The government delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, gave visibility today to the feminist commitment of the Government of Spain and called on the Galician citizens to defend full equality. She did so this morning at the ceremony to place the banner commemorating the 8-M, International Women’s Day, on the façade of the Government Delegation, in which she was accompanied by the head of the Delegation’s Coordination Unit against Violence against Women, María Debén; the Secretary General of the Delegation, Alberto de la Fuente and the head of the Unit against Violence against Women of A Coruña, Manuela Vilaboy, among other officials. This banner will remain exposed on the main facade of the building that overlooks the Plaza de Ourense throughout the week.
Pedro Blanco highlighted the policies developed by the Government, which make Spain the fourth most advanced country in the European Union in terms of gender equality, according to the Gender Equality Index of 2024 of the European Institute of Gender Equality (EIGE). “With the data in hand, it is clear that we are advancing a more feminist and just society,” said Pedro Blanco, who encouraged all citizens not to lower their arms in favor of feminism “even if they face those small parts of society that deny machismo and perpetuate inequality.”
The delegate recalled that the Government promotes equality with investments, such as the transfer of 11 million euros to the Xunta de Galicia through the Concilia Plan for the financing of conciliation and co-responsibility actions, “which facilitate the daily life of Galician families.” In this area, he recalled that the Government also promoted the extension of paid paternity and maternity leave and the implementation of new leave to guarantee the care of minors in office by working people.
“The Government’s policies, in any case, are transversal and always have a gender perspective in mind,” said Pedro Blanco, who highlighted as the best example of this commitment the increase in the interprofessional minimum wage (61% since 2018), which leaves 60% of female beneficiaries; the increase in pensions, which increased the average remuneration of women by 45%, or the reduction by 6.8 points of the pay gap between men and women. Not only that, because the Government’s work in the field of employment allowed it to exceed the 10 million women employed, a record figure since there are records.
Commemorative programming
Pedro Blanco said that the Government Delegation will carry out a series of activities commemorating 8-M and the values promoted by the commemoration of International Women’s Day, “a new degree of sand that adds to the work of this Government for equality in each action it carries out.” Among these activities, she highlighted a colloquium that will be held in A Coruña, where women arriving from different fields of society will review the long battle that feminism fought and continues to fight in Galicia. This colloquium coincides with the commemoration this year of the “50 years of Spain in Freedom”.