Telegraph- The Left betrayed women in Spain - now they face a reckoning
The Left betrayed women in Spain - now they face a reckoning
The government approved a controversial trans law that saw feminist groups and opposition parties united in condemnation
No government can rule with women against them. This was the response of Spanish theorist Amelia Valcárcel to the election results this past Sunday. Valcárcel used to be a Councillor of State but lost her position in March due to her support for sex-based rights. She is among a growing number of feminist campaigners who have turned their back on Spain’s socialist-led coalition government.
Indeed, what started as polite objections has become a fierce, organised pushback. On Sunday, many feminist organisations called for a boycott against what they perceived as the Spanish government’s misogynists policies under the hashtag “feminism does not vote for traitors.”
Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish Prime Minister, acknowledged a resounding defeat at the regional level that saw his PSOE’s Left-wing coalition with its junior partner, the hard-Left Podemos, lose control of six regions, including Valencia and Seville. The government has now brought forward December’s general election to July 23. In Madrid, the right-wing Popular Party, which includes Isabel Díaz Ayuso, won an absolute majority, and throughout the country, it will be building alliances with the hard-right Vox party, which campaigns against reproductive rights and legislation to eradicate male violence against women.
Among the organisations created to defend sex-based rights, Contra Borrado de las Mujeres (Against the Erasure of Women), a Spanish-led international coalition made up of politicians, barristers, academics, teachers and grassroots women, represents the most striking one given that many of our members come from the PSOE itself and have decades-long track records of socialist campaigning.
No feminist relishes the prospect of an emboldened Vox, but the fury shown at the polls is a response to mistreatment too many women have faced, on top of legislative disasters which represent a setback to Spain’s historically strong women’s rights legislation.
In February, the government approved a controversial trans law that saw feminist groups and opposition parties united in condemnation of the sweeping nature of its proposals. Anyone over 16 is now able to change their gender in legal documents, without the need for medical supervision. This sex self-identification process negatively impacts women’s refuges, sports and prisons.
Women who objected faced vilification, no matter how senior or high-profile they were. Carmen Calvo, Sanchez’ former vice-president argued that gender self-id represented “a setback” for women, and that it would “destroy strong equality legislation” in Spain. In response, trans activists hung an effigy of Calvo from a tree in a public plaza. This effigy was never condemned by her colleagues and she subsequently lost her position as vice-president.
Last week, feminist campaigners protested a rally by Equalities Minister, Irene Montero, objecting to the increase number of reported rape cases and sentences reductions for sexual predators allowed under the governments equally controversial “only yes means yes” legislation. “You haven’t listened to feminists,” stated a placard. Those women were thrown out of the event, with Moreno stating: “No transphobia allowed. Our event is unwelcoming of transphobes.”
The government’s “only yes means yes” bill became a fiasco when it was found to aid sexual predators reduce their sentences, due to a lower minimum sentence for rape in the new legislation. Hailed as a feminist achievement, in practice, the Sexual Freedom Law allowed people already sentenced for rape to retroactively apply the law to have their harsher sentences reduced. As of mid-May, official figures point to around 1,079 rapists who have been able to reduce their sentences and 108 who have been released. After arguing that the problem was not the legislation, but instead its application by judges who didn’t understand it, the government eventually admitted the errors and the bill is being amended.
Ignored and vilified when they tried to raise objections, this Sunday women were invited to spoil their ballots as a last resort, with many writing “feminism does not vote for traitors” to hit this socialist government where it hurts: in the ballot box.
Upon winning the 2018 election, Pedro Sánchez hailed his coalition as “the most progressive government” in Spanish history. If only. No feminist I know relishes the prospect of an emboldened hard-right intent on crushing reproductive rights or male violence legislation. But that does not mean a hard-Left obsessed with putting male rapists in female prisons or abolishing the female categories in sporting competitions get a free pass.
If the Spanish Left assumed these were empty words from a feminist movement renowned around the world for its power of mobilisation, then on Sunday they received a lesson to not underestimate the fury of women. Until the general election, the choice is to correct course or else.
Raquel Rosario Sánchez is a writer and campaigner specialising in ending violence against girls and women
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