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The arrival of Maria Gamez to the leadership of the Civil Guard in January 2020, by decision of Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, meant a change in the body and not only in management, also in your image.

The Civil Guard is the institution of the State Security Forces with fewer women both at the base and at the top. Only 8% of these uniformed officers are women, about 6,000 female agents compared to 76,000 men.

So what The woman has been in the Corps for more than 30 years32 specifically: it was in 1988 that the first brave women entered an institution that had not planned their incorporation well either in its facilities (boys’ bathrooms for all) or in its uniform (skorts and heels to chase criminals).

These women who have been in the body for decades They have earned their respect through effortHowever, they have not managed to increase their presence either below or above, so it is clear that something more than statements is needed.

Reservation of places? Quotas? The future of the Civil Guard lies there and the first decision in this regard by María Gámez’s team has been to save 30% of the places in the internal call for the Valdemoro Young Guards College for women.

And this magical figure of 30% could also be imposed in the next call for public employment for the new civil guard positions created by the Ministry of the Interior, which would mean a revolution for the Corps but also for the opposition to the rest of the State Security Forces.

María del Pilar Cascales Lázaro, from ‘Mujer y Guardia Civil’, is totally in favor of this option for “being necessary in predominantly male jobs” and as long as “do not forget that it would be a temporary measure”assures in an opinion that he does not represent the institution.

“To achieve the desired equality in the Civil Guard and in the rest of the Security Forces and Corps, quotas must be established. Whenever there is talk of reserving places, there is a lot of controversy because neither men nor women want it and it is due to a false belief that quotas benefit women and that is not true, they benefit society, everyone“, Add.

“No barriers”

Sources close to the institution explained to MagasIN that “the Civil Guard has reserved this quota of 30% with the objective of balancing the presence of women and men”, in reference to the first step of Valdemoro, but that raising it to the rest of the calls has to be a decision of the commanders and “it is possible that new public job offers will also turn out like this”.

Gámez and her management have been working for some time on equality plans (such as the one presented last March) and actions that raise that pyrrhic 8% of women. The director of the Civil Guard herself assured, in March, during an event on equality that “there are no barriers for women either in the Civil Guard or in the rest of the areas of society” and that they were already present “in practically all units of the Corps”.

But “barriers” and “practically all units” clearly reflect that there is a lack of many female civil guards to be able to talk about a situation similar to that experienced, at least, by other people responsible for citizen security. such as the National Police (with more than 13% girls) or the Armed Forces themselves (with 12.7%).

And this year, in the 125th promotion, there has been the highest percentage of female access in the history of the Civil Guard with a total of 331 women, which represents 16.24% of the total of that generation of agents. “And that’s it, because before there were never more than 200 in each promotion. There were 200 of us,” explains a veteran, now retired after decades of service, with a touch of bitterness.

These data show that quotas could be a more effective mechanism to make the body more equal and what management has on the table.

In fact, in 2019, after a question from Unidas Podemos about these percentages, the Government assured that “the General Directorate of the Civil Guard is studying both the establishment of quotas for access and other measures that allow full incorporation of women in the Civil Guard, applying, to this end, conditions of equality and equity”.

“The civil guards complain that there are no women on the streets and they do not want quotas How do they want there to be women on the streets if there are so few of us? It is impossible. We entered in 1988 and in 32 years we did not even reach 8% and to provide a good service to citizens, women are needed. We must remember that there are more women in Spain than men,” adds Cascales Lázaro.

Dome

But the problem is not only at the base. Today, The Civil Guard only has three female lieutenant colonels out of the more than 230 positions at this level. And it is the highest ranking that a girl has reached in Spain. The first to be so was Cristina Moreno, promoted in December 2016, and who is now part of the minister’s cabinet.

The second lieutenant colonel, Maria Dolores Gimenodid not arrive until two years later, in 2018. Not one more.

All members of the body, men and women, know that moving above is a matter of time but nothing will change if we don’t start at the bottom and the 30% reserve is a step.

Platforms of women civil guards completely agree with the imposition of this formula and insist that no one should put their hands on their heads when talking about a body like that of the Civil Guard, which already has a 40% reserve. of places each year for military personnel. “No one should be shocked if we talk about quotas for women.”

“It would be extraordinary if quotas were established for women in the Civil Guard, we would be more operational and more egalitarian“concludes María del Pilar Cascales Lázaro.

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