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Spain approves its new gender equality law

The Spanish government has given the green light to the gender parity law this Thursday, which will see more women in positions of power.

Published: 27 June 2024 16:51 CEST
Spain approves its new gender equality law
Spain's Minister for Equality Ana Redondo on the country's new parity law. Photo: JAVIER SORIANO / AFP

The law was first pre-approved back in March 2023, but ultimately dropped due to the general election taking place in July last year.

It was then re-approved in December 2023 and was forwarded to the Spanish Congress of Deputies to await another vote, before finally given the green light this Thursday.

The parity law aims to guarantee the presence of women in positions of power and means that it will be compulsory for there to be at least a 40 percent representation of women in government, on the boards of directors of large companies, and in constitutional bodies.

READ ALSO: How Spain’s new gender parity law will affect companies and government

It’s also designed to guarantee equal opportunities between men and women, especially in important positions, both in the public and private sectors.  

The bill passed with 177 votes in favour, despite the rejection of PP and Vox, and will now be sent to the Senate, where it is expected to undergo some modifications before final approval and it ultimately coming into force.

READ ALSO: Why do laws in Spain take so long to come into force?

“Today is a great day,” the Spanish Minister for Equality Ana Redondo celebrated at the close of the debate. “A social and historical injustice is removed”, since “there is no merit and capacity without equality”, she continued. 

Socialist deputy Andrea Fernández also praised the law saying it “will allow no girl to grow up ever again without a reference to look to, if she wants to be a magistrate, lawyer, executive, union member, nurse or lawyer”.

Ione Belarra, general secretary of Podemos was happy that the PSOE accepted an amendment from her party to eliminate “men’s quotas”, which means that women can now represent 100 percent of the workforce in the public and private sectors.

The previous draft of the bill had capped the percentage of women in public and private management bodies to 60 percent.

The law will affect those on electoral lists and constitutional bodies, which includes the government, Constitutional Court, Council of State, Fiscal Council and Court of Accounts.

READ ALSO: Spanish govt creates app to highlight gender imbalance in household chores

In terms of the government, it means that 44 percent of the seats in Spain’s Congress and 39 percent in the Senate must be occupied by women.

The Council of Ministers (or Spanish Cabinet) must also have an equal number of men and women, so that each sex must represent at least 40 percent of the total. 

The law will also affect senior management of the state institutional public sector, the administrators of listed companies, and the composition of bodies, as well as boards of directors and large listed companies.

Ibex 35 companies will have until June 30th, 2026 to adapt their management bodies, while the rest of the stock market companies will have until June 30th, 2027 to make sure enough women are represented.

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POLITICS

Spain’s Catalonia sets clock ticking for possible fresh polls

The speaker of Catalonia's parliament said Wednesday he will give the Spanish region's assembly two months to form a new government or else he will push for new elections.

Published: 26 June 2024 15:33 CEST
Spain's Catalonia sets clock ticking for possible fresh polls

No party secured an absolute majority in Catalonia’s 135-seat parliament in a May 12th regional vote in the wealthy northeastern region, which saw separatist parties lose their governing majority in the body they had dominated for the past decade.

The local branch of Spain’s ruling Socialists, led by Salvador Illa, won the biggest share of the vote giving it 42 seats, while hardline separatist party JxCat – headed by exiled former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont – finished second with 35 seats.

The regional Catalan parliament had until June 25th to vote on a new government but neither Illa nor Puigdemont decided to present themselves to an investiture vote in the assembly as they had not secured enough backing from other parties to be successful and preferred to keep negotiating.

So the speaker of the Catalan parliament, Josep Rull of JxCat, on Wednesday set a two-month deadline for parties to agree on a new head of the regional government, otherwise a fresh election will be held – most likely in mid-October.

“After consultations with the parties, none have proposed a candidate to go through the presidential investiture debate by the first deadline,” he said.

“However, two of these parliamentary groups have expressed their willingness to explore ways to build an agreement to make the investiture possible over the next two months.”

To win the support of an absolute majority of 68 lawmakers of the Catalan parliament, Illa will need to secure the backing of the more moderate separatist party ERC which won 20 seats in the May election.

The ERC helps prop up Socialist Prime Pedro Sánchez’s minority government in the national parliament but its demands for regional financing so far seem too steep for Illa’s party.

Puigdemont is also courting the ERC but even with their support, as well of that of two other smaller separatist parties – the far-left CUP and the far-right Alianca Catalana – he will still fall short of the required 68 seats to enable him to pass an investiture vote.

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