The New Ministry of Equality That Yolanda Díaz Wants

Sumar is preparing for a long and turbulent legislative term. Within the party, there is a sense of having received an unexpected opportunity on July 23 to consolidate the left in power. In response, the directive is to eliminate any radicalism that threatens the stability of the coalition government.

This includes Unidas Podemos. Yolanda Díaz's inner circle has launched a plan to place their people in the ministries where the purples became strong in the last legislative term. One of them is the Ministry of Equality, where Sumar wants to impose a new thesis away from Irene Montero's radicalism.

Yolanda Díaz's strategy consists of abandoning trench feminism and moving to the "99% feminism." It is an inclusive vision of feminism that makes men part of the fight for equality. Sumar wants to avoid controversies with a new Ministry of Equality.

From Trench Feminism to Inclusive Feminism

Former Minister Irene Montero led the Ministry of Equality based on the modern conception of gender ideology. It starts from the idea that gender doesn't exist beyond being an oppressive cultural imposition. By detaching sex from gender, it is established that gender is something felt and fluid that can change at any time.

This has led to debates, controversies, and laws that have strained the rope on such a sensitive issue. In Sumar, they are convinced of the need to continue implementing gender policies. However, they see trench feminism as a danger of division in a legislative term that will require greater social consensus.

Sumar presented itself in the July 23 elections with "99% feminism" as the cornerstone of its program. Yolanda Díaz herself called for the development of "a feminism that is not at war against men, in favor of freedoms." In the new left, feminism is "an emancipatory movement directed at society as a whole, including men."

"Feminism loses when it places itself in the trenches," stated the leader of Sumar, "and wins when we go all out." Yolanda Díaz made it clear that "Sumar's feminism is the 99% feminism" and called not to fall "into the trap of the gender war." Now she wants to lead the transformation from the Ministry of Equality itself.

Free Abortion and Living Wage

But far from aligning with liberal feminism opposed to gender ideology, Sumar's feminism is an anti-capitalist feminism based on class struggle. It embraces the most radical theses on free abortion and the living wage as a new organization of domestic and care work. According to this conception, equality between men and women is inseparably linked to economic equality.

The priority now is to form a government, but once Pedro Sánchez's investiture is secured, Sumar has clear objectives. One is the Ministry of Social Rights, and the other is the Ministry of Equality. In the latter, Yolanda Díaz wants to place María Eugenia Rodríguez Palop, coming from the orbit of Podemos but aligned with Sumar's sector.

From the new ministry, the advancement in gender equality will be defended through economic justice policies. There will also be an emphasis on the idea that men are not the enemy and on the need to reach out to the most reluctant. Finally, Sumar calls not to tutor feminism as Irene Montero did in the previous legislative term from her ministry.