5 - 11 April 2018 / Costa Blanca South
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SUCCESS
SUCCESS IN SOLIDARITY: Women standing united at the recent International Women’s Day march in Madrid.
Women marching to success VER the past 40 years, Spain has undergone tremendous transformations. The country progressed with speed from living under fascist rule to upholding the rule of law and valuing equality for all. One of Spain’s major success stories is how the role of women in society has advanced.Today, women hold numerous important public positions and play pivotal roles across the nation. Indeed, many of these achievements were celebrated earlier this month on International Women’s Day when the nation celebrated women throughout history and the successful role they have played in the ongoing progression of Spanish society. After the death of Franco, the changes in everyday Spanish life for women were radical. Under the deeply conservative regime, a
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married woman, for example, needed her husband’s permission to sign a work contract, open a bank account, own property and even travel away from home. As the country modernised at lightening speed, women entered the workforce, established businesses and took up political positions. In a short few decades, women had begun to make their presence felt in politics, the labour market and all other public and private spheres. Unlike the UK, Spain can’t yet boast of a female prime minister but women do hold powerful political positions across the country. Cristina Cifuentes is the regional president of Madrid, Manuela Carmena is the mayor of Madrid, Ada Colau is the mayor of Barcelona and, even closer to home, Susana Díaz is the president of the regional government of Andalucia. And it’s not just in politics where
women can celebrate their success. Women hold leading positions across all spheres of life: Irene Cano is the director general of Facebook for Spain and Portugal, Mariela Bickenbach is the HR director for Deutsche Bank Spain and Nuria Oliver is the scientific director at Telefonica R&D. It’s not all a success story, however. Today, women make up only a third of the Spanish cabinet and just under 40 per cent of all parliamentarians. And statistics show that, on average, women hold only 37 per cent of top-level positions and can earn up to 30 per cent less than their male counterparts. In fact, the marches on International Women’s Day weren’t just about celebrating achievements. The 120 demonstrations across the country saw hundreds of thousands of women - and men - take to the streets to voice their anger against sexual discrimination, do-
MAKING A STAND: Penelope left Javier to care for their children. mestic violence, the pay gap and inequality. The protestors also declared a general 24-hour ‘feminist strike’, calling on five million workers to stage a walkout and for all women to abandon their usual duties for the day, including childcare, cooking and household chores. Even Penelope Cruz took up this call, as she stood in solidarity with other women by cancelling her public events and going on ‘domestic’ strike - leaving her partner Javier Bardem to look after their two children. The international dimension of the recent marches for International Women’s Day showed how women in Spain have gone from being voiceless within the home to having a voice on an international stage. Yes, women in Spain have much cause to celebrate, but there is also still much work to be done.