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Fun tidbit I learned at “dinner” (10 p.m., ha!) last night: in March of 2007 the Spanish parliament passed an affirmative action law, called The Law of Equality, which requires political parties to run female candidates in at least 40% of the seats they contest, except in small towns. The law also includes a measure that orders larger companies to negotiate “equality plans” to promote women, and grants 15 days of paternity leave to new fathers (which to be fair, though my math skills are admittedly abysmal, doesn’t appear to equal the 4 months or so that women get).
 The Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero (say that five times fast, and take a look at the man's eyebrows!), seems to be leading by example – he has included eight women in his 16-member cabinet. Though the law received wide support in Parliament, the girl we were dining with claims that many of her Spanish girlfriends fervently opposed the law, alarmed by a quota system that might put someone with fewer qualifications in a position of power. She, a Swede and thus accustomed to the government taking a leading role in solving social problems, argued, “Well, you have to start somewhere.”
Affirmative action is a touchy subject, always. I’m trying to be non-confrontational today (just today), so I’ll leave that one alone for now. BUT, while trying to have a passive, non-confrontational day, I happened to stumble across a website called 4era.org, an organization working to finish ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution.
Wait a second, you might be thinking. Don’t we already have equal rights in the gloriousness that is The United States of America? See, well, um, the things is…no. Honestly, I feel ridiculous telling you, valued and faithful reader, that the pithy little Equal Rights Amendment was introduced in Congress in 1972, and has still not been passed. It reads as follows: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex.”
See? Very pithy. And very, very, very alarming (irritating, bewildering) that this amendment hasn’t passed. Right? This is strange, non? It actually annoys me to have to blog about this. I thought we were beyond this. And I have more important things to talk about, like, for exmpale, the distinguished old man we saw last night having a cigar outside his apartment in a bonafide, old-school smoking jacket. But, no, equal rights it is. If you think that men and women should be treated equally under the law – radical, I know- you might want to visit 4era.org, where you can sign a petition online. Took me circa five seconds.
For taking part in the political process I learned about in high school Government class I’m rewarding myself with, you guessed it, some wine. (click here for the full BBC aricle on the Spanish law.) photo of Zapatero by Jaume d'Urgell on flickr under creative commons license. - Vetta
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