The Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa has come out to meet the statements by the director of the Tour of the Basque Country, Julián Erasoabout the celebration of the first female edition of the cycling event, which started this Friday in Vitoria, which he describes as “a matter of fashion”.
“It is not a matter of fashion, it is a matter of commitment to combat machismo in sport from feminism. Machismo is what is in fashion”, denounced the Gipuzkoan deputy for Culture and Sports, Harkaitz Millán, in a note sent by the Provincial Council.
Along the same lines, the Director of Sports for Gipuzkoa, Goizane Álvarez, pointed out that “today there is no sporting event that does not welcome men and women in the same conditions. Equality is a right, it is not a fad, and for this reason, the step we took with the Clásica San Sebastián and that we are now taking with Itzulia”.
Both members of the Socialist Party of the Basque Country, which co-governs the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa with the Basque Nationalist Party, also point out that the first women’s Itzulia “is an act that consolidates the commitment of socialist management for equality, so that women also have spaces for growth as athletes and sports professionals”.
“Our commitment has to do with promoting a change in behavior in the sports system towards a feminist society in sports as well”, add the two leaders before the statements made by Eraso on Radio Marca Bilbao and collected by El newspaper de España.
The contrary reactions to the words of the director of the Vuelta al País Vasco have also come from Álava. On Twitter, the Alava deputy for Culture and Sport, Ana del Val, has crossed out Eraso’s words as “unpresentable and unacceptable” and has demanded that he “retract publicly”. “Women’s sport is not a fashion, what remains, in any case, is much to do. We will not take a single step back in our policies, on the contrary.”
Along the same lines, they have spoken Maider Etxebarriafirst deputy mayor of Vitoria, and Raphael RomeroGipuzkoan deputy for Mobility, on social networks: “No, gentleman, we are neither a seasoning nor a trend. We are and we want 50% of absolutely everything”.
In that interview, when asked about the organization of the first women’s Vuelta al País Vasco, Eