Equality in the Spanish Constitution

• The principle of equality is upheld as a core value within the Spanish Constitution and the Statute of Autonomy of the Canary Islands.
• Public authorities are obliged to promote real and effective personal equality, not merely formal equality.
• Article 149.1.1 of the Constitution reserves the regulation of basic equality for all Spaniards to the State.
• Article 14 of the Constitution: all Spaniards are equal before the law, and discrimination based on birth, race, sex, religion, opinion, or any other personal or social condition is prohibited.
• The concept of equality is a real, not merely formal, equality.
• Equality is effective and equitable, it allows for positive discrimination to compensate for existing inequalities.

Statute of Autonomy

• Article 11: The public entities of the Canary Islands are to guarantee measures to enforce equality, non-discrimination, participation in public life, economic development, liberty, and respect for human rights.
• Public entities guarantee equal treatment and non-discrimination based on sex, gender, birth, ethnicity, political or religious ideas, age, disability, sexual orientation or identity, disease, language, or any other personal or social condition.
• Positive actions benefiting disadvantaged sectors, groups, or persons are permitted, despite the ban on discrimination.
• Article 12: All persons are legally entitled to social, legal, and economic protection for family situations in various family forms.
• Laws determine how to access these aids according to equality criteria.
• Canary public authorities promote measures and policies to balance the personal, family, and working lives of women and men.
• Article 17: Canary public authorities ensure equality between women and men in both public and private spheres and ensure the reconciliation of family and professional life.
• Active measures are to be adopted to educate in non-sexist values, as well as policies and actions that provide comprehensive protection to women who are victims of gender violence, with preventive measures being especially emphasized.
• Article 23: Canary public authorities especially promote the insertion, professional training, and accessibility to remunerated work for women, young people, and people with disabilities on equal terms.
• Article 37 outlines the guiding principles the Canary public authorities follow.
• Equality for individuals and groups, primarily respect for gender equality across sectors, especially in employment, labor, and remuneration.
• Public powers are responsible for ensuring gender mainstreaming across all public policies.
• Eradicating sexist, xenophobic, racist, homophobic, belligerent, or any other attitudes that threaten equality and human dignity from Canarian society.

Organic Law 3/2007

• The purpose is to ensure the right to equal treatment and opportunities between women and men, especially by eliminating discrimination against women, and fostering a more democratic, just, and inclusive society
• The law establishes principles of action for public authorities, regulates rights and duties for both public and private individuals and entities, and outlines measures to eliminate and correct gender-based discrimination within the public and private sectors.
• Article 2: All persons are entitled to the rights derived from the principle of equal treatment and the prohibition of discrimination based on gender.
• The obligations established apply to any individual or legal entity in Spanish territory, regardless of nationality, domicile, or residence.

