Although they are often overlooked, discriminatory causes can – and usually do – go hand in hand. This is one of the questions that this year the Valedora do Pobo in the 2023 financial year report, María Dolores Fernández Galiño, who has held the position since 2019 and who presented the document to the media this Friday after delivering it from the President of the Parliament, Miguel Santalices. Focusing on what is known as intersectional discrimination, the institution took stock of its performance in a year in which Health is again the area with the highest volume of problemsmonitoring of public employment; and in which, moreover, the historical record of resolutions reached last year was broken.
The causes of discrimination “tend to manifest themselves cumulatively,” Fernandez explained at the press conference. This, he said, is what gives rise to what is known as intersectional discrimination. Something “evident” in cases of gender stereotypes, the report says, which, being “ubiquitous, invisible and changing”, facilitate the accumulation of gender discrimination in others.
“This can be seen, for example, in the case of disabled women. […] “They will be in a worse situation than disabled men and non-disabled women,” he said. An issue that is also found in the promotion of health and personal autonomy and in the fact that “until 2020, forced sterilization of incapacitated people was possible.” Since 2015, he explained, 396 such interventions were handled in five years, and, “although it was not considered appropriate to disaggregate the data by sex, CERMI states that the majority of these people were women.” “Also in the area of gender-based violence,” she continued, “in which women with disabilities experience long-term violence, lasting more than 5 years, at a rate 18% higher than women without disabilities.”
In 2023, he explained, this is an issue that has been taken into account in multiple actions, citing some examples. Among them, he indicated, a complaint was processed concerning the “inability of a disabled child to attend summer school in which, to facilitate the reconciliation of families during the summer months, one of the requirements was that both parents work, “while it was not precisely known that often the disability of a child” forced one of the parents to stop working, “many times, mothers”, he acknowledged.
In total, by 2023, a total of 25,277 people came to this institution to file complaints or seek guidance or advice, a figure slightly lower than the previous year. Of these, 1,706 were followed up in person (with a monthly average of 142); 7,180, by telephone (598 per month); and 16,417 complaint files were finalized, an increase of 61.85% (1,367 per month), compared to 2022.
The issues on which these complaints were based were 3,737 – 5.71% less than in 2022 – with Health at the top of the list, as last year – 22.11% of the total, while in 2022 they were 17%–. Next come the area of Public Employment and Labor – 12.09% –; Social Inclusion –10.02%–, and that relating to local corporations and municipal services –9.3%–. It should be noted that, while 11% of the topics addressed in 2022 were related to Transparency of Institutions, This year, this area suffered a notable decline, up to 3.72%.Likewise, in 2023, the institution once again reached a historic record of resolutions – it had already done so in 2022, with 503 –, with 649, or 29% more.
“Both the volume of resolutions and the volume of responses and acceptances show the collaboration of public administrations with the activity of Valedora do Pobo in the promotion of people’s rights”said Fernández, who stressed that “those who are most marginalized” are those who most need “the equality that our anti-discrimination laws, our public policies and our social movements promise.” “Taking them into account,” he said, “balances the struggle for equality of the people and groups” who need it most, places them “at the center of public policies,” “creates alliances and common strategies between social movements” and, in short, “advances society as a whole.” “It is also our desire to give voice to the voiceless,” he concluded.
