Women Outnumber Men in Spanish Government

I want to congratulate the Prime Minister of Spain, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero for making the world record by the appointment in his government of more women than men (9 women-8 men). By this last week action, he has broken the world and also his country’s record in the appointment of Carme Chacon, a 37 year-old woman to head the Ministry of Defense. The Prime Minister has also announced, when re-elected for the second term, that the “equality between men and women” is one of the chief goals of his government. Prime Minister Zapatero can also be proud that Ines Alberdi, a respected Spanish sociologist, has just been appointed last week at the United Nations as the new Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). The combined work of his action and Ms. Alberdi’s new work with other men and women in leadership role in the Spanish Government will tremendously help us around the world to accelerate the achievement of the goal of gender equality. Spain has given a very good example to all governments on how to lead in taking a common action on the UN Millennium Development Goal of gender equality, beginning with having “gender parity” in appointments to the highest level of the government.

Filed under Gender Issues |