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She poses sober, but we suspect that it is by prescription of her position, because outside of target shooting, the distances are reduced (for good). María Gámez (Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Cádiz, 1969) has come from green to the interview, showing off from head to toe the corporate color of the Civil Guard. It is already known that politicians do not give stitch without thread and not even the outfit has been left to chance.

As a civil servant, she has held various positions in the Andalusian Administration and has tasted the demands of local politics as a councilor in the City Council of Malaga with the PSOE. He even ran twice for mayor, although he did not win. In 2020, the Government of Pedro Sánchez made her the first woman director general of the Civil Guard, a position she left on March 22, 2023.

She is the youngest in a family of 11 children, so she has had no choice but to inherit everything from her siblings. She also acknowledges having been the most spoiled: "In quotation marks, of course, because before the main thing was to get the children ahead, that they were healthy, that they ate and studyed. With love, but without frills," he summarizes. She has three children (11, 22 and 24 years old) who live in Malaga, so since she took office and took the bags to come to Madrid, they have been making do: "They come to see me and I go what I can, but it is difficult," she admits.

She is a lawyer and has a degree in Senior Business Management, so we suspect (again) that she has something nerd. The 'first fine' falls: "I don't like that term because it disqualifies the one who does things well. I was a good student, but not because I was very smart, but because of the effort."

His father was a lighthouse keeper, a solitary profession. The first fate must have been horrific. They were on the island of Sálvora, in Galicia, with only four people. One ship arrived a month with food. Then he changed to other destinations, although I only lived one transfer: from the lighthouse of Sanlúcar to Estepona, in Malaga, when I was 4 or 5 years old. I had the advantage that my father didn't go to work. They were both at home all day. That explains why we are so many brothers [he jokes]. He was born in Cádiz and lives in Malaga. Does she meet the stereotype of Andalusian? I feel proud to be from Andalusia but I don't give the prototype: I don't even dance sevillanas! When a woman rules like a man, she is bossy. I think I fit into what people call female leadership: I try to convince without imposing. It is a different style from the masculine, loud voice and blow at the table, although luckily these lines are blurring and there are men who exercise that dialoguing leadership. I am convinced that there are women who rule imitating the male model because they believe that they will do better. They have some reason, because the line between tolerant leadership and loss of respect is very thin. No, but I understand, because sometimes it's for survival. I have lived it myself. It is difficult to exercise that leadership in a military organization, very hierarchical and mostly male. What are their achievements after three years directing the body? I have tried to make equality an important axis. The presence of women is difficult in the police forces and in this one too, because in addition to the mental barriers of the women themselves, there are other inmates to welcome them. I have appointed two chiefs of command to be seen commanding, although there is no colonel or general. I have also doubled from 600 to 1,200 specialists dedicated only to gender-based violence and have set up teams for hate crimes based on ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. Another thing that has me entertained is to inaugurate a museum of the Civil Guard, so that it is seen that we are a modern body, with specialties, attractive and always at the service of the country.

Their commitment has numbers: the presence of women in the Civil Guard has increased, but it is still reduced to 9%. Gámez explains that they make efforts to capture and make visible, but recognizes that the more you climb the command ladder, the less they are. That is why he is "in favor of accelerating" the process of access and promotion of women with positive action measures until a balance is achieved (we say positive discrimination, but he does not like the term. Second and final 'fine'). "The woman has been incorporated into the Civil Guard for 35 years and we are still like that. We can't wait for another 35 more," he said.

Internal sources of the Civil Guard are critical of these measures, which have caused, they say, internal unrest, in addition to being ineffective. They attribute the scarce presence of women to two reasons pending solution: the lack of real conciliation policies and the high reserveof places for members of the Army (eminently male), since 40% of the places in a public employment offer are destined to military who wish to join the Civil Guard.

Positive action measures are often controversial... If you tell someone "we are going to prioritize women", there are men who feel ignored, but women have been from 1844 until 35 years ago, because they could not even enter. There are also women who resist and say "Are you going to favor me because I'm less and I need you to help me?" I myself am in politics because there have been positive action measures for us to enter, such as zipper lists [parity electoral lists]. If not, there would have been no knock on my door. He lowered the women's access notes to the Civil Guard and got messy. Imagine that in the body we needed computer engineers, what would we do? We would give them facilities even if they came with less note, right? It is difficult to understand that just as you need a certain specialization you can also need parity, because that makes an organization better. In addition, it is not only for a matter of equality: we need women for the transfer of prey or search and we do not even have enough to do those tasks.

The institution he directs is one of the most complex and demanding due to the extreme pressure of work and the scarce staff, as professionals have been denouncing for some time. A situation that is accentuated with the creation, among others, of special teams against sexist violence. This dedication, necessary in light of the data (eight fatalities so far this year to the close of the magazine), has not been nourished with extra troops, but with the existing ones.

What is left to be resolved during his tenure in the Civil Guard?We have the challenge that our presence is very atomized. We cover most of the territory, also rural nuclei, and although we grow in each offer of public employment, it is difficult to hold three people in a position or to be patrolling and guarding the door of the barracks. We have to be efficient and we have to continue growing and recover the 6,000 troops that were lost from 2011 to 2018 [in reference to the Popular Government of Mariano Rajoy]; And we need to incorporate more technology. I am talking about electronic complaints, drones for search and surveillance, and the implementation of mobile posts. So we can be where we need to be in such a vast territory where no one wants to lose sight of us. Proximity, precisely, the spirit of public service and professionalism are values for which the Civil Guard is recognized. Let us not forget that we are also in large populations, engaged in skills such as terrorism, weapons intervention, nature protection, etc. It has been nine years since the tragedy of El Tarajal, the Ceuta beach where 15 immigrants died when trying to swim across the border while the Civil Guard repelled them with riot gear. Although judicially the case is closed (without convictions for that action) and was prior to your direction, has it caused you many sleeplessness? The immigration issue and our role in preserving and controlling the border are difficult because this body has a very human part. Fundamentally its mission is to rescue and help, whether in the mountains or in a boat. That is why, when we have to enforce the rules, it is bad, especially since many people are victims of trafficking. Saving the case that exposes me, I believe that what remains mostly of the task of the Civil Guard is that we do it very well, because we preserve their lives and their rights. Everything that puts a civil guard in a difficult situation causes me sleeplessness, as it has caused me to know that the guards pending that sentence were uneasy. Your concerns are mine.

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