Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced on Saturday a bill to make parity mandatory in government, in electoral lists and on the boards of directors (CA) of large companies.
“At the next Council of Ministers”, Tuesday, “we are going to approve a law of equal representation between men and women in decision-making bodies”, announced the socialist leader during a meeting of his party in Madrid.
The executive would like each of the two genders to be represented by at least 40% of ministers in government, and that there be at least 40% of women on the boards of directors of listed companies with at least 250 employees and which generate an annual turnover of more than 50 million euros, government sources told AFP.
“At the feminist vanguard at European level”,
This reform also provides for an alternation between women and men on all electoral lists, and aims to impose parity in the professional colleges, which represent the corporations, as well as in the public prize juries, added Pedro Sanchez.
“We are again at the feminist vanguard at European level,” welcomed the socialist head of government, which includes a majority of women, and formed in coalition with the radical left party Podemos.
Elections in May
Spain is often considered a reference in terms of women’s rights in Europe, particularly since the adoption in 2004 of a law on gender violence, or the adoption in February of a law establishing menstrual leave and reinforcing sex education.
The Spaniards will be called to the polls in May for the regional and municipal elections, and at the end of the year for the legislative ones.
In France, the High Council for Equality submitted a report to the government last December advocating in particular for elections of pairs of women / men in the legislative elections and for the sanctuarization of parity in politics in the Constitution, and in ministerial cabinets.