ISSUE NO. 1601
10 - 16 March 2016
COSTA BLANCA SOUTH
YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
Faith and feminism FURORE on the Costa Blanca over ‘macho’ women’s day
By Matthew Elliott A Costa Blanca town has sparked national outrage by celebrating International Women’s Day in a fashion denounced as ‘macho’ and sexist by political parties, social media and feminist groups alike. Local authorities in Bigastro, close to Orihuela, are under intense fire for their message, released on their official Facebook page claims, among other things, that ‘woman came out
of the rib of man’. The Socialist party has decried the message as “sexist and inappropriate,” and a “retrograde step for gender equality,” while the Feminist Platform of Alicante has critiqued the statement as stemming from a patriarchal world view that must be fought against. The full message was lifted from a sermon at mass, and published by the ruling PP as an echo of its sentiments. Highlights include ‘Being a woman
is to be a princess at 15, beautiful at 25, passionate at 35’, and ‘Being a woman is to be chosen to bring life to the world’. The statement which provoked the most ire, however, was ‘And don’t forget this: the woman came out of the rib of man, not from the feet to be trampled upon, nor of the head to be superior, but from the side to be equal, under the arm to be protected and next to the heart to be loved’. Councillor Alejandra Moya
has defended the message pointing to its religious origin and arguing that allegations of sexism couldn’t be further from reality.
WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM