The 34-year-old from the left-wing Podemos party represents a completely new understanding of gender roles, which is also causing public outrage among the conservative half of the Spanish population. Representatives of the conservative PP party and the right-wing populist Vox speak of a violation of the principle of presumption of innocence. Montero, on the other hand, said it was “a crucial step towards changing Spain’s sexual culture” and ending “sexual terror” and “rape culture”.
No parental consent
The abortion law that has just been passed also gives Spanish women much more free access to abortion than in most other European countries.
In the future, women over the age of 16 can have an abortion without parental consent. Also allowed in Austria. The procedure will be possible free of charge in public health hospitals, combined with the right to sick leave for several days.
No more pauses to think
The new law also eliminates the three-day cooling-off period after requesting an abortion. The abortion pill and the “morning after pill” are distributed free of charge at all state health posts and no longer need to be purchased at pharmacies. Under the bill, sex education will soon also become a mandatory subject in all state schools and for all age groups.
Sick leave for menstrual pain
The minister also argued that in Spain menstrual pain is now explicitly considered a reason for illness. Women who have severe symptoms of illness during menstruation can stay home for three days. In extreme cases, this sick leave can even be extended to five days, but this requires a medical diagnosis. In this case, the state covers the costs of lost work.
pioneer role
Pedro Sanchez’s government is not the first socialist government in Spain to insist on strengthening women’s rights. In 2004, the then government of José Luis Zapatero caused an uproar with a law that criminalized all forms of domestic violence. According to statistics, every second woman in Spain is a victim of male violence, mainly on the part of her partner. Femicides also occur with frightening frequency in Spain. There were more than 1,200 in the last 15 years.
fierce debates
But the issues of women’s rights and violence against women regularly trigger heated debates in Spain, in which the particularly pronounced divide between left and right becomes visible. One case in July 2016 in particular caused great outrage. A group of five youths dragged a young woman to a door during the traditional San Fermín celebrations in Pamplona. They raped her victim multiple times and filmed the whole thing. The court did not find that the crime of rape was given because, as the 2018 trial said, there were no “beatings or threats” and the victim remained passive. The verdict sparked protests across the country. In any case, for Montero the new laws, which she has been fighting for for years, are a clear signal: “The feminist movement is making history in Spain.”