The magistrate of the Constitutional Court María Luisa Segoviano has been on the island of volcanoes on the occasion of the celebration of the X Lanzarote Labor Days. The judge was the first woman to preside over a Chamber of the Supreme Court and just a year ago her candidacy served to unblock the Constitutional Court. On the occasion of her visit, she has answered the questions of La Voz.
The economic and health crisis experienced after the pandemic increased inequality in the Canary Islands and throughout the country. María Segoviano is clear that "vulnerable groups are the first to suffer." This is, for her, an issue that is put "very much in the spotlight" in the face of every bad situation the country is experiencing. Among these groups she includes women or very young people, for example.
In this line, the outbreak of the health pandemic has aggravated the difficulty of accessing housing in Spain. Many factors influence access to a rental or owned home. From the increase in mortgage interest rates to the increase in rents. For this reason, both the Spanish State and four autonomous communities have legislated to try to solve the current situation. "It is a matter of extreme social sensitivity because the social function of wealth, which we have enshrined in our Constitution, has a very concrete and direct expression in the right to access housing," says María Luisa Segoviano.
The appeals filed against the housing laws of autonomous communities such as the Balearic Islands have reached her Court. "These laws contemplate the social function of housing and a certain help or facilities for people who are in a situation of great economic or housing vulnerability. The problem is that all these laws are challenged before the Constitutional Court because it understands that there are precepts that violate the right to private property and no issue has been resolved," says the magistrate.
María Luisa Segoviano: "Our society has been sensitive to this situation, to the difficulty of accessing housing and has therefore been regulating it."
In addition, she values the measures put in place by the Government of Spain to alleviate the consequences that the restrictions of the coronavirus pandemic generated in the population. "The ERTEs have been an essential support for society to continue functioning, for companies to do so and for workers not to be left without work," defends the magistrate of the Constitutional Court at this point. "In the last health crisis there was a certain setback in the labor field, in terms of workers' rights, although I think that fortunately this stage has been overcome. The crisis has been overcome," she adds.
The glass ceilings in the judicial career
"Throughout our professional career we have encountered many difficulties that we have tried to overcome, sometimes it is easier, sometimes it is less, I have always said that what you have to do is have the illusion of achieving something, work, dedicate yourself to it and have a lot of confidence in yourself to achieve it," Segoviano advises on the glass ceilings that a woman faces in the judicial career.
In this sense, she maintains that "perhaps, sometimes, what fails us is the confidence in ourselves that we think we cannot, that it does not correspond to us, that this is better for a colleague. No, excuse me, you have so much knowledge, so many skills and so many faculties to perform the job well," she adds.
The magistrate of the Constitutional Court asserts that the current Spanish society is "very inclusive" and that "it is a very different, very permissive society, that contemplates and is aware that it still has to overcome many prejudices that it has traditionally had, not such as discrimination based on sex, if it is something that is repeated a lot, but it is true that it has existed and is being overcome, barriers are being jumped, things are being achieved."
"Always, always, there is something more to achieve, so I always say that you should not be complacent, you should not fall asleep, you should not think that everything is already done and you have to keep fighting in the good sense, in the sense of working, of trying to do things and trying to achieve them," advises María Segoviano.
A justice with a gender perspective
María Segoviano defends that the gender perspective has already reached the Spanish courts. For example, in the case of the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court. "It has a great sensitivity in the gender perspective and there have been quite a few judgments in which the price behavior of the aggressor to an episode of violence has been taken into account, since the woman is often reproached for why she did not report the threats. Well, because she was afraid of a person with whom she lived and who was very violent and aggressive," she specifies.
