Pedro Sánchez underlines the Government's commitment to protecting women from the new form of violence known as "digital harassment"

Prado Museum, Madrid

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during his speech at the institutional event for International Women's Day 2026 (Pool Moncloa / Borja Puig de la Bellacasa)

After acknowledging that for many, social media "has little to do with social interaction and is much more like a physical net that traps and suffocates you", and that this "digital harassment" is "yet another manifestation of the same old misogyny", Pedro Sánchez made his commitment clear, stating that "there may be political leaders who hesitate between protecting our daughters and our children online or pleasing the richest man in the world. I have no doubts, and I know you don't either.

He explained that women are 27 times more likely to experience online harassment than men. And that in Spain, more than two and a half million women have suffered it at some point, leading 28% of them to decide to reduce their online activity to protect themselves.

Faced with this expression of misogyny, which has not disappeared from daily life, "nor from our companies, institutions, or political parties", Pedro Sánchez pointed out that "the difference lies in how we respond when it appears", and emphasised that when there are feminists within organisations, "the powerful are neither minimised nor protected; we act swiftly and decisively".

Spain, one of the most advanced countries in Equality

The President of the Government of Spain, together with the ministers attending the institutional event for International Women's Day 2026 and members of the Royal Board of Trustees of the Prado Museum, in the cloister of the Prado Museum | Pool Moncloa / Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

At the event, in which the Minister for Equality, Ana Redondo, also spoke, the head of the Executive highlighted that "Spain is among the most advanced countries in gender equality in the world"; something that has required effort, perseverance, and courage, and to which the current government has contributed over the last eight years.

And it has done so aware that, as Pedro Sánchez stressed, "equality is also at stake at the end of the month". He highlighted his government's increase in the minimum wage, "when 60% of the beneficiaries are women", in addition to reducing temporary employment among women by more than ten percentage points and improving women's pensions by 38%.

After remembering the victims of gender violence, a barbarity that "no decent society can normalise", Pedro Sánchez also noted the 12-point drop in the percentage of young people who identify as feminists and lamented that "the reactionary movement" has managed to "tarnish one of humanity's noblest causes, which is synonymous with equality, justice, and the expansion of rights".

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, together with the ministers attending the institutional event of International Women's Day 2026 | Pool Moncloa / Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

Although they reject that label, he added, "they live every day in a society that is objectively better thanks to feminism", and many defend its principles: that their partner has the same rights, that their sister receives equal pay for equal work, or that their friends can walk home alone without fear. Therefore, he concluded that "we will continue to call feminism by its name", because "if we allow them to take away our words, tomorrow they will try to take away our rights".

Women's rights cannot be used as a pretext for waging wars

At the beginning of his speech, Pedro Sánchez referred to the current situation in the Middle East and stated that "women's rights and the freedoms of peoples should never be used as a pretext for waging wars that serve other interests".

Non official translation