A festive and warm people
It is well known that Spaniards live outside! And even if the weather is not as sunny as in Andalusia, it is the same in Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and Castilla y León. Everything is an excuse to get together with family or friends, over tapas or around a well-stocked table. There is a lot of discussion, often lively, and laughter in a friendly atmosphere. Public holidays, whether national, regional or local, are also celebrated in a good mood. People get dressed up before going out to meet their loved ones and make the most of the moment. In addition to the national calendar, each community has its own festivities, within which provinces and localities also have their own ferias and romerías, dedicated to the Virgin or to local patron saints. From the morning, the festivities last until late at night and sometimes continue the next day or even the day after! As much to say that the festival is everywhere in Spain! It is also a warm people who sympathize easily. When you meet someone you know in the street, the emotion is such that you can't help but give him an abrazo (hug), and then if a friend introduces someone he knows, he will immediately be treated like a friend. In fact, here, the use of the formal form of address is rarely used, in favor of the informal and intimate use of the informal form of address.
A later independent life
In Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and Castilla y León, young people are increasingly living with their parents, as in the rest of Spain. This is true of part of the generation of mileuristas (people who start their careers with a monthly salary of €1,000) and whose access to housing is becoming increasingly difficult. As these regions are not among the most expensive in Spain, the housing problem is a little less complicated and young people have more accessible cities here. However, Galicia and Asturias have been affected by the crisis, Cantabria and Castilla y León a little less so, and today young graduates are still struggling to find work here too. With an unemployment rate of around 11%, some try their luck in Madrid or other major Spanish cities, while others go abroad to France, the UK or Germany. This is what gave rise to the #nimileuristas (not even €1,000) movement, which became known in particular via theindignados (indignant) rallies. As a logical consequence, Spaniards are getting married later and later: around 30 for women and 35 for men. And some forty-year-olds, as in France, are returning to live with their parents. When a woman marries, she keeps her maiden name, to which she adds her husband's name. At birth, the child is obliged to bear both the father's and the mother's names (it takes the first name of its father and the first of its mother). The average age of women having their first child is around 30 years.
A progressive country
Along with the great political and cultural revolution of the post-dictatorship period, the situation of women has changed a lot. Before the fall of Francoism, women were assigned to the three C's: the kitchen, the kids and the priest. Nowadays, most of them live relatively late with their parents, are much better educated than their mothers and therefore marry later (the average age of first marriage has risen from 24 to 30 in one generation). With almost no childcare and no family support policy, women are much less likely to be in the highest positions. However, Zapatero's Spanish government was an example of parity, with a total of 7 women among the 15 ministers, including Carme Chacón, holding the post of Minister of Defence from 2008 to 2011, and appointed while she was seven months pregnant! A parity that was no longer present in the government set up by Mariano Rajoy in 2011 with 4 women ministers out of 13 members, but which is now higher than expected with the left-wing coalition government, led by Pedro Sanchéz. In fact, since 2021, the government is composed of 14 female ministers and 8 male ministers, the highest female presence in Europe! By appointing Nadia Calviño as Vice President of the government in 2021, and Irene Montero as Minister of Gender Equality, the President of the government has shown his intention to improve women's rights in the country. In October 2020, the Spanish government tightened the rules on equal pay for men and women, forcing companies to disclose the salaries of their employees according to gender, or face fines of up to €187,000! Although traditionally Catholic, Spain is now more left-wing, more feminist and progressive, setting an example in Europe. In 2005, it was one of the first countries in the world to authorize marriage for all, adoption and access to in vitro fertilization for homosexual couples. Nearly 22,500 same-sex marriages were performed in the first seven years, until 2012. However, some progressive laws are more difficult to accept among the population, especially among conservative Catholics. This is the case with the abortion law, passed in 2010, in which abortion is allowed up to 14 weeks of pregnancy and 22 weeks in the case of fetal malformation. However, almost a year before, more than a million people marched in the streets of the capital against the legalization of abortion, and three years later it was about to be restricted by a bill, under the conservative government of Mariano Rajoy. Following numerous protests, it was withdrawn in September 2014 to be replaced by a law prohibiting minors from having an abortion without their parents' consent in 2015. However, the Minister of Equality has announced the repeal of this law soon, showing her willingness to lead a more social Spain.
