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Equality and the demographic changes caused by the pandemic are the main challenges that Lieutenant Colonel

Silvia Gil will face

, who just a few hours ago broke a new glass ceiling by becoming the first woman to lead a

Command of the Civil Guard.

The lieutenant colonel is the new head of the Teruel barracks.

During the official act, the Lieutenant Colonel had the support of the First Vice President of the Government of Spain,

Carmen Calvo

, and the Minister of the Interior,

Fernando Grande-Marlaska

;

as well as other regional authorities.

At the event, Gil assured that he will put all his effort, effort and will to ensure that

Teruel

"continues to be a territory where its inhabitants feel safe."

However, from his office he will also ensure effective gender equality in the body and face the demographic challenge.

PIONEER IN LA BENEMÉRITA

Silvia Gil's

career

is full of principles.

It has been a pioneer in almost everything.

She was the first woman to be in charge of a relief area, the first to be in command in a traffic subsector, the first to pass the mountain specialists course, the fourth woman in the Civil Guard to become a Lieutenant Colonel. ..

She is now the first woman to lead a command of this body.

For a few hours he has been in charge of the Teruel facilities.

His appointment is another step towards equality.

When an adult asked Gil what he wanted to be when he grew up, she always answered confidently: 'Guardia Civil'.

"Since I was little I wanted to help people and that's what I came up with," says Gil.

Then, the women did not wear uniforms, but she did not see men or women, "for me they were professionals at the service of the citizen," she adds.

His beginnings in the profession

'What are your ideas, you'll get over it', his mother thought.

But it did not pass him by, and in 1996 he entered the

General Academy of Zaragoza.

She was the seventh woman to do it in those classrooms.

"When I entered we were few, but more than we had been until then. Of a class of 150 - then the Army and the Civil Guard were together - there were 11 women," he points out.

To dress in green, Gil has had to show that he was the same as his teammates, because where he arrived was the first.

"But the first they had seen in their life," he jokes.

His first destination was in

Vecindario in Las Palmas.

There he had fifty agents under his command.

"It was work that made me gain a voice and vote," he acknowledges.

From there he moved to Asturias.

Before that, he went through an international mission in the Gaza Strip and the Gendarmerie Officers' School near Paris.

Now he faces another equally exciting challenge: Teruel.

Gil says that he is aware of the demographic changes caused by the pandemic, which implies changes in his work: many people have decided to flee from large cities to smaller ones, where the quality of life is much higher.

"As we have the planet, I think we are going to have a lot of pandemics," he said.

Promoter of the Equality Plan in the Civil Guard

During his last assignment as commander in the

Technical Office of the General Directorate of the Civil Guard, he

promoted the

First Iduality Plan of the Benermérita

.

"In 2014 I was commissioned to carry out the situation diagnosis, a document prior to the equality plan. So I said to myself 'I'm not going to try to prove anything, I'm not going to go with preconceived ideas,'" says Gil.

But the figures opened his eyes: "I realized that some things that had happened to me were not due to bad luck."

The numbers thus illustrate the reality: less than

10% of the uniformed

, who amount to 76,000, are women.

Only 4 have been promoted to lieutenant colonel.

There are none yet in the group of specialists in underwater activities (GEAS).

"The institution, like society, is macho," Gil emphasizes.

Fortunately, little by little the presence of women in the body is normalizing.

At the top, change is slower.

"The important thing is to recognize things, because if they are not recognized they cannot be modified and that is what we are doing, we even have an Equality Plan," he adds.

However, Gil is optimistic.

The numbers prove him right: in the latest promotions,

25% are women

.

"This is a bit of a domino effect. The more women are visible and seen in the institution, their presence will normalize and they will have less reluctance to do what they want," she says.

And it appeals to the next generations.

The path has already been opened by her, the new incorporations just have to follow her path.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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