Lanzarote and La Graciosa joined the events to commemorate International Women's Day this Tuesday. "March 8. 8 Islands for Equality" was the slogan chosen this year to lead this commemoration in the Canary Islands. This was the first year that the Canary Islands Federation of Municipalities (FECAM), the Citizen Council of La Graciosa, the seven island councils and the Canary Islands Institute for Equality of the Government of the Canary Islands joined together to celebrate this unavoidable event with a simultaneous reading marathon on the eight Canary Islands. The chosen work was 'He', by the Canarian writer and fighter for women's rights Mercedes Pinto.
In the Cabildo of Lanzarote, an event was held that was presided over by the president Pedro San Ginés and was attended by a large number of authorities, such as the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sports of the Government of the Canary Islands, María Teresa Lorenzo, councilors of the Cabildo and several mayors and councilors from different municipalities. The readings with excerpts from the work of Mercedes Pinto were given by all the authorities present and the representatives of the Mararía and Tiemar associations, Nieves Rosa Hernández and Samantha Valdés Miguez, respectively, among others.
The president especially wanted to thank the attendance of these two groups and take the opportunity again to "publicly recognize the work they carry out in the fight against the eradication of gender violence and the important awareness and assistance work they provide in Lanzarote and La Graciosa". In this same sense, he congratulated the Center for Equality and Attention to Women (CIAM) of the Cabildo, "whose technical body I also want to thank on a date like today for the extraordinary work that I know they carry out every day".
Similarly, Pedro San Ginés stated that "today, March 8, is a day for remembrance, to pay tribute to the memory of centuries of history of women who lost their lives and fought for their rights and for a more just and egalitarian society." The president once again expressed on behalf of the Corporation his "most energetic rejection and condemnation of gender violence, a true stigma of the worst social injustice that can exist and that unfortunately we continue to suffer throughout the world, remembering in this way all the victims who have suffered abuse and their sons and daughters".
The president emphasized that from all possible fronts "we must continue working to eradicate this social scourge, with public policies, legislative reforms that guarantee true equality of opportunities between men and women, social strategies and greater awareness".
The Minister of Youth, Sports and Road Safety, Patricia Pérez, the General Director of Youth of the Government of the Canary Islands, José Téllez Ledezma, the mayor of Arrecife, José Montelongo, the mayor of Tinajo, Jesús Machín, the mayor of Teguise, Oswaldo Betancort, and the councilors of Equality and Social Welfare of the different town halls were also present.
Marathon towards a still distant goal
This event was also held on the eighth island, presided over by the Minister of Social Welfare of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Carmen Rosa Márquez, and the director of the Canary Islands Institute for Equality, Ana María Franquet Navarro, who were accompanied by the councilor of Teguise in La Graciosa, Alicia Páez, as well as representatives of the Citizen Council, as a collaborating entity of this institutional act, and the general population who participated in it.
"Equality is everyone's business", stressed the director of the Canary Islands Institute for Equality, who pointed out that from the institutions "we must set an example and with this joint act it is clear that in a coordinated way we are better and that by joining forces we will be able to move safely towards real equality".
"We are aware that this marathon is a long-distance race, that there are still many kilometers that separate us from the desired goal, but we will travel them tirelessly, step by step", indicated the representatives of the institutions, while highlighting that despite the progress made, "our great challenge is to break the mental structures by educating in values of equality".
The City Council of Teguise and the island of La Graciosa joined together to commemorate this struggle and "shout in unison that we strongly reject inequality, discrimination and violence", stressed the local mayor of Octava Isla, Alicia Páez. "And we have done so with the permission of a fighting Canarian woman, with whom we pay this well-deserved tribute to the women who lost their lives, to those who have made it possible for us to count the achievements made today and to those who continue to demand rights", added Páez in an event that was attended by the CEO Ignacio Aldecoa of La Graciosa, among other residents.
The mayor of Teguise, Oswaldo Betancort, was not present at this event in La Graciosa, since, like other authorities on the island, he attended the Cabildo event. "This tribute is dedicated to the Canarian women, to the women of the world and, if you allow me, especially to the strong and hardworking women of the island of La Graciosa", he said there. "Teguise and the institution that I represent have joined and will always join to add the necessary efforts to achieve safe progress towards real and palpable equality for the whole of society, so that the girls who will soon become adult women do not have to suffer what many grandmothers and many mothers suffered".