Principle of Equality and Protection Against Discrimination

• Equality between women and men implies the absence of any direct or indirect discrimination based on sex, especially those derived from maternity, family obligations, and civil status.
• Equality of treatment and opportunities between women and men is a guiding principle of the legal system.
• It must be integrated and observed when interpreting and applying legal norms.
• Equality of treatment and opportunities between women and men is guaranteed in the private and public sectors regarding employment, professional training, career advancement, and working conditions (including pay and dismissal).
• It is also applicable in the affiliation and participation in organizations such as trade unions and employer organizations, or any organization whose members exercise a specific profession, including benefits granted by them.
• Differences in treatment based on sex will not constitute discrimination if the nature of the specific professional activities or the context in which they are carried out require a specific characteristic that is essential and determining, provided that the objective is legitimate and the requirement is proportionate.
• Direct Discrimination: The condition in which a person is, has been, or could be treated less favorably than another in a comparable situation due to their sex.
• Indirect Discrimination: When an apparently neutral provision, criteria, or practice particularly disadvantages persons of one sex compared to the other, unless that provision, criterion, or practice can be justified based on a legitimate aim and the means to achieve that aim are necessary and adequate.
• Any order to discriminate, directly or indirectly, based on sex will be considered discriminatory.
• Sexual Harassment: Any verbal or physical behavior of a sexual nature that has the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person, particularly when creating an intimidating, degrading, or offensive environment is considered sexual harassment.
• Harassment Based on Sex: Any behavior carried out based on a person’s sex, with the purpose or effect of violating their dignity and creating an intimidating, degrading, or offensive environment, is considered harassment based on sex.
• Both sexual harassment and harassment based on sex are considered discriminatory.
• Conditioning a right or an expectation of a right to the acceptance of a situation that constitutes sexual harassment or harassment based on sex will also be considered an act of discrimination based on sex.
• Direct discrimination constitutes any unfavorable treatment of women related to pregnancy or maternity.
• It is also considered discrimination based on sex any adverse or negative effect that occurs in a person as a consequence of presenting a complaint, claim, denunciation, demand, or appeal, of any type, intended to prevent their discrimination and to demand effective compliance with the principle of equal treatment between women and men.
• Discriminatory Acts: Any acts or clauses in legal transactions that constitute or cause discrimination based on sex will be considered null and void.
• These acts will give rise to liability through a real, effective, and proportionate system of reparations or indemnities for the damage suffered.
• An effective and deterrent system of sanctions will be used, if proven necessary, to prevent discriminatory conduct from recurring.
• With the aim of enforcing the constitutional right to equality, Public Authorities will adopt specific measures in favor of women to correct obvious situations of factual inequality with respect to men.
• These measures, which will be applicable as long as such situations persist, must be reasonable and proportionate about the objective pursued in each case.
• Private individuals and legal entities may also adopt such measures under the terms established in this Law.
• Any person may seek protection from the courts for the right to equality between women and men.
• According to Article 53.2 of the Constitution, even after the relationship in which discrimination allegedly occurred has ended.
• Individuals or legal entities with legitimate interest, as determined by the laws governing these processes, have the capacity and right to participate in civil, social, and administrative-litigation processes involving the defense of this right.
• The harassed person will be the only one legitimized in lawsuits regarding sexual harassment and harassment based on sex.
• In cases of alleged discrimination based on sex, according to the procedural laws, the defendant is responsible for proving the absence of discrimination in the measures adopted and their proportionality.
• The judicial body may request, if deemed useful and pertinent, a report or opinion from the relevant public bodies.
• These provisions do not apply to criminal proceedings.

Public Policies for Equality

• Commitment to the effectiveness of the constitutional right to equality between women and men.
• Integration of the principle of equal treatment and opportunities in economic, labor, social, cultural, and artistic policies.
• To avoid labor segregation, eliminate wage differences, boost female entrepreneurship, and value women's work, including domestic work.
• Collaboration and cooperation among Public Administrations in applying the principle of equal treatment and opportunities.
• Balanced participation of women and men in electoral candidacies and decision-making.
• Adoption of measures to eradicate gender violence, family violence, sexual harassment, and harassment based on sex.
• Attention to vulnerable groups: women from minorities, migrants, disabled women, older women, widows, and victims of gender violence. Public authorities may adopt positive action for these groups.
• Protection of maternity, with special attention to society assuming the effects of pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding.
• Establishment of measures to ensure the reconciliation of work and personal and family life for women and men, and the promotion of co-responsibility in domestic work and family care.
• Encouraging collaboration between Public Administrations, stakeholders, women's associations, and other private entities.
• Promoting the effectiveness of the principle of equality in relations between individuals.
• Implementing non-sexist language in public administration and promoting it in all social, cultural, and artistic relations.
• All these points will be promoted and integrated equally into the Spanish policy of international cooperation for development.
• The principle of equal treatment and opportunities between women and men will inform the actions of all Public Authorities in a transversal manner.
• The Public Administrations will actively integrate this principle into the adoption and execution of normative provisions, in the definition and budgeting of public policies in all areas, and in the development of the entities activities.
• Public Authorities will seek to adhere to the principle of balanced presence of women and men in the appointments and designations to positions of responsibility that correspond to them.
• The Government will periodically approve a Strategic Plan of Equal Opportunities (in matters of state competence), which will include measures to achieve equality between women and men and eliminate gender discrimination.
• Article 18 establishes that the government will prepare a periodic report on its actions related to the effectiveness of the principle of equality between women and men. This report is presented to the Cortes Generales
• Drafts of general provisions and plans of special economic, social, cultural, and artistic relevance that are submitted to the approval of the Council of Ministers must include a report on their gender impact.
• Public authorities should include the variable of sex in the statistics, surveys, and data collection they carry out.
• Establish and include in statistical operations new indicators that enable a better understanding of the differences in the values, roles, situations, conditions, aspirations, and needs of women and men, and their manifestation and interaction in the reality to be analyzed.
• Design and introduce indicators and mechanisms to understand the incidence of other variables where concurrency generates multiple discrimination in different intervention areas.
• Conduct samples to allows you to effectively expands and analyzes the different included variables.
• Assess existing statistical definitions to contribute to the recognition and value women's work and avoid negative stereotyping women.
• State Administration and Autonomous Community Administrations to integrate the right to equality between women and men when exercising their respective powers, particularly in planning.
• The Conference Sectorial de la Mujer can adopt joint action plans/programs.
• Local Entities integrate the right to equality when exercising their powers and collaborate with other Public Administrations.
• Local corporations may establish Municipal Plans for organizing time in the city to promote an equitable distribution of time between women and men.
• The State may provide technical assistance to prepare these plans without prejudice to the powers of the Autonomous Communities.

