Pregnant Defense Minister in Spain: Right On

My, my.  This is too good to be true!  A 7-months pregnant defense minister?  A national Cabinet with more women than men?  In one of the more macho counties on the planet?  Ooh-la-la.  And we thought a woman Presidential candidate was the feminist accomplishment of our lifetimes!  If you didn't hear the short piece on NPR's Morning Edition today, check it out.  There are some terrific quotes, like the one from a Spanish man asking the interviewer how he'd feel if a "pregnant chick who doesn't know anything became Minister of Defense in the U.S."?  Like wow.  And I was complaining about The O's 'gush' comment! 

The story also discusses the question of whether Carme Chacon, the mama in question, should take advantage of Spain's 4-month paid (yes, paid!) maternity leave.  Ahh, Europe.  The media's all over this one.  TIME Magazine wrote about her maternity leave question (for the curious, Ms. Chacon is pictured in this article):

For now, the most pressing question is what Chacón will do when she gives birth in June. Thanks to Zapatero's efforts, Spanish women are entitled to 16 weeks paid maternity leave [my bold]. But can a defense minister — especially a female one — afford to take four months off?  Although the Socialist government recently increased paternity leaves to 15 days, it may soon find itself under internal pressure to extend those breaks for fathers as well [my bold].

What do you think, mamas?  Is this going to help the feminist cause?  Is the U.S. ready for a woman at the helm of the Department of Defense?  This is a sure test for the limits of our sense of gender equality.  Pregnant chicks on the rise.  Happy days, indeed.

Comments

[Amy]

This is an interesting subject. On other sites discussing this appointment, I've read comments like:

"The naming of Carmen Chacon as Spain’s Minister of Defense has nothing to do with her qualifications, and everything to do with Socialist President Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero’s obsession with quotas. Besides being a woman, Carmen Chacon is from Catalonia, the autonomous community that was the key to President Zapatero’s recent reelection. In an informal poll by La Vanguardia, Catalonia’s leading newspaper, 61 percent of respondents said that Ms. Chacon would not make a good Minister of Defense. President Zapatero has done a disservice to women by choosing a candidate who is unqualified to lead Spain’s armed forces."

There seems to be some strong feeling out there that Ms. Chacon is terribly under-qualified for this position, and that she's doomed to fail, which would actually do a disservice to pregnant women everywhere if her failure is pinned on her motherhood.

Tawlk amongst yourselves!

[LTF]

Excellent points if she is indeed unqualified. I sure don't enough about Spanish politics to know that, but the story above relies on people's opinions (an 'informal poll'), which could be motivated by gender bias. Of course, here in the US there are plenty of sub Cabinet level appointments (and likely Cabinet level, as well) of completely under-qualified people - male and female alike. Not that it's a *good* thing. Just not uncommon. They are appointments, after all.

It will be interesting to follow her time in office along these lines. Thanks for broadening this conversation!