Here is an image Spaniards will not soon forget: their new defence minister, reviewing trim, crisply uniformed soldiers, with her belly plump from seven months of pregnancy.The surprise appointment of Carme Chacon, aged 37 and with no military experience, is the boldest statement yet from a socialist government that has made gender equality one of its top priorities, and lived up to the pledge when it comes to ministers.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who won re-election in March, unveiled a cabinet on Monday that not only gives Spain its first female defence minister in history but also features nine women to eight men. Photos of Chacon reviewing the soldiers Monday ran on the front page of seven national newspapers the next day, and footage of it dominated Spanish television. Zapatero's government has enacted sweeping social legislation designed to rid traditionally male-dominated Spain of gender discrimination.
It legalised gay marriage, streamlined divorce procedures, forced political parties to field more female candidates and passed a law designed to promote women in the workplace and pressure companies to put more of them in their boardrooms. This time Zapatero even created a new department, the Equality Ministry, to press these goals. The portfolio went to a woman named Bibiana Aido, who is only 31.
Women's advocacy groups are delighted with the prime minister's choice of Chacon to oversee a military force that was not even open to women a generation ago. Chacon, who was the housing minister in the last government, wore a black pant suit and white maternity blouse as she reviewed troops on Monday at a ceremony in which she officially took over her post.
She called the troops to attention, ordered them to join her in saying "Long live Spain, long live the King," and gave a brief speech in which she said her appointment was a sign of progress. "The fact that a woman is taking over responsibility for the Defence Ministry is proof of integration between Spanish society and its armed forces," Chacon said. Spaniards are now wondering how the military will digest having a female boss.