Pedro Sánchez insists that promoting gender equality in sport is a government priority

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

Along the same lines, Pedro Sánchez said that "being a woman and an athlete cannot continue to be a question of heroism, and women's sport cannot continue to be overshadowed by the men's categories". In front of the world champions, the President of the Government insisted that promoting gender equality is a priority for the Government of Spain and that this is reflected in the measures contained by the Draft Sports Bill presented on Friday at the Council of Ministers.

Among other things, the draft bill provides for equal integration of men and women into the management, government and representation bodies of sports entities under the provisions of the Equality Act and protection for work-life balance, maternity and breastfeeding, as well as equality in allowances and prizes at any competition for which public money has been invested and establishment of a series of actions aimed at guaranteeing equality in terms of the rights and obligations of athletes, something that has been long called for by both male and female athletes.

Furthermore, the draft bill provides for the establishment of protocols to prevent violence against women and sexual abuse and bullying at sports entities, the compulsory creation of a gender committee at the corresponding federation, which will be required to submit an annual report to the National Sports Council, and the promotion of better visibility for women's sport in the media.

2018: the year of women's sport in Spain

In his speech, the President of the Government congratulated women's sport and highlighted the many victories achieved last year. Pedro Sánchez said that, "when we ask ourselves in a few years' time when it was that we started to fairly appreciate women's sport and football, we will say it was in 2018".

Pool Moncloa/Fernando CalvoThe President of the Government highlighted the large number of victories achieved last year by Spanish female athletes. Besides the U-17 World Cup in Montevideo, the women's teams were also crowned champions at the European U-17 and U-19 Championships, and runners-up at the U-20 World Cup. Carolina Martín won her fourth European Badminton Championship and her third World Championship. Lydia Valentín was also crowned champion at the European Weightlifting event for the fourth time and Sandra Sánchez won the World Karate Championship.

Also in 2018, Ana Carrasco won the World Championship in the Supersport 300 category and Teresa Portela won gold in the K1 200 metres event at the Mediterranean Games, a competition at which Miren Lazkano and Klara Olazabal took home the gold medal in the C1 team slalom event. Last year was also extraordinary for Spanish women's surfing. Iballa Ruano became world paddle board surfing champion, came fifth in world windsurfing and was runner-up in SUP surfing. Furthermore, Teresa Padilla was European runner-up in body board.

In table tennis, Sofía Xuan Zhang and Ana García won the first medal in the history of this sport for Spain; a bronze. In triathlon, Miriam Casillas ended the year with two bronze medals at the World Cup and gold at the European Cup.

Furthermore, Anna Godoy took silver at the Mediterranean Games. In athletics, María Pérez won the 20-K race walking at the European Championships in Berlin. María Vicente won the European U-18 heptathlon and triple jump. Ana Peleteiro won bronze in the triple jump at both the World and European Championships.

2018 was also the year when the Spanish women's basketball team won bronze at the World Championships. In grass hockey, the Spanish women's team won its fifth consecutive medal, their sixth in total. Finally, Spain made history by winning its first gold in water polo at the Mediterranean Games.

Non official translation