Aldo Cazzullo (photo by Carlo Furgeri Gilbert).
«Stand women represent half of society, then half of the political power and half of the economic power belongs to women. Some will find this disproportionate. It just seems right to us.”
With these words Spanish premier Pedro Sánchez announced the new law of equal representation between men and women in decision-making centres.
The electoral lists will be composed alternately of men and women. Every company listed on the Stock Exchange or in any case with more than 250 employees must have at least 40 percent women on the board of directors and in managerial positions.
Every professional order must have at least 40 percent women at the top. No prize or recognition financed with public money can be awarded by a jury that does not include at least 40 percent women.
Someone will object: in this way Spain will become an immense female quota. But “quota rosa” is the classic cacophonous and hateful expression invented to discredit a right thing.
Fascism introduced a gigantic “blue quota” 90 percent of seats reserved for men, obviously without calling it that; and no one today remembers it.
Reserving seats for women is still necessary, because our societies – especially the Latin ones – are still very male-dominated.
In Spain, for example, gender-based violence remains a problem, many husbands find it normal to beat their wives; and the Sánchez government has fought against this. Even in Italy domestic violence still existsto.
Of course, there have been huge steps forward. Even the fact of having for the first time a woman at the helm of the government and another woman at the head of the left is objectively new.
But the most important thing is that today Giorgia Meloni and Elly Schlein, and tomorrow the 40 percent of women who will find themselves in charge of Spaindo different things differently than men of power have done for centuries.
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