When we women thought we had achieved equal opportunities with men, a liberal government returns, and shortly after a year of its mandate, the World Economic Fund issues a report where ...
When we women thought we had achieved equal opportunities with men, a liberal government returns, and shortly after a year of its mandate, the World Economic Fund issues a report stating that Spain has dropped 14 places in terms of the degree of social balance achieved between the sexes. "Spain is going backwards in relation to gender equality issues: it has fallen 14 places in the ranking, placing it in 26th position, behind Mozambique or Burundi. Once again, the Nordic countries - Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden - take the laurels, having closed the economic gender gap by 80%, compared to the global average of 60%."
We are currently in a time of economic crisis where the situation is dire and the government has to take "austerity" measures to move forward, justifying it by saying that the needs are very great and as a result, difficult and harsh measures have to be taken. This justification does not look good, it takes me back to other times, to other eras.
If we look back, a look that is indispensable, since history always shows us the reason for the path taken, we will see where we come from and where we are going. Well, an indispensable stop occurs around 1936 and the Women's Section, whose essential element consists of proposing the model of woman to follow, good mothers and good wives, is the woman who does not speak, submissive (although there is an elite of women who are the ones who train the rest) who sacrifices herself, who lives for others. The role of women was one of invisibility, so their way of behaving had to be demure.
It is responsible, among other things, for the education of women, directing them in how their behavior should be. It writes the thousand rules that are needed to ensure that women bring the family together around them, with the help of the church, proposing religious principles, "respectful and loving submission to the hierarchy of the church, whose directions and advice will be sacred to them." The regime wanted women to reconquer the home, encouraging them by calling them "the angel of the home," doing so for economic, ideological, and demographic reasons. It used them.
Although it sounds chilling, one of the main arguments of the women's section was exceptionality; all those strict rules were taken as a consequence of the exceptional situation that was being experienced, first the civil war and then the post-war period.
Now the same thing happens, in a situation of crisis, exceptional measures must be taken. History repeats itself, although indirectly, we are returned home for economic reasons, there is no employment, women have to be at home as caregivers (which saves the State money), and demographically, Spain is an aging country. Women need to have more daughters and sons. All this using first indoctrination (the new education law, segregation and financing of private schools) and service to the community, the welfare work that we women have to do again (the Dependency Law is emptied of content).
Currently, the cuts proposed by the Government make it even more difficult, if possible, to raise our children and care for the elderly; both types of care affect women to a greater extent, the employment situation remains precarious, with part-time contracts and a higher unemployment rate. Social cuts such as nurseries and school canteens directly affect them, as they make it difficult for women to work outside the home and reconcile work and family life. Also, co-responsibility is still not shared by families.
Centuries ago, women lived subjected to the patriarchal system. Many rebelled and even lost their lives, fighting for their rights. But years have passed and patriarchy, far from disappearing, has been mutating, adapting to the times, camouflaging itself.
After years of struggle and the different feminisms and feminist waves, when we already believed that everything had been achieved, we look around us and see that the world is still separated into pink and blue with all the implicit information that this entails.
