José Manuel Franco: “ Societies with gender equality are wealthier societies in all respects ”

The president of the CSD has participated in the fourth assembly of the ibero-american network of Women and sport held this thursday in San josé, Costa Rica.

The Network is an area of dialogue and exchange of experience in developing policies and plans of action in the field of sport with a gender perspective.

San José (Costa Rica), 16 september 2021.- The secretary of State for sport and chairman of the council for sports (CSD), José Manuel Franco, has participated this thursday in the fourth assembly of the ibero-american network of Women and sport, in which España exercises the Executive secretariat.

During the intervention in the assembly, organized in format and virtual classroom, José Manuel Franco has highlighted the “ spirit of collaboration and cooperation ” in 2009 led to the countries belonging to Latin American Council of sport “ to open a new space for dialogue, analysis and exchange in favour of public policies that foster the advancement and integration of women at all levels of sport, physical activity and recreation ”.

“ i know that not only the government of spain, also the governments of latin america, we have made a priority line of our policies, ” said.

The president of the CSD has reiterated that “ gender equality is morally right, but the equality of opportunity is also important to allow social progress. ” “ when women are involved, societies prosper. Societies with gender equality are wealthier societies in every sense of the word ”, he said.

José Manuel Franco has made available to the Ibero-American Network of Women and sport, appropriate measures in line with this context during the presidency of the council of the european Union that spain will hold in the last half of 2023. It has also in international instruments on human rights and recalled that gender equality and empowerment of women and girls is one of the commitments of the Agenda 2030 for sustainable development.

The assembly, held at the national stadium in San josé, came the minister of sport of Costa Rica, Karla Alemán; the ambassador of Spain in Costa Rica, Cristina Pérez Gutiérrez; the president of the Latin American Council of sport (CID) and the national director of the costa rican institute for sport and recreation (ICODER), Alba Quesada; and the honorary president of the CID, Fernando Cáceres.

The hybrid format has, through virtual tools, of the members of the Latin American Council of sport, which had been incorporated different agencies as UNESCO, IBERO-AMERICAN SECRETARIAT or AECID, among others. The extensive range, with a total of 50 representatives, has led to a strengthening of partnerships for the ultimate objective of the ibero-american network of Women and sport to promote equality in sport.

The Network, a meeting point for Latin America

In that regard, the president of the Latin American Council of sport, Alba Quesada, has considered the “ 20 years of life of the network ” and its importance as a “ space for exchange of experiences and analysis ”.

“ we are happy to be sharing from Costa Rica this house. From here i call on the authorities to accompany us to work to this continuing to be a reality. It is necessary to the work of governments, giving it out to these committees, for there to be genuine equality in sport. We have come a long way in latin america and i would ask that we work together ”, has said.

For its part, the minister of sport, Karla Alemán, pointed out that the assembly is on the table “ items for discussion and reflection ” and called for generating “ spaces for women in decision-making positions ”.

The honorary president of the CID, Fernando Cáceres, has stated that “ the democratic quality of a country could be measured by the place reserved for women ” and, therefore, “ the quality of sports development must be measured also by the place of women ”.

“ the struggle for a place of justice is a struggle that has for years and that is still on the place to which should go. The cooperation between our countries will enable us to meet the challenge to maintain momentum for development to be made with the very highest standards of equity ”, has indicated.

Finally, the ambassador of Spain in Costa Rica, Cristina Pérez Gutiérrez, has stressed that the commemoration of the two-hundredth anniversary of independence has had a taste “ sports and gender ” with the celebration of the fourth assembly of the ibero-american network of Women and sport.