Friday, March 29

Irene Montero | Minister of Equality: «The pandemic has aggravated the differences between men and women in care and the State has to intervene»


The Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, in a courtyard of the ministry.

«Whenever progress is made in rights towards women there is resistance; this 8-M is going to do the feminist movement well»

Macarena Tejada

After a pandemic that “has aggravated the debt” that the State has with women and “the absence of public policies of conciliation and co-responsibility”, the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, celebrates that feminists will return to “dye purple” the streets east 8-M. On the eve of International Women’s Day on Tuesday, she warns that “whenever progress is made on women’s rights, there is resistance.”

– The pandemic has meant a setback in equality. Could the administrations, starting with your Ministry, have guaranteed the conciliation of these families?

– There is a great duty that the State has with women and that has been aggravated by the health emergency, which has to do with the absence of public policies of conciliation and co-responsibility. Care tasks, such as shopping or eating, are essential to life and the economy. No economy would last many days without women doing these tasks, because they are mostly the ones who do them. We all need hygiene and care to be able to live and yet they have always remained outside the economic indicators. That is a debt that the State has owed to women since before the health emergency, but the pandemic has aggravated it and made it clear. For this reason, in the worst of the health emergency, from the Ministry of Equality we propose the co-responsible plan, to ensure the reconciliation of families with children under 16 years of age. To say the families is to say the women, who are the ones who are mostly in charge of care. A woman with children spends 37 and a half hours a week on housework and a man, 20 hours. It is an abysmal difference. If these care tasks were counted in the wealth of the countries, they would account for 9% of world GDP, and in the case of Spain, 15%.

– Do you plan to regularize this non-professional care?

– We are working not only to distribute care tasks more equitably between men and women, but also to ensure that the State becomes co-responsible for these tasks. Just as our society is very clear that health is a public matter that concerns us all and, therefore, there must be a national health system, our society is understanding that a state care system is necessary. That these tasks do not continue to fall unpaid and absolutely invisible on the shoulders of women. These public policies range from equal and non-transferable maternity and paternity leaves to the joint responsibility plan.

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– The decline in the birth rate has also been intensified by the coronavirus. How can this decline be stopped?

– The best way in which a government can protect the right of women to decide when to become mothers has to do with guaranteeing the rights that are fundamental to living. That people do not live with the absolute uncertainty of whether tomorrow they will have a job or a home. And that can be done with very concrete measures. The increase in the minimum interprofessional salary to 1,000 euros benefits women above all, and particularly the youngest, who are the ones who receive the most. The guarantee of access to housing and the regulation of rental prices, so that housing is a right rather than a good with which financial vultures can speculate. Put an end to job instability… And we also have an outstanding debt with part-time jobs. More than 90% are occupied by women to be able to combine work with care tasks. We must also guarantee conciliation policies.

legal changes

“The right to object must be regulated so that the right to voluntarily interrupt pregnancy is fulfilled”

– Is each new case of sexist violence a failure of the administrations for not arriving on time?

– Precisely the last victim had asked for help. She had trusted the State and, effectively, we have failed. For this reason, no matter how much progress we are making, whenever there is a woman who is suffering violence or whenever we do not arrive on time, we must review every last protocol to guarantee the rights of these women.

«The alternative to the peace agreements in Ukraine is an escalation of war»

– What needs to be done to advance detection and prevention?

– There are several measures that we are deploying in coordination with other ministries and the autonomous communities and local entities, which are the ones who have the competence to develop many of these actions. For example, there is universal screening in the national health system so that the pediatrician of the children of an abused woman or the family doctor are trained to be able to detect situations of violence. Sometimes they are the only place that women identify as safe to be able to tell about the situation of violence they are suffering. This measure is in full development and elaboration with the Ministry of Health and with the autonomous communities. Along the same lines, the training and specialization of all legal personnel and State security forces and bodies must be reinforced, not only those who are in specific units for violence against women. There is still a lot of underreporting of gender violence. What is no longer in doubt is that feminist policies are a matter of state. No one imagines our country without feminist laws that guarantee women’s rights.

– Does the feminist movement reach this 8-M as strong as when it flooded the streets in 2020?

– In every social movement, and particularly in the feminist movement, physical contact and the possibility of meeting and building together have been lacking. We are very aware of the importance of attendance. This 8-M, women, feminists, are going to dye the streets purple again. And it will do us good. It’s going to do the feminist movement good. Get together and continue claiming the conquest of all our rights. In this moment of global crisis that we are experiencing, moreover, the feminist movement has been able to propose a project for society that consists of guaranteeing the rights of all women and, through this, expands the opportunities for happiness for the whole of society. population, including men.

violence against women

«The last macho victim had asked for help and we have failed. When we do not arrive, we have to review protocols »

– With the new abortion law, public hospitals must have a professional to perform abortions and there will be a register of objectors. Have you encountered a high number of them?

– In public hospitals not all the voluntary interruptions of pregnancy that should be done are being practiced. The vast majority are practiced in outpatient centers and in private centers. In Euskadi, for example, there were more than 3,400 abortions in 2020, of which only 171 were performed in the public network. They account for 9.3% of the total. We have to make compatible an individual and constitutional right such as the right to object, but we must regulate it so that the right of women to voluntarily interrupt their pregnancy is also fulfilled. Many times women have to travel hundreds of kilometers to be able to perform an abortion. A precarious woman may not be able to afford to take two days off to move to another community and she is fired.

Trans law delay

“I am not happy with the delays systematically suffered by the processing of all feminist laws”

– That girls aged 16 and 17 can abort without parental consent has generated much criticism among the opposition…

– Young people between the ages of 16 and 18 in our country can decide for themselves about their own health, including life-and-death interventions. Therefore, it is more than reasonable that they can decide to voluntarily terminate their pregnancies if that is what they want. And that they do it with all the guarantees. When it comes to recognizing and advancing women’s rights, there is always resistance. It has happened with all feminist laws and, now that we are consolidating a new generation of feminist rights, there will also be.

– The reduction of VAT on feminine hygiene products is a measure that women have been demanding for some time. Is it going to be carried out with the new law?

– We have already proposed it in several negotiations and we will continue to do so. Younger generations are increasingly talking about sexual health. Before it was an issue that was lived from the stigma and shame and now it has to be part of the public debate. We have to be capable of free distribution in schools and institutes and that its free distribution is guaranteed for the most vulnerable women.

– The trans law has been on standby for months. Do you think it will go ahead as it is in the draft or do you fear another negative opinion from the General Council of the Judiciary?

– When the General Council of the Judiciary issues its reports, we will read them and try to use them to improve our laws. I am not happy with the delays systematically suffered by the processing of all the feminist laws that are promoted in our country. But the law, which has involved resignations in the negotiation process to achieve that agreement, is a good law.


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