Águeda Batista from Lanzarote has been one of the honorees by the Canary Islands Government at the Women and Sports Gala of the Canary Islands. A recognition of various athletes in which the handball player has felt "very grateful" for the invitation and revealed to La Voz that "it was a beautiful and very emotional event." "I am delighted that after so many years I am given an award together with athletes from four generations," she added to the newspaper.
During the event, the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, highlighted the example of "perseverance and effort" provided by the elite athletes who have triumphed at national and international level in thirty sports disciplines. During the Women and Sports Gala of the Canary Islands, the head of the autonomous government emphasized their merit, considering that "nothing has been easy or given to them in a historically masculinized world."
Clavijo also emphasized that their successes have made them "role models" for new generations, overcoming the false narrative they fought against in their time that "girls could not play soccer, drive a rally car, or wear a judo kimono."
The Canarian president thanked the effort of the 74 honored sportswomen for "paving a path that, unfortunately, we are still walking." A decade ago, 80% of the 144,000 federated athletes in the Canary Islands were men and only 20% were women. In 2022, the figure has stood at 71% and 29%, respectively. A gap that, "although it has been reduced during this period, is still far away."
In this sense, Fernando Clavijo acknowledged that there is still "a long race ahead to achieve full equality" in all areas of society and also in sports, a fight against the gender gap in which "this Government is fully committed" to achieve full equality between men and women "as soon as possible."
The gala also featured the presence of the Minister of Education, Vocational Training, Physical Activity and Sports, Poli Suárez, who described the event as "historic" by bringing together so many elite athletes from the islands. An event that has meant "settling part of that small debt that society had contracted" with them, he stressed in his speech.
This is the first time that a collective recognition has been made to women who, in the case of the most veteran, have dedicated a lifetime to the practice of their respective sports disciplines, as well as an impulse for the youngest, whose careers have just begun.
A historic event
The event, which was hosted by the renowned sports journalist from RTVE, Paloma del Río, was full of emotional moments starring the honorees, who recalled experiences from their respective sports careers, and which corroborate the harshness of elite sports.
After the speech by the president of the Canary Islands with which the event was closed, the artist Mel Ömana performed a song composed especially for the gala. The Women and Sports Gala of the Canary Islands has been organized by the Charter 100 Canarias Association, whose president, Nardy Barrios, assured that events like this "lay the foundations for women's sports to be definitively equated with those of their male colleagues."
Charter 100 Canarias is an organization that supports women to achieve equality and real equity between the two sexes. It is committed to the consolidation of women in all areas of society, entrepreneurship and professional development. In this way, it believes that female leadership and empowerment are achieved from diversity and freedom, from interculturality and active participation.
