The parliamentary groups PSOE, CC, PP, NC-BC, ASG, and Grupo Mixto jointly present the Bill for co-responsible conciliation and support measures for the conciliation of personal, family, and work life in the Canary Islands.
An initiative that aims to "promote the adoption, in the public and private spheres, of measures aimed at reconciling personal, family, and work life that fundamentally allow reconciling the private life of workers with their paid work time, facilitating the development of their life project and guaranteeing equal opportunities for women and men in the care of their personal and family responsibilities, and their leisure time, as well as in their work life."
Likewise, the law seeks to promote measures aimed at achieving equality of opportunities between women and men in a real and effective way in the development of their professional careers, systematically and transversally incorporating the gender perspective in public and private entities, as well as eliminating the gender pay gap.
The deputy of the Canarian Socialist Group, Gustavo Santana, explains that "this Proposition arises from the social dialogue between social and economic agents, and from an arduous consensus of the parliamentary groups, aware that we have to advance towards public policies that facilitate co-responsibility and work-family conciliation."
Now, Santana continues, "it is time to continue advancing with the rest of the groups to approve the best possible law" and affirms that the Canary Islands should be an example at the national level in the face of the involution that some parties intend in terms of equality policies, "and the Canarian society deserves that all the Canarian public administrations assume an unequivocal commitment to end the gender gaps, also involving the private sector."
For her part, the deputy spokesperson of the Nationalist Parliamentary Group (CCa), Socorro Beato, considers that the conciliation of work, family, and personal life, as well as co-responsibility, "are fundamental pillars to advance towards a more just, equitable, and cohesive society." In this path, a Canarian Law, within the framework of our statutory powers, can play an essential role as a promoter of transformative policies that guarantee the rights of all people.
Beato assures that, to achieve a real and effective conciliation, "it is necessary to design and apply comprehensive public policies that respond to the needs of families." In her opinion, it is essential to recognize "the diversity of family models and the different socio-economic realities" and incorporate concrete instruments of support to the daily life of citizens. According to the parliamentarian of Coalición Canaria, this law aims to be an instrument that contributes to generating the necessary structural changes so that conciliation and co-responsibility "are not a privilege, but a guaranteed right."
On the other hand, the spokesperson of the Popular Parliamentary Group, Luz Reverón, points out that co-responsibility between men and women "constitutes a primary objective to achieve a new social reality of real and effective equality" and that to achieve it, this need for work-life balance with family and personal life "is an unequivocal condition." The popular deputy recalls that in the Canary Islands "the Statute of Autonomy includes the promotion of the necessary conditions for the free exercise of the rights and freedoms of citizens and the equality of people and the groups in which they are integrated. Especially, respect for equality between men and women in all areas and, more specifically, in matters of employment, work, and remuneration."
At the national level, she points out that Spain faces an important demographic challenge, since half of Spaniards recognize that they have fewer children than desired for economic or conciliation reasons. "Therefore, the future law on Family Conciliation and Co-responsibility ensures the rights of families in a courageous, necessary, and transformative way," she says.
The deputy of the Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista (NC-BC) Parliamentary Group, Natalia Santana, celebrates the approval of the new Canarian law on conciliation, highlighting it as "a historic step" and "the result of the consensus of all parliamentary groups." The law recognizes conciliation as a fundamental right and proposes a cultural, economic, and institutional change that places care at the center of public policies. With a specific strategy for the Canary Islands, it seeks to make working, raising, caring, and living compatible activities, betting on co-responsibility between women, men, and administrations.
Among the most relevant measures, the law contemplates the creation of a network of support services for conciliation, the incorporation of co-responsibility clauses in employment policies and public contracting, and the promotion of conciliation plans in companies and institutions. Santana has underlined its impact on especially vulnerable groups such as single-parent families, women in situations of poverty or violence, and people who care for the elderly or people with disabilities. "In a Canarian country marked by precariousness and the feminization of care, this law is a country advance: legislating to guarantee the right to care and to be cared for without giving up one's own life," she concludes.
For its part, from the Agrupación Socialista Gomera (ASG) - says the president of the Parliamentary Group, Melodie Mendoza - "we firmly support the future Law on Family Conciliation and Co-responsibility because it represents a decisive step towards a more just and cohesive Canary Islands." This law "puts people and families at the center, facilitates compatibility between work and personal life, and promotes a balanced distribution of family responsibilities," highlights the ASG deputy. "With this, we advance in real equality between women and men, we promote the birth rate and contribute to curbing depopulation, especially in our green islands and rural areas," she adds.
Likewise, she recognizes that the new norm recognizes the diversity of family models, promotes support services and innovative measures, and reinforces co-responsibility as an essential value. "At ASG we believe in a Canary Islands where no one is left behind and where conciliation is an effective right for everyone. For this reason, we reiterate our commitment to work together with the rest of the parliamentary groups so that this law becomes a real tool for improving the quality of life and an engine of equality and well-being throughout the archipelago," closes the president of the Parliamentary Group.
Finally, the spokesperson for the Grupo Mixto (Agrupación Herreña Independiente), Raúl Acosta, considered "unpostponable" the processing of a Canarian law on Family Conciliation and Co-responsibility, which allows establishing an adequate regulatory framework in the islands to achieve full equality, based on the "dispersed" state legislation in this regard.
Acosta recalled that, between the first conciliation law, approved in 1999, and the last Royal Decree 05/2023 - which transposes a European Directive in this regard - there have been extraordinary changes in society that must be taken into account in the new norms, so that the greatest effectiveness of the rights enshrined in them can be guaranteed." The Herreño deputy trusted that the prior consensus existing between the different political groups with representation in the Parliament of the Canary Islands will allow an agile processing of the bill and a very prompt entry into force.
