"I'm really sorry.
We should have talked about it earlier."
The First Vice President and Minister of Economic Affairs, Nadia Calviño, thus apologized to the organizers of the Madrid Leaders Forum, an event on business leadership, after refusing to pose with them for a photograph.
Calviño came to stand in the
photocall
, but while they decided how to position themselves for the snapshot, she realized that her three companions were men, so she immediately began to walk away from the camera lens.
The scene took place this Tuesday at the entrance to the event organized at the Ifema fairgrounds by the Madrid Business Confederation CEIM-CEOE.
The vice president, realizing the situation, informed the president of the Madrid employers' association, Miguel Garrido, that she would not appear in the photo.
She did agree to pose later, with Garrido himself, the director of the Madrid Leaders Forum, Fernando Cueto, and the presence of the general secretary of the CEIM, Sara Molero.
The number two of the Government is very aware of the promise she made in February, when she assured that she would never again accept to pose for photographs in which only men accompanied her.
“I am not going to take a picture of myself in which she is the only woman.
I will never again participate in a debate in which she is the only woman.
We have to take this issue very seriously.
The risk we have of involution, of losing the focus of one of the vectors of modernity in this country since democracy arrived, is very high.
And there are many events in which I am the only woman because I am the minister, ”she said then she.
Until this Tuesday, no situation had been captured in which this commitment forced a change in the protocol.
Sources from the Ministry point out that it is an act of "coherence" by Calviño to make visible the gender gap that still persists in many sectors.
Speaking to the Cuatro program
Everything is a lie
, Garrido, the head of the Madrid businessmen, has been somewhat disconcerted by the minister's gesture.
"The truth is that I did not expect it," he has acknowledged.
"I would have taken a photo of her with her at the beginning and at the end, it doesn't matter to me, it seems to me that it is not an important issue, really," he added.
Asked about the female presence in the CEIM employers' association, Garrido pointed out that of the 10 vice-presidencies, only 2 are occupied by women, in addition to the general secretary, but he downplayed that disparity.
“Here we are all very liberal, that each one does what he wants.
I respect that the vice president does what she wants.
In our case, in the organizations, each one elects its president, and if metal or commerce elects a man or a woman, I cannot decide on that.
I honestly don't think it's an issue of excessive importance.