Female ministers' clothing sparks controversy in Spain (News Feature)

By Sinikka Tarvainen Jan 19, 2009, 11:20 GMT

Madrid - Carme Chacon decides over Spain's defence policy, while Soraya Saenz de Santamaria is the voice of the country's biggest opposition party.

Both women, however, are making headlines not over the decisions they take, but what they wear.

Years after women have risen to high positions, with Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega currently the second most powerful politician in the country, Spaniards still appear confused over how femininity can be combined with power.

When Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero for the first time appointed half of his cabinet positions to women and the female ministers posed for the fashion magazine Vogue, conservative opposition leader Mariano Rajoy slammed the stylish shots as 'ridiculous.'

But when conservative spokeswoman Saenz de Santamaria was recently photographed in a sexy black dress, bare shouldered and barefooted, Rajoy felt she should be judged 'for her political activity and not for this picture.'

Shortly before, Defence Minister Chacon had sparked a storm by attending an annual military celebration in a black designer pant suit and wearing heavy make-up.

After being appointed minister in 2008, she made worldwide headlines by inspecting troops while being seven months pregnant.

This time, Chacon had been granted a special permission by the royal palace to wear pants on an occasion which normally required a long dress.

Her attire drew both criticism and applause from commentators, with the most stinging of them saying she looked like a transvestite.

The conservative daily El Mundo, which blasted Chacon as 'frivolous,' did not hesitate to publish the provocative pictures of Saenz de Santamaria.

'The decision of Soraya to pose as a femme fatale reveals the contradictions of blinkered thought on the equality between men and women,' El Mundo editor-in-chief Pedro J Ramirez commented.

Saenz de Santamaria is often referred to by her first name, something that is rarely done with male politicians.

Was it silly of female politicians to draw attention to their dress at a time when Spain is sinking ever deeper into an economic recession and world news is dominated by the military conflict in the Middle East, commentators wondered.

It could seem so, but it was also true that female dress has more complex criteria than male attire, analysts said.

While men created the suit as a kind of uniform for the corridors of power over a long period, women are only now having to decide how to dress appropriately at work, sociologist Pedro Mansilla said.

Some years ago, for instance, a planned election poster on Socialist candidate Trinidad Jimenez was withdrawn because it made her look 'too sexy.' Fernandez de la Vega has also elicited disparaging comments over her stylish and colourful clothes.

Spaniards have followed with interest similar controversies in other countries, like those over fashion shots featuring French Defence Minister Rachida Dati or over a low-cut dress once worn by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The photographs of Saenz de Santamaria sought to 'show a woman who can be very feminine, and that seems to be a crime,' said Luis Malibran, who took the polemic pictures.

Politics 'is still a very masculine world. Women who are in a fertile age are seen as suspicious,' the 37-year-old politician herself commented.

Socialist female leaders refrained from trying to exploit the contradictions in conservative ranks.

Socialist Party organizational secretary Leire Pajin even came out in Saenz de Santamaria's defence, saying she could 'pose as she liked' and that criticism of the shots was 'a machoist attack to intelligence.'