Female civil servants, €3,000 and looks: the debate nobody settles

A video of civil servants on €3,000 reopens the rift over looks and work

It is an open secret that public sector jobs in Spain attract a particular profile. That this profile includes, according to some observers, no tattoos, "feminine" curves and a reduced 20-hour working week is what has sparked a debate as polarised as it is old school. At the centre: a video circulating for days, with no clear source, showing a group of public employees – mostly women, all slim, with no piercings or ink on their skin – in an office. The most jarring detail: a monthly salary of €3,000 for a workload that, according to the discussion, would be around 20 hours.

Salary, free time and an aesthetic ideal

The camp that defends this model – not an explicit defence, but a statement that "that's just how things are" – argues that the combination of a public salary (around €3,000), reduced hours (20 hours, a figure no collective agreement officially recognises) and a polished look (no tattoos, straight hair and "soft but not gym-rat" bodies) represents the ceiling of quality of life. "A thousand times better than a woman covered in tattoos that you have to support," sums up one of the harshest takes. Beneath it lies an underlying idea: the public post as a filter for a specific female profile, where appearance and financial stability go hand in hand.

The other side: elitism and caricature

At the other extreme, the backlash is swift. "You've idealised them," says another comment pointing out that in many town halls female civil servants do not fit that stereotype. Some go further and call the video "repulsive", demanding all participants be sent to the army. The criticism centres on two points: first, that €3,000 is not the average public employee's salary – the average in the administration is around €2,200 gross – and second, that the 20-hour week is an urban legend. "I smell public employee and it disgusts me," one user wraps up, reflecting a hostility that goes beyond aesthetics.

How much truth is there in the numbers?

Official data do not back the 20-hour myth or the widespread €3,000 salary. According to the latest Boletín Estadístico del Personal al Servicio de las Administraciones Públicas (official statistics bulletin on public sector staff), the average civil servant's salary in Spain is around €2,200 gross per month for full 37.5-hour weeks. However, it is true that certain corps – technical staff, inspectors, senior officials – can reach €3,000. The discussion, then, is not entirely fictional: it refers to a specific segment, but not to the majority. The 20-hour week, for its part, does not exist in any collective agreement except as reductions for childcare or half-time work, which involve a proportional pay cut.

Behind the noise, what emerges is a real tension between the perception of public employment as a privilege – stable pay, flexible hours, less stress – and the statistical reality. But also an aesthetic debate that, however dated it may seem, is still alive: why, in a certain collective imagination, is the ideal female civil servant slim, tattoo-free and on a schedule that leaves time to look after herself? The answer, as almost always, is not a single one.