deference and a series of galantries towards your physical appearance that show that they see you differently. And that's uncomfortable because you don't know how to change it and, because quite often you feel that they're not doing that on purpose, there's no malicious intent, but it affects their relationship with you.

Shared responsibility is very important and men also suffer when they want to implement it.

I get really upset when we go to a meeting on equality and women. As for any other public events, we want to see more women so that the entire society is represented; we also need to have men attending the events and meetings on equality. It's key for them to become involved because, if that's not the case, we can scream our hearts out in the street, but we'll never win the battle.

It's shocking that you're so accessible, so close, is that a reflection of how European institutions should be?

Yes, we should be much more transparent. Sure, it's hard. Brussels is that abstract entity that's far away, but thanks to social media we are trying to open up to the citizenship. It's not always easy but, we surely try everyday from this office.

Spain is pro-European, something that has always clashed with the low turnout in the elections. How can this be?

It can be explained through a series of overlapping reasons, the issue is that there's no simple answer to this problem. Yes, Spain still is a very pro-European country. Up to 75% of those surveyed stated that being in Europe has been very positive for Spain. And they also understand the importance of seeking European solutions for issues such as immigration, terrorism or the struggle against climate change. Yet, when elections come, they fail to vote and we have a very low voter turnout that has been decreasing after each election until 2014, when the turnout in Spain was 43.8. We are at the same level as the rest of Europe. What frightens me is the low youth voters turnout, of those already born with access to mobility, the European passport, the Euro... Only 27% of those between 18 and 24 years old voted. It's dispiriting. Why? Due to the general disaffection towards politics, due to the lack of knowledge and school education on what it means to be European, the values it implies and what is Europe good for. There's and alarming need for a course on this. And every day we increasingly miss that generation that used to remind us that they had to fight hard to obtain those rights.

Because you cannot take anything for granted.

They say that each generation needs its revolution, I hope this generation doesn't need one to realize how important it is to belong to the European Union, but is true that there are many voices warning of the rise of the far right, of populisms, of those against Europe...  We must vote, it's super important because it impacts the people's everyday life, but also because if you don't vote, they will, and they are already mobilized. That's the problem, that those with the discourse of hate, those that want out because they want to re-nationalize all the policies, what they're trying to do is to come in force into the institutions to destroy them from the inside because they have realized this way is much more effective.

And, they are already inside.

Now, around 20% of the European Parliament seats can be considered to be Europhobes. They do vote.

There's less of them than of women, which are also a minority in the European institutions.

They represent 36%. Each country has its own electoral laws, so that the different party lists may require or not to respect quotas or alternating [male-female] lists. It depends on the different member states. But what it's still hard to find is having a woman heading the bill. Look at the famous candidates to the political groups, so far there's only one woman as co-chair, sharing the heading with a man, in the Los Verdes (the Green party) group.

Are the expectations improving for the coming May elections?

From the heart I would answer yes, from reason, that would be harder, since I see that, in many European countries, there is a regression in equality issues. Recently, the European Parliament passed a resolution on this matter showing that the rise of certain populisms and hard right movements go together with these calls to limit equality rights, which is something that not long ago wasn't questioned.

Each reaction has its counterreaction.

Exactly. So that on the one hand we have this great feminist wave in Spain and on the other hand we have a pendulum motion in other European countries that is a bit frightening to us.

Where would you place Spain in Europe in terms of equality?

There are many myths. I would say that Spain is quite feminist. The Law against gender-based violence passed by the European Parliament is an exact copy of the way this matter was managed by the Spanish legal system. I do believe that in Spain, we've done plenty of good things in terms of equality; we should be happy about that. Yet, what's harder is the change in perception and in that remnant of conservative microaggressions still left in society which perhaps only a generational change may bring.

May I ask you if you joined the strike last March 8?

No, I didn't. As a public institution and part of the administration, we have to be very careful and not make any public demonstrations in favor of anyone and there was a lot of noise regarding the participation of certain parties, or lack there of, so we wanted to abstain in general and we didn't produce any statements. I don't know if it was a mistake. In the end, we realized we need to be above being judged by a political party or another and this year I want to join. We are coming here, but we're also joining the demonstration.