Feminism confronts Sánchez and Feijóo in the midst of the pre-campaign for the general elections on November 29: "Growing up among women does not make you a feminist"

Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo clashed this Friday over feminism on a day that began with the PP leader's proposals on Equality and abortion and ended with his reproaches to the president from Valencia. Women's rights have fully entered the pre-campaign for 29N, with responses from the Frente Amplio and Podemos and a dispute over the trust of female voters who were fundamental in sustaining the PSOE in 2023.

The exchange came after Sánchez's interview on Thursday on 'La Revuelta', where he acknowledged the "double disappointment" José Luis Ábalos had caused him and defended his willingness to continue governing. The president presented a potential arrival of Vox to the Executive as a risk of setback. The next morning, Feijóo confirmed on 'Cadena SER' that he would integrate Equality into another ministry and that he wants to reopen the debate on the autonomy of young women to have abortions.

Sánchez responded on social media, accusing him of wanting to cut rights while claiming to be a feminist. "Growing up among women doesn't make you a feminist. Defending their rights does," he wrote. The message placed the discussion on the decisions a PP Government would make, a particularly sensitive issue given Feijóo's willingness to rely on the far-right Vox to reach La Moncloa.

Feijóo responds to Sánchez with scandals from the socialist circle

"How can I not be a feminist if I grew up with many more women than men?" Feijóo replied when Aimar Bretos asked him about the matter. The popular candidate acknowledged the inequality of rights and the gender pay gap, but defended abolishing Equality as an independent ministry and keeping its powers within another portfolio. His argument was that the responsible person can assume more functions, accompanied by a reproach to Minister Ana Redondo's workday.

Regarding abortion, he proposed that parents be aware of their 16 and 17-year-old daughters' decision and that what happens when there is family disagreement be debated, without specifying the legal solution he would defend. Current legislation allows abortions from the age of 16 without authorization from legal representatives, a right recovered with the 2023 reform. Feijóo stated that he would respect the Constitutional Court's ruling, although he maintained his intention to review this issue.

The PP president's reply to Sánchez then focused on accusations of prostitution, apartments for lovers, and harassment in the socialist environment. "You can spare yourself the feminism lessons", he wrote. With that response, he used the cases of Ábalos and his former advisor Koldo García and the complaints against former Moncloa official Francisco Salazar to question the PSOE's credibility when it presents itself as a guarantor of equality.

On Friday night, at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, Feijóo maintained that line. "Not half a lesson about anything, much less feminism", he launched before some 1,500 attendees. He alluded to the sentence reductions due to the application of the "only yes means yes" law, the problems with victims' protection bracelets, and those Sánchez had chosen for his inner circle. The PP intends for these episodes to weigh on the vote, while the PSOE insists on the consequences of popular proposals regarding already recognized rights.

Frente Amplio and Podemos claim their own feminist voice

The response also came from Frente Amplio. Its campaign spokesperson and Minister of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030, Pablo Bustinduy, resorted to photographs of Feijóo with Marcial Dorado in the nineties to counter his family argument. "If being raised by women makes you a feminist, what does vacationing with drug traffickers make you?" he asked. The intervention added Ada Colau's candidacy to the clash that Sánchez had opened with the popular leader.

The Minister of Health and leader of Más Madrid, Mónica García, warned of the setback that, in her opinion, the PP's proposals imply. "Welcome to 1989", she ironized, before defending that conquered rights belong to women regardless of their ideology. Más Madrid spokeswomen Manuela Bergerot and Rita Maestre also called for mobilization against a possible involution in terms of abortion and freedoms.

The Podemos candidate, Irene Montero, vindicated the reform she promoted when she led Equality and demanded to guarantee access to abortion in public health. "You don't play with abortion and women's rights", she published. She also questioned the idea of diluting the ministry into another portfolio, considering that it would relegate women's problems among other administrative priorities.

The general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, recalled the restrictive reform that Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón tried to promote during Mariano Rajoy's Government. "He's starting to look like Gallardón", she said about Feijóo. Her criticism also reached Sánchez's Executive, whom she accused of having relegated feminism during this legislature. The shared rejection of the PP's proposals thus coexists with the competition of the left-wing candidacies to represent these demands and mobilize women who have distanced themselves from the Government.

The female vote that sustained the PSOE is again in dispute

In the CIS post-election survey of 2023, 30.8% of the women interviewed remembered having voted for the PSOE, compared to 23.2% for the PP. The difference was 7.6 points. These are answers from a survey, different from the official scrutiny, but they show the importance of that support for Sánchez in elections that prevented a PP and Vox majority.

The PP won those elections with 137 deputies and Vox obtained 33, a sum of 170 seats compared to the 176 needed for an absolute majority. Mobilization against a Government with the far-right is again part of the socialist message. Feijóo tries to weaken it by questioning the PSOE's coherence, while the Broad Front and Podemos seek for the defense of rights to also translate into support for their candidacies.

That female support has suffered wear and tear. After the Cerdán case, the CIS of July 2025 registered a drop in the direct female vote for the PSOE from 26.2% to 19.4%. This measure reflects voting intention, different from the memory of 2023. The cases surrounding the socialists have given the PP arguments to attack one of the hallmarks of Sánchez's party and have opened space for criticism from their left-wing competitors.

The president has also incorporated a concrete proposal into this defense of rights. At Wednesday's rally in Burgos, Sánchez promised to shield the right to abortion in the Constitution if he governs again. The commitment is part of the offer with which the PSOE runs in the elections on November 29.