María Dolores de Cospedal: "Politics is a crusher of human beings"
Conservative but with an unconventional life, she was a single mother at 40 and married civilly 10 years ago with her second husband, Ignacio López del Hierro, whom she defends against wind and tide. María Dolores de Cospedal gets wet on hot women's issues.
Have you suffered accusations for being a woman in positions of responsibility? Yes, I have a real master's degree in enduring attacks in the press. There have been many sexist types, but as they were addressed to the general secretary of a center-right party they were given little importance. I have been launched as an argument in an election that my region was not prepared [Castilla-La Mancha] to be presided by a woman. I have repeatedly been called "the chacha of the PP" supposedly progressive characters who today have important responsibilities. They have messed with my husband to hurt me, which is a limitless machismo. And I didn't hear anyone denounce him as a macho. If you get to use the wife of a politician to attack him, everyone would say "poor woman," however, the husband of a policy is used and nothing happens. Did the criticisms affect your marriage? you reinforce or sink, but when two people love each other, the relationship is strengthened. But that doesn't mean he didn't have a bad time. Did that speed up his political march? They have searched even under the carpets, but they have never found anything because I don't have it. The courts proved me right. But there came a time, when I had already decided that I was leaving, that I said "it's over." Have those sexist attacks made her more feminist? I've always been, although not in the sense that those who try to take over finished. If I do not like a man to tell me what options I have to take to be a woman I do not accept that a woman does. I want to decide. I have been an absolute convinced of equality and have exercised it every day. It bothers me to hear political representatives say that feminism has been invented by them. It is not a sect or a single thought. There are other readings. How do you support female leadership? I have been a great supporter of my colleagues in politics and I say it with great pride. I have always tried to have many women in positions of responsibility when they were the ones that were worth it. I have struggled to have candidates, counselors, general directors, etc. I wanted them to shine by my side. That fame that we are the worst enemies or bad bosses is absolutely a lie. Are you in favor of quotas in the leadership leadership? In the past I always thought that I did not like the quotas in the electoral lists because, having to comply with them, I have sometimes been unfair. But I think they have helped in some areas that women can demonstrate our potential, so I am changing some opinion. Is there machismo in politics? Yeah right. As everything. Women in certain positions have to show that we deserve them and are judged more severely than they are. We have also been instilled in that complex of not believing it, of thinking that we do not deserve to be there. Then you look at what you have next to you, which is neither worth nor has worked half as hard as you, and you believe it. Has it felt discriminated against? At important times, I felt that my opinions counted less than if a man had said them. It is a form of discrimination. He opted for assisted motherhood when it was not so common, what do you think now of surrogacy gestation? I think of a hypocrisy without limits that is not allowed to do so in Spain but children are recognized if practiced outside . The solution is to regularize it and give it a real legal treatment. We know that it is a lie that it is altruistic, as some maintain. We cannot lay hands on our heads because a pregnant mother gives in to the baby and charges for it. That is not free. Did your religious beliefs not interfere in your decision to be a single mother? I was 40 years old, I really wanted to be a mother and I saw that I missed rice, so I decided that I would have a child yes or yes and by an unconventional method. It is not the same now than 14 years ago. Contradictory? I have religious beliefs but I don't flaunt them. For me, my son is the most important thing there is. He also married civilly with a man 19 years older than you. I had the nullity of my first marriage [he married the first time with 28 years], but Ignacio was divorced And I didn't have it. The age difference got along well. He is very jovial, he is always overcoming himself, he has had to work hard since he was very young and that people do not know. He is a man who is constantly lifting himself. I admire his ability to put himself in the situation of the other, not to judge. It has a special charisma. Does he help with 50% housework? I'm not going to lie, not really. Although he participates much more now than when I met him. We have help at home, a fantastic person to whom I am very grateful. That's why it hurt even more when they said about the PP chacha. It was a double insult. nAccording to the criteria of
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