Spain's El País Appoints First Female Editor In 42 Years

The Spanish newspaper El País has appointed Soledad Gallego-Díaz as its first female editor in its 42-year history. This comes right after Spain's government saw a record number of women chosen to serve in the new cabinet.

First female editor in paper's 42-year history

67-year-old Soledad Gallego-Díaz joined the paper shortly after its founding in 1976. She has been its correspondent in Brussels, London, Paris, Buenos Aires and New York. She has also served as deputy editor and ombudsman. On June 7, Soledad was nominated by El País’s board. She received the backing of more than 97% of the paper’s staff in a vote.

Addressing the paper’s journalists on June 8, Gallego-Díaz reminded them that they existed to serve their readers. “They know what they can call on us for and what they can’t, and what they fundamentally want from us is that we don’t stray from the truth,” she said.

Her nomination has to be formally approved by the board of directors of El País.

El País is the biggest Spanish-language publication in the world and an institution both in Spain and Latin America. Soledad is replacing Antonio Caño, who occupied the post since 2014.

Her appointment comes a month after El País announced that it had created the role of gender correspondent. The role recognises the fact that society was undergoing a profound change after the #MeToo movement. Also, the recent large-scale women’s rights protests across the country led to these decisions.

Attaining gender parity in politics too

In Spain, the change is widely evident in politics too. Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s new socialist prime minister, has appointed 11 women and six men to his cabinet. He said his new government is “unmistakably committed to equality” and intends to reflect recent changes in Spanish society.

This is Spain's first majority-female cabinet since Spain returned to democracy following death of Gen Francisco Franco in 1975. “This is a highly qualified government for a society with equal representation, open to the world but anchored in Europe,” Sánchez said.

Picture Credit: efe.com

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Bhawana is an intern with SheThePeople.TV