The Right to Work in Equal Opportunities

• Companies must respect equal treatment and opportunities in the workplace.
• They should adopt measures to prevent any labor discrimination between women and men.
• These measures must be negotiated and, if applicable, agreed with the legal representatives of the workers.
• Companies with 50 or more employees must direct their equality measures towards the elaboration and implementation of an equality plan.
• The collective agreement must establish the scope and content, which must also be subject to negotiation in the form determined in labor law.
• Companies must prepare and implement an equality plan when it is established in the applicable collective agreement, under the terms set out therein.
• Companies will also prepare and implement an equality plan, after negotiation or consultation, with the legal representation of the workers, when the labor authority has agreed in a sanctioning procedure to replace the ancillary sanctions with the elaboration and application of said plan, under the terms established in the mentioned agreement.
• Companies may prepare and implement equality plans on a voluntary basis, after consulting with the legal representation of the workers.
• Equality plans are a set of ordered measures, adopted after completing a situation analysis. This aims to achieve equal treatment and opportunities and avoid sex-based discrimination.
• The equality plans will establish the specific equality objectives to be achieved, the strategies and practices to be adopted for their achievement, as well as the establishment of effective monitoring and assessment systems for the established objectives.
• Equality plans will contain an ordered set of evaluable measures aimed at removing obstacles that prevent or hinder the effective equality of women and men.
  • A negotiated diagnosis drawn up by the legal representation of the workforce which contains the following information:
    • Selection and recruitment process
    • Professional classification
    • Training
    • Professional development
    • Working conditions and an audit of equal pay between men and women
    • Shared responsibility for rights relating to personal, family and work life
    • Under-representation of women
    • Pay
    • Prevention of sexual assault and violence related to gender
• The management with the assistance of works councilors shall make sure that all details and information needed for preparation in regards to listed issues and records data in Article 28, section 2 of the Workers’ Statute are recorded.
• Equality plans will include the totality of a company, with special procedures depending on the determined workplace.
• A Registry of Company Equality Plans is created. Part of the Registry of agreements and collective work agreements. Governed by the General Directorate of Labor of the Ministry of Labor, Migrations and Social Security and the Labor Authorities of the Autonomous Communities.
• Companies are required to register their equality plans in the registry.
• Regulations set diagnostics, elements, matters, pay audits, and monitoring systems, equal opportunity plans should be developed, including creation of an inclusive environment with conditions necessary to secure the right of ingress and to allow access.
• Equal access is guaranteed to all workers or their deputies, by guaranteeing the access of all workers and employees, and providing content equal access to all.
• What is contained in above paragraphs on how the workers councils shall make sure all members of their collectives are in line with equality plans.
• Companies must encourage working conditions that prevent crimes and any other conduct against sexual freedom and moral integrity in the workplace, with emphasis on sexual harassment and sex-based harassment, those committed in the digital sphere.
• Measures can be established negotiate with the representatives of the workers, such as the preparation and dissemination of codes of good practices, the implementation of information campaigns or training actions.
• Representatives of workers should help prevent crimes and other conduct by providing protection for vulnerable persons against abuse by educating people through open communication and the direction of the workers committee to report possible safety failures .
• The Government will establish support measures, especially aimed at small and medium-sized companies.
• Public bodies must remove barriers that imply discrimination to secure effective conditions for the civil service between men and women to help them grow professionally.
• Personal and family lives should become easier without undermining career progression.
• Equal training will also be offered with the civil service to improve professional standards.
• Promotion of equal access for both genders on all bodies and commissions during selection.
• The effectiveness of equality must be reviewed from top to bottom per branch.