Irene Montero, Spain's Minister of Equality, spearheaded feminist laws in Spain. Now the government is in crisis. Is it a sign of unbridgeable divisions between the progressive Spain Montero envisions and a patriarchal reality that remains entrenched?
She Spearheaded Feminist Laws in Spain. Now the Government Is in Crisist was a Sunday morning in early February in Madrid, and Spain’s Minister of Equality was on a war footing. Having eschewed business attire for the occasion, Irene Montero rose on sneaker-clad feet from her seat onstage at a local cultural center and, gripping the microphone like she wanted to strangle it, addressed her supporters.
The reforms she has spearheaded have elicited both ecstatic praise and harsh criticism from different sectors of Spanish society. But none has generated as much controversy as the government’s new law, nicknamed, which went into effect last fall. The law does away with distinctions in the penal code that categorized sexual-assault offenses based on whether violence and intimidation were employed, and instead puts the question of consent firmly at its center.
In Spain, as in many countries, changes in sentencing guidelines can be applied retroactively, and it wasn’t long before convicted sex offenders began petitioning courts to have their sentences revised. As of publication,, and more than 40 who had already fulfilled the new sentences had been released.
For her part, Montero says complications are to be expected with such a profound change. “Like all paradigm shifts, especially in the Penal Code, there’s going to be a period of transition. And that is what we are living now. The majority of courts are applying the law correctly and [maintaining] the sentences, but there are some that are not.”
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