Spain coalition row highlights leftwing tussle over feminism

MADRID: A public spat within Spain´s two coalition parties over plans to shake up rape laws has cast a spotlight on the struggle between them to lead the country´s resurgent feminist movement.

The row comes ahead of International Women´s Day when rallies will take place across Spain that will likely draw hundreds of thousands of people in a nation where surveys show most women between 15 and 29 now call themselves feminist. The dispute centres on a new draft law presented Tuesday by Equality Minister Irene Montero of the hard-left Podemos, the junior partner in the governing coalition, which would qualify all non-consensual sex as rape. The justice ministry, headed by Juan Carlos Campo of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez´s Socialists, quickly said the bill needed to be fine-tuned, angering Podemos leaders. According to an internal ministry report, the draft law — which faces months of debate in parliament — includes “unnecessary duplicated regulations” and does not establish “sufficient mechanisms to ensure its application”. But Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias, one of Sanchez´s deputies and Montero´s life partner, quickly hit back, saying on Wednesday there were “many frustrated sexists behind the technical excuses” to change the legislation. And Pablo Echenique, another top Podemos member, also weighed in, saying: “It seems that when prestigious women draft a law, a macho man has to come and say: ´Don´t worry, I will show you how we do things round here´.

Sanchez´s righthand woman Adriana Lastra, the Socialist party´s number two, sought to calm the spat by calling the bill a “victory”. “There are no sexist ministers, we have here a feminist government, from the first to the last,” she added when asked about the Podemos comments. The justice minister, meanwhile, said he simply wants all laws tabled by the government to be “as perfect as possible” while Iglesias said he had not singled out Campo with his comments.