A WOMAN MAKES POLITICAL HISTORY

For the first time in the history of Spanish democracy, a woman occupied the Prime Minister's chair at a cabinet meeting on Friday. Sr Zapatero was attending a summit meeting of EU and Latin American leaders in Mexico and, as protocol demanded, the first deputy prime minister, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, took the chair. After the meeting, she invited all the female workers in Moncloa Palace to a glass of wine because, as she said, "one woman's achievement is an achievement for all of us." Sra Fernández, aged 53 and single, obtained a first class degree in Law at the Complutense University of Madrid and a doctorate at Barcelona University. She also studied European Community Law at the University of Strasbourg, specialising in Human Rights and International Judicial Cooperation in the European Council. She worked her way up the system, starting as a legal secretary and ending up as a judge. She was one of the few women in the "Justicia Democrática" movement, a group of judges who played an important role during the transition to democracy after dictator Francisco Franco died in 1975. Sra Fernández is a dedicated promoter of women's rights. She was active in the campaign to reform the abortion law and helped to draw up the Plan for Equal Opportunities for Women. Sra Fernández is one of the eight women ministers Sr Zapatero appointed when he became prime minister. One of his election promises was to give equal opportunities to women and he is very proud of that fact that half of Spain's ministers are women.