Sánchez's commitment to women

In sociology, there is a concept known as the "glass cliff," which means that women are more likely to assume responsibility in crisis situations. There is no doubt that the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) is currently in deep crisis after its last two organizational secretaries, José Luis Ábalos and Santos Cerdán, are under investigation for corruption, and the latter is currently in pretrial detention. To turn the page on this situation, Pedro Sánchez has opted to appoint a woman to the position, Rebeca Torró, and to increase the presence of women in the PSOE's decision-making core at Ferraz.

Thus, Torró's deputy will also be a woman, Anabel Mateo. Similarly, the Catalan Montse Mínguez, who will be the new spokesperson, will also have a female deputy spokesperson, Enma López. The operation is so explicit that Pedro Sánchez met this Friday with the party's top leaders to emphasize a feminist shift that includes reforming the party's statutes to immediately expel members who engage in prostitution.

This feminization of the PSOE is the card Sánchez will play this Saturday before the PSOE federal committee, which must validate the proposal. But it is not enough. Feminization must be accompanied by a change in political culture that means, for example, that an organization secretary cannot simultaneously hold the position of minister with the most resources, such as Transport. This is what happened with José Luis Ábalos and, during Zapatero's administration, with José Blanco. The party is the party, and the government is the government, and when one is confused with the other, problems begin.

Regarding the appointment of Montse Mínguez, there is a danger that it will be detrimental to the autonomy of the PSC, although the choice of Torró also reveals that the Catalan-speaking territories, that is, those around the Mediterranean and particularly mistreated by centralism in issues such as funding, are those with the social bases.

At the same time that Sánchez was meeting with PSOE women in the Moncloa Palace, the PP was kicking off its congress elsewhere in Madrid. The PP's agenda has been the opposite. By replacing Cuca Gamarra with Miguel Tellado, Feijóo has masculinized the party, hardening and radicalizing it. However, the testosterone-fueled display of the day fell to José María Aznar, who boycotted Feijóo's intention of holding a placid and moderate congress with a furious, hate-filled speech against the Socialists. Aznar hinted that Pedro Sánchez's rightful place is prison, a speech more similar to that of Vox than that of the PP itself. Mariano Rajoy's subsequent tone was something else.

In any case, Aznar's intervention was a reminder to Feijóo that, if he reaches the Moncloa, he will have the hardline wing of the party, the one that would welcome a government with Vox, keeping an eye on him.