NC demands that the "Government of the Canary Islands' right wing restore the cuts in equality policies"

They are again demanding that the CC and PP Executive "restore the more than two million euros eliminated this year in the development and implementation of policies on gender equality"

March 8 2024 (11:55 WET)
Parliamentary group and the president
Parliamentary group and the president

Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista will demand tomorrow Friday, during the commemoration of International Women's Day (March 8), that the Government of the Canary Islands' right wing "restore the cuts in gender equality policies applied in the 2024 budgets." The parliamentary spokesperson on the matter for the Canarian group, Natalia Santana, also demanded "determination to stop the threat posed by the advance of the ultra-conservatives like Vox and the denialist movements."

The progressive Canarianism will mobilize to again demand that the CC and PP Executive "restore the more than two million euros eliminated for this year in the development and implementation of policies on gender equality." Santana lamented that, with these decisions, the "partners of the right-wing pact are on the same side as the governments participated by the extreme right."  

The Canarian parliamentarian demanded, as in the processing of the budgets for 2024 in Parliament through an amendment rejected by the groups of CC, PP, ASG and AHI, the "nearly 764,000 euros subtracted for the promotion of equal opportunities for women." As well as "the 840,000 euros subtracted from aid to women victims of violence with special difficulties in obtaining employment" and the "450,000 euros from the Canarian Social Emergency Fund for Women Victims of Gender Violence."

Based on the approaches promoted by the United Nations, she said that one of the main obstacles to achieving equality is the alarming lack of funding. For Santana, the cuts decided by the Canarian Executive are worrying and show a "lack of commitment" in the fight against sexist violence, the clearest expression of inequality, she criticized.

She recalled that, in the Canary Islands, sexist violence grows four times more than in the rest of the State, so this structural problem, contrary to what was agreed by the Executive and the groups that support it in Parliament, demands adequate attention and investment from all public authorities.

For NC-BC, equality is one of the greatest challenges of society, on which progress and important achievements have been made. But "we still have a great ceiling and work to develop to make it real," she warned. Santana demanded determination to stop the threat posed by the advance of the far right like Vox as well as other denialist movements.

Without forgetting the terrible situation that women live in totalitarian and repressive regimes, she stated that inequality has different dimensions. Such as the wage gap between men and women that, in the Archipelago, is 2,441 euros per year, which means that female workers earn, on average, 11.5% less.

It is also observed, she added, in the time spent on care and social activities. While 25 percent of men take care of routine care, women account for 34 percent. This figure skyrockets, she remarked, if we talk about household chores, where Canarian women represent 71 percent compared to 46 percent of men.

In relation to the situation of poverty and social exclusion in the islands, Santana denounced that 39.2 percent of Canarian women are at risk of poverty, three points more than the percentage of men. The unemployment rate also preys on women, with a rate of 18.6 percent compared to 15.9 percent of men.

For all these reasons, Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista will take to the streets tomorrow to demand that the Canarian Government restore the funding eliminated in 2024, "at a minimum", and that, in 2025, "no more cuts will be decided" by any of the Canarian public administrations.

Most read