NEW PARTIES HAVE sometimes old-fashioned ways. That seems to be the case of one newbie to the Spanish political arena: Albert Rivera counts mainly on men to rule his Citizen’s Party. According to data gathered by the Woman’s Institute and in the party’s website, only one in three members of Ciudadanos’ executive committee is a woman. This is the smallest proportion among the main contenders in Spain’s latest general election, held last December. The orange party has not given any explanation to the low female presence on its ruling board, even after repeated attempts to get an answer. However, Rivera spoke his mind recently on Salvados TV show: “I do not believe in quotas”. His stance on gender balance is close to that of Popular Party’s. Even if their general secretary is a woman -María Dolores de Cospedal- female members only account for 36% of total representatives sitting on PP’s executive committee.
Source: Woman’s Institute and parties websites
NONE OF THESE two conservative factions include in their statutes a minimum threshold of women to guarantee gender parity in their ruling bodies. On the contrary, Spanish left-wing parties impose an obligation on themselves to have at least 40% women on their executive committees. This seems to be a widespread trend. A European Parliament report, which analysed the lists ahead of the elections held on May 2014, describes how “the adoption of party quotas, as well as the quota level, varies in accordance with the traditional left-right dichotomy. The Socialdemocrats and Green party members are more prone to have adopted party quotas”.
"Women are 36% of PP's executive board.
They are 65% on PSOE's"
SO EVEN IF MEN are still the face of their blocs, Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), Podemos (We can) and United Left (IU) have all at least 45% women on their ruling boards. PSOE performs very well in this comparison, since men are a minority within the party’s executive committee: male presence barely reaches 35% against 65% women. One of them, Micaela Navarro, chairs the board. Podemos and IU share their bet on women: female presence on their ruling committees is about 45%.
UNFORTUNATELY, after the election things are quite the same regarding gender balance. None of the main contenders for La Moncloa –Spain’s Prime Minister official residence- was a woman.