"Women belong in all places where decisions are made."
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020)
Last September 30th was a great day for equality (the real one, not the formal one) in Spanish justice.
Mid-morning, a magistrate crossed one of the most insurmountable thresholds of the Spanish judiciary, but only if you are a woman.
Her name is María Luisa Segoviano and she is a pioneer. She has become the first woman to preside over one of the five Chambers of the Supreme Court, the Social Chamber, in the more than 200 years of history of this high court.
The milestone has a special relevance if we take into account that justice in Spain has historically been a preserve for women, who were legally prohibited from accessing the judicial and fiscal career until 1966.
Judging has always been a rational, formalistic and detached from the human discipline. Perfectly calculated distancing as a generating element of "authority" through fear of the unknown. Women were not fit to judge, nor were they fit for combat. Affection, tenderness or care are a challenge to the unconditional acceptance of authority, and therefore those values were eradicated and confined to the private and feminine spheres.
Justice is an unknown and often unintelligible body in the application and interpretation of a law with severe shortcomings in the female perspective, both in form and substance, a very visual example being the constitutional prevalence of the male sex in the succession to the throne of the Spanish crown or the standard of civil diligence of the "good father of the family" or the "orderly businessman" in commercial matters.
And where are the female judges?
The latest statistics from the Spanish General Council of the Judiciary remind us that in the Spanish Supreme Court there are only 16 female magistrates out of a total of 80 members. In the Military and Civil chambers there is only one woman, despite the fact that in this last chamber family matters are resolved, where women lead the statistics in terms of care in all countries of the world (OXFAM January-2020).
Only 2 of the 17 presidencies of superior courts of justice have a woman's name and only 10 presidencies of provincial courts, out of a total of 50, are led by female magistrates. A female magistrate presiding over the Supreme Court and the General Council of the Judiciary has never been known.
TVE
María Luisa Segoviano Astaburuaga.
The same image of inequity is reproduced in the Spanish Constitutional Court, where only six female magistrates have been known out of a total of 64 members since the creation of this Court in 1981, and never more than two female magistrates have coexisted in this body composed of 12 members.
The data presented make visible the dimensions of a robust glass ceiling armored for female judges, who are more than 53% of the judiciary. But in justice that ceiling is especially serious because it hinders the experiences, aspirations and concerns of an entire half of the population, underrepresented where important judicial decisions are made.
The absence of women at the top of the Justice system is a democratic anomaly that results in the quality of Justice because it does not represent the complete view of a society composed of women and men.
It is necessary to bring justice closer to the society to which it is directed, integrating the values associated with historically despised femininity.
The Law has gender and it is not the feminine one, therefore it is urgent to feminize justice from above, changing the binding jurisprudence for those of us who judge from below. It is time to promote transformative changes that move towards a more realistic, egalitarian and co-responsible society. It is necessary to bring justice closer to the society to which it is directed, integrating the values associated with historically despised femininity, such as emotional intelligence or the value of care, promoting a more human and less mechanical justice.
For all these reasons, today we are in luck.
The promotion of our colleague María Luisa Segoviano is a great advance in our associative struggle for gender equality from justice. She is a brilliant jurist and recognized ambassador of the gender perspective from the entrails of justice.
Today is a great day for equality, the real one, not the formal one, because with her, we have all crowned the top of Spanish justice.
We move forward, slowly, but we move forward...
Published in The Huffintonpost