REAL CITY.- “This is no place for a woman”a phrase that they believed they had left in the past, but whose echoes resonate again eleven years later within a brotherhood of Holy Week in Ciudad Real, where nine women denounce “machismo, inequality and contempt” after the new board of directors have decided dispense with them in the costaleros gang of which they had been part since 2013.
Then, due to the lack of costaleros (men) and although some had been asking for it for years, a vote was put to the group and four women managed to go under the workers of the Cristo de la Caridad, which takes to the streets of Ciudad Real on Holy Thursday.
As time went by, there were a few more, “never many,” acknowledges one of those affected, Ángela María Rodríguez, who has publicly denounced the discrimination which they are faced with, because they are women, after the board of directors has decided that there will be no mixed team and having to form an exclusively female one in order to continue carrying the step.
“We want to continue, we want to continue being bearers of our Christ in the same conditions that we have been in until 2024, with our companions, being part of the group of Christ,” explains Rodríguez Gamarra in a publication on his social networks.
They point to the new foreman, chosen by the renewed leadership of the Brotherhood, as responsible for this decision to force the step to be taken separately.
In this way, initially they would have been given until January to find more members to form that group made up exclusively of women, because otherwise they would have to leave it, leaving only the men.
A gender distinction that they have rejected, since “under the pass we are all people, neither man nor woman”so they consider that the group of costaleros should continue to be mixed.
“Many men would like […] have the capacity for endurance, suffering and companionship that these lionesses who are my companions have had,” writes Rodríguez, who recalls that it has not been precisely the women who “have shown up to rehearse and even to the procession like Massiel, nor those who have gone under the pass slipping away the burden”.
However, the foreman’s decision is firm and he has finally decided not to create the female crew due to “the refusal and rejection” of the women’s group to that segregation. They consider that it is “one more gesture of machismo and inequality”which they believe has been done “with their backs to the brotherhood and the Church”, so they are not willing to let it pass.
Thus, Ángela María Rodríguez points out that this decision to “separate us by gender” shows that “today some people, some men, still maintain a dinosaur mentality“, he pointed out in statements to Efe.
As is also the case that, according to this costalera, it is argued that women “are to blame for not having more men join the crew,” as the new foreman would have told them. An idea that they flatly deny, while pointing out that “perhaps the problem is that there are men who do not do this job well” and what should be done is “get rid of them so that others arrive who can do it better.”
However, and despite the numerous signs of support they are receiving after having made their complaint public, they fear that the decision to separate them from the gang will not be reversed as long as these people are at the forefront, due to the “male pride” demonstrated during these days.
Thus, Puri, Ceci, Érika, Cristina, Elena, Carmen, Mónica and Inmaculada, voiced by Ángela María, consider it “regrettable” that in the 21st century these situations continue to occur and even more so that they are endorsed by people who do not surpass the 40 years.
They regret that those who came to the brotherhood’s board of directors last July proclaiming their intention to “unite even more” the people who were part of it, are now precisely the ones who are achieving “the opposite effect” with decisions like this.
“COMMITMENT TO EQUALITY”
For its part, the Brotherhood of the Holy Christ of Charity responds to the criticism with a statement in which they say they “reaffirm” their commitment “to equality and respect” towards all members of the brotherhood, “regardless of their gender.” “, they add.
They assure that all their brothers and sisters “are equal and have the same rights and opportunities to participate in the activities and responsibilities” of the brotherhood, although – they also add – “it is important that all members comply with the rules established by the Brotherhood and the Governing Board, to ensure correct and harmonious functioning.”
Rules, they defend, that “are designed to foster an environment of respect, cooperation and devotion.”
They end the statement spread through social networks by thanking “all members” for their commitment and dedication, and encourage them to “continue actively participating” in the activities and events” of the Brotherhood, thus contributing to the “strengthening” of it. .
Of course, they do not clarify whether women will be able to continue being part of the group of costaleros, under conditions of equality and respecting their rights as in recent years, or if, on the contrary, they will be left out having refused to form a segregated group.
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