He constitutional Court (TC) has commemorated International Women’s Day by claiming its role as guarantor of women’s rights and highlighting the path that remains to be traveled to achieve effective equality between men and women.
Four of the five magistrates of the institution -the vice president, Inmaculada Montalbán, together with Concepción Espejel, María Luisa Segoviano and Laura Díez- have participated together with the former president of the TC María Emilia Casas and the magistrates of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). and from the Court of Justice of the European Union (THUE) María Elósegui and Lourdes Arastey, respectively, in an act held at the headquarters of the court to address the legal evolution of gender equality in Spain and in Europe.
In the presentation of the day, the vice-president of the TC, Inmaculada Montalbán, praised the work of the court “as guarantor of the constitutional rights of women”, who, as she recalled, have “suffered a long history of discrimination”. “Institutional work – she has stressed – is essential to solidify the foundations that make these fundamental rights sustainable.”
Segoviano: “Our fight must continue”
For his part, Maria Elosegui has insisted -using the jurisprudence of the TDEH in the “Volodina case”- on the importance of sensitizing institutions and police forces so that they act correctly early in cases of cyberbullying such as the one suffered by the plaintiff, to whom her ex-partner was stalking for three years. “A gender perspective is needed”, he has assured at the same time that he has pointed out the existence of an excess of “machismo!” when interpreting “the indications and evidence” after the filing of the complaint. “It took two years to investigate the facts and when his ex-partner was charged, it was late and the crime had already prescribed,” he lamented.
The magistrate of the TC Maria Luisa Segoviano He has fled from complacency and has emphasized the long road that, as he has defended, still remains to be traveled in pursuit of equality. “Despite the fact that very important steps have been taken, effective equality between men and women has not occurred”, he has made it clear.
“Reality is stubborn and shows that unaffordable situations of inequality still persist,” among which he has referred to the wage gap or the higher rates of female unemployment. “Our fight must continue. We cannot consent to this inequality. We have to make equal treatment between men and women a reality,” remarked the former president of the Social Chamber of the Supreme Court.
Arastey: “Much remains to be done”
In her speech, the CJUE magistrate Lourdes Arastey has addressed the legal perspective of gender equality in Europe since its origins. Arastey has recognized the work of Spanish judges by raising issues related to discrimination and inequality before the Court of Justice of the EU. And he recalled one of the latest CJEU rulings in this regard, from last February, on unemployment coverage for domestic workers.
“Much remains to be done,” acknowledged the former Supreme Court magistrate, who has expressly referred to the wage gap, stressing that women in the European Union earn an average of 12.7% more than men for doing the same job . Likewise, she recalled that in national parliaments the percentage of women stands at 32 percent, a percentage that rises to 40% in the case of the European Parliament.
The “equalizing value” of the Constitution
Finally, the former president of the TC Maria Emilia Casas He has advocated the “need” for women to “participate in any sphere of society on an equal footing with men.” Casas welcomed the presence for the first time of five women in the composition of the Constitutional Committee, also emphasizing, beyond the importance of women being present in positions of responsibility in the institutions, the role they have played in advancing in equality “ordinary women”.
“The Constitution has an impressive equalizing value”, has defended the former president of the TC, although she has called attention to the fact that the Magna Carta only refers to women as such on two occasions (on the occasion of marriage and in succession to the Head of State by discriminating against it in relation to men). In the Constitution of 1812, for example, there was a reference to women, as she has recalled. “In a long century we have gone from one to two references”, she has ironized her.
Casas has valued the contribution of the Constitutional on the path towards the end of discrimination. “The task of the court over time -he said- has been invaluable in terms of equality” and some of its resolutions, he pointed out, “have broken the country’s legal culture”. “He is at the forefront in the interpretation of equality”, he has concluded.
The closure of the act was carried out by the magistrate Concepcion Espejel, who has assured that “a long way has been traveled” towards equality in the judiciary, although he has admitted that “there is still a long way to go.” Espejel, the only woman who has presided over the Criminal Chamber of the National Court, has praised the role of court workers during the pandemic (to whom she paid tribute at the 8-M celebration last year).