Defense votes against the Interior Law to facilitate the access of women to the Civil Guard with a worse grade than men

The Ministry of Defense has voted in the Council of the Civil Guard against the proposal of the Ministry of the Interior to facilitate the access of women within the Civil Guard by including in the Personnel Law a clause by which they can have preference over male candidates provided that, after passing the pass, the difference in points between the two does not exceed 15%.

As Defense sources have explained to Europa Press, the two representatives on the Council of the Civil Guard have distanced themselves from the project to modify the Personnel Law, understanding that it could be unconstitutional in the terms in which the access of women.

The aforementioned sources from the Ministry headed by Margarita Robles have indicated that Defense had not been consulted about the measure to encourage the number of women through free access, which represents 50% of the candidates who opt for opposition. The military have reserved 40% of the places and the children of civil guards the remaining 10%.

The Council of the Civil Guard is made up of 16 representatives of the administration and another 16 members of professional associations of the Civil Guard, leaving the eventual tie-breaking vote in the hands of the presidency held by the general director, María Gámez.

According to sources familiar with the vote held this Thursday, the Personnel Law project has gone ahead with the yes of all the representatives of the administration --except the two of Defense-- and of the AUGC association. The corporals association has abstained and the rest, including the majority JUCIL, have voted against.

In a statement, the Civil Guard has defended the regulatory change because it is a "temporary positive action" measure, that is, "application until ensuring the existence of a critical mass of women, in this case, 40%" .

Then, until reaching the percentage that is set each year -for example, 25%, 30% or 40%--, "women will have preference over male applicants provided that, after passing the pass, the difference in points between them does not exceed 15%.

The project, defended by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, will now follow the processing of any ordinary law until its final approval.

In line with the Defense thesis, the professional associations that oppose the norm point out that it is unconstitutional because it does not guarantee equal access to the body, according to the merit and capacity of the candidates.

The Civil Guard, for its part, has justified this Thursday the need to apply this type of measure. "The incorporation of more women into the Civil Guard is a necessity; it is not only that the percentages are far from our social reality, but that there is an operational deficit of female staff", he pointed out.

In the last twelve years, between 2010 and 2022, the presence of women in the Civil Guard has increased just three points to represent the current 6% to 9%. The Armed Institute calculates that at this rate it would take almost four decades to reach 30% of female agents.

Furthermore, the higher the employment, the lower the percentage. In the Corporals and Guards Scale, 26.65% of the students in the current promotion are women: the number is increasing little by little, and this is the highest that has been recorded so far, but the mass of personnel is so great, that the entrances of female agents are diluted and "it costs a lot to increase the global figures", according to this body.

READMISSION OF TRADE UNION MEMBERS

The Personnel Law project includes, in addition to these "positive action measures for women when they are admitted to the ranks of corporals and guards and for professional promotion processes", the adaptation of the equivalence of the training education of the different scales and recognition of the same protection for victims of harassment as for victims of gender violence, among other measures.

One of these measures, through an additional provision, is the one that affects an old demand of the association movement to "rehabilitate" the four representatives of the associative movement who were expelled from the body in the 80s and 90s, when they promoted the clandestine Unified Union of the Civil Guard (SUGC).

This implies recognizing the expelled civil guards the job that would have corresponded to them due to seniority, as well as "updating the pensions that would be affected by this recognition of services

The Council of the Civil Guard, chaired by the general director, has debated in the Ordinary Plenary meeting the modification of 38 articles, in addition to incorporating five new articles, four additional provisions and two transitory ones.