Montse Virgili: "It is very difficult for women to ask for a pay rise"

In a family of farmers, bricklayers and housewives, the journalist Montse Virgili (Tarragona, 1976) was the second person to go to university. Before studying journalism, she studied law, because at home they thought she was going to have "a profitable career." And although it was "the price to be able to leave home," she is now glad to have studied, she emphasizes in statements to theCompanies.

As a child, Virgilio began working in the summer in the fruit industry, but her first contract in the labour market was as a waitress in the Dragon Khan bar in Port Aventura. Thus, she began doing precarious jobs: "I was self-employed for many years, earning very little money and collecting work with cheques. I have been in companies where when summer came they would fire me, and they would hire me again in September." In addition, in this sector it is very common to ask for favours such as, for example, presenting a book: "I am going to read the book, I will take it seriously, I will look at the author's works, but that should not be done for free."

In this sense, the presenter explains that it has not been until recent years that she has dared to value her work. Before, when she was asked for a quote for the work, she would say: "No, whatever you want." "There is an impostor syndrome, not believing that what you do is worth it," she says. "Women always have a hard time saying that they should raise their salaries. It was when I believed it that I asked for more pay or better conditions," she says.

The radio host has presented State of Grace and Electric Cabaret, among other programs. He has been directing for five years Women and days on Catalonia Radio. The idea came about when she realised that the stories that are always told are those of men: "When we open a microphone and do a round table on any subject, more men always end up speaking." And she continues: "If you talk about a heart attack, the symptoms are different. All your life you have been told that you will get chest pain and fall. But women get stomach pain and cold sweats. And they have never explained that." The programme has been a seed for "many other programmes in the house to realise that they must change their agendas, that they cannot always be calling the men themselves, and that when they talk about a subject there must be a gender perspective."

The broadcast "is going very well" and has "good audience", but the journalist considers that her work is not well paid: "We are very poorly paid taking into account the dedication, the time it takes and what it means to do a daily programme." She also points out that people think that because they have a public salary they are well paid, and that the fact that they are paid more than in the private sector does not mean that they are well paid, she explains. In fact, the journalist denounces that there is currently a lot of precariousness in the world of communication: "The same newspaper that used to pay me almost 500 euros for one page now pays me 80 for two."

Own flat, but it was "made of hard work"

As for housing, Virgilio rented during her youth: "I started living on my own merits when I was 30 something years old. Before that I was always sharing a flat." Later she bought a small and affordable flat: "Something very modest that I knew I could pay for no matter how bad things were." "I was struggling and I have been fixing it little by little, but it has allowed me to have a much cheaper rate than my friends who are renting," she explains.

In fact, the journalist does not like to worry about money: "It is important because, obviously, you have to have enough to be able to eat and to have a decent roof, but obsessing too much about money always makes you feel miserable." In this sense, the presenter has always been very aware of what she could afford so as not to have to suffer: "If one day you make an extra expense, then you are busy with other things." She has been educated in saving and, in fact, points out that she never uses her credit card. "I don't have a car or a parking lot, I go around the world by bike. In other words, I'm not a person who spends a lot of money," he explains. Books and culture are what he spends most money on. And he also buys good clothes, which he likes to last: "If I had more money, I would love to have my clothes made to measure. My dream is to have a jacket and trousers made by hand."