Pontevedra, March 7, 2025.- The subdelegate of the Government in Pontevedra, Abel Losada, presided this morning the institutional act for March 8 that had as its motto 8M=0N, with which it is intended to symbolize that Equality equals zero negationism. The event, which filled the hall of events of the Biological Mission of Galicia in Salcedo (Pontevedra), had the direct participation of women scientists of the CSIC in the province “because the negationist movement seeks social regression for the benefit of a few and therefore attacks not only Equality, but also Science and even Democracy”.
Abel Losada was accompanied by the delegate of the CSIC in Galicia, Carmen González; by the director of the Marine Research Institute, Beatriz Novoa; by the director of the Oceanographic Center of Vigo of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO), Rosa Figueroa and by the researcher of the Biological Mission- of Galicia, Alexandra Rodríguez. The event, which departs for the first time from the headquarters of the Government Subdelegation in Pontevedra, also counted on the musical interventions of Mayda Toledo and Carmen Gallego, violists of the Pontevedra Symphony, and was presented by the delegate of the Gender Violence Prevention Unit of the Subdelegation, María José Rodríguez.
The subdelegate said that it is necessary to “set off an alarm that awakens us from the slumber of indolence because we play hard to keep quiet in front of the machists, the terraplanists, the antivacins and the conspiracies” and added that feminism and science are two “trenches from which we give that necessary battle”. At the same time, she thanked the presence of women scientists who seek proven truths and work for progress. During the event, the curriculum of these four researchers was extolled, with hundreds of articles, publications, patents and outstanding advances in knowledge about the immunoloxy of fish and molluscs, toxicity of invasive algae, the effects of red tides, the traceability of fishery products or the @microbial functioning of soil nutrients.
“Equality is not an experiment, it is a pillar, an inalienable conquest of society, based on the objective fact that women (half of humanity) have the right to the same opportunities as men,” said the deputy delegate in his speech. “Does anyone dare to dream of a world without feminism? A world without Science? Equality and Science are made of the same paste: the rejection of ignorance and the commitment to knowledge; the light against the darkness of the platonic cavern.”
Losada was disappointed that “Negationism uses Democracy as an instrument, without believing in it, even detesting it” and that today it feels in official offices of powerful countries and signs decrees as grotesque as what claims that people with disabilities are idiots, imbeciles or mentally weak, “you are everything with the roar of a chainsaw or with the bisbar of an extremely thick marker pen”. “And it’s not just across the Atlantic, they’re here, too.”
The pay gap, for which women earn 20% less; the fact that only 28% of management positions are occupied by women; and the scourge of male violence, which last year claimed the lives of two women in our province, were also present in the institutional intervention.
“Women are behind every human work. For a long time this was hidden, but the women broke glass roofs and even concrete roofs. Feminine talent enriches universal knowledge, so feminism always,” said the deputy delegate. “Equality is not negotiable, as in the force of gravity, the advance of invasive algae, the capacity of RNA vaccines.”
María José Rodríguez, head of the Unit against Gender Violence of the Subdelegation began the event by claiming an 8M understood as Equality Day, surpassing that ancient terminology of the International Day of Working Women. He stressed the importance of “filling the institutional acts with content” beyond the routine celebration of ephemeris and called for a vindictive 8M against negationism, which attacks as a harmful virus to Equality, Science and Democracy. She concluded by stating that feminism equals equality, science equals progress and democracy equals freedom. “We are committed to building a better society far away from those who want to return to the Inquisition and McCarthyism.”
The women scientists participating in the event highlighted the close relationship between equality and science. Thus Beatriz Novoa stressed that women in leadership positions are branded as aggressive, while men are seen as having a gift for leadership. Rosa Figueroa declared herself heir to a path that was flattened by courageous women with her independent talent, but also debtor of the one who remains to walk. Alexandra Rodríguez wanted a world in which no one has to choose between professional career and meternidade and, finally, Carmen González appealed to face the currents that seek to retreat after centuries of struggle: “The world needs women’s perspective for a sustainable future.”