Towards an inclusive feminism. That’s the mantra Sumar, the left-wing coalition led by Yolanda Díaz, is repeating ahead of the July 23 general election. In a lecture on the subject, moderated at the Teatro Pavón in Madrid by actress Anabel Alonso – who has warned of the “violation” of rights and freedoms when the right and extreme right come to power – the vice-president stressed that The Feminism ‘loses’ when it ‘stands in the trenches’ and asks to escape the ‘legal trap’ that seeks to create ‘division’.
The position of “feminism for the 99%,” as Díaz defined it in his speech, is a position that is markedly different from the context of the past four years. The involvement not only of the LGTBI collective, but above all of men, as Díaz and the philosopher Clara Serra, also present at the event, have repeated, means changing the pace of events in the last legislature of the coalition government , also among the opposition and in the feminist movement.
It was precisely the transgender law and free gender self-determination – the ability to change names and genders in the DNI only with the will of the people – that divided the movement in 2022 for the first time in history Splitting a part of feminism, contrary to this norm, separated on 8-M. Just like what happened within the PSOE, where one faction didn’t want to adopt the text.
Outside the movement, it is the extreme right, and sometimes the right, that opposes women’s rights, the advances of the LGTBI collective, to men’s with a speech in which they allude to a struggle between the two. “We will repeal the Gender-Based Violence Act and all regulations that, far from effectively protecting women, have encouraged a war of the sexes, the disintegration of families, inequality before the law and the destruction of the presumption of innocence,” it said Vox in his election manifesto.
“Feminism is not at war with anyone, despite what Abascal says,” Díaz replied, “on the contrary, it extends rights not only for women but also for men, for everyone.” Elizabeth Duval, the campaign spokesperson for this area, who sat to Díaz’s right during the event, also hinted at what she meant by that 99% when she referred to feminism as a place of “academy.” She reiterated that this is “not” feminism. “It is neither a cultural flag nor a philosophical debate, but a social and radical revolution for the 21st century.” Duval has warned against this has attempted to “construct an image of feminism that dwarfs it and makes it a place where fewer and fewer people fit.”
In this sense, Serra has advocated the “recapture of plural feminism”. A movement related to the march of March 8, 2018, “transformative” and “for the whole world”. “A feminism that is compelling, persuasive, inspiring and welcoming to everyone.” In a conversation unrelated to Gender Equality Minister Irene Montero, all the speeches, including those of Más Madrid Councilor Carolina Elías and Colombian MP Mafe Carrascal, defended one step in that direction.
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An all-encompassing program
The Sumar program does not have specific guidelines for one area, but applies to all departments. “Gender issues must be integrated into all public policies and no longer be marginalized and associated only with certain social policies,” says the document. The program ranges from the economic sphere – narrowing the pay gap and pensions – to strengthening the Equality Department with a proposal to create a vice-presidency for feminism and the care economy, one of the most widely reported areas in the media.
The document, which Sumar will present to the July 23 elections, advocates “guaranteeing the operation of crisis centers” for victims of sexual violence and addresses sexual and reproductive health issues, such as access to assisted reproductive technologies, which are funded by the public sector funded for women up to 45 years old.
This also includes the proposals on equality for the LGTBI+ collective, the section of which begins with the “priority”, which is that the party “effectively complies with the provisions contained in the so-called trans law”, and with the proposal for “a state pact against Hate speech.” In the last paragraph of the chapter, the coalition defends measures to “prevent and target intra-sex violence” that occurs within same-sex couples and to “guarantee rights and protections” for its victims.
What was not considered in the program and was also not addressed in the law were some key issues such as prostitution with conflicting visions between the coalition parties or surrogacy, although four years ago this was not the case with the Unidas Podemos program. It was the PSOE that put it on its agenda, with which Sumar hopes to strengthen the government once again after the 23rd century. To this end, prostitution includes “a law prohibiting pimping in all its forms, including the punishment of strangers and the sanctioning of pimps”, while the bellies for rent do so with the proposal to “take action” against this – already illegal – practice. in Spain – by acting “against the authorities” and taking parallel measures “to facilitate and promote the national and international adoption system”.
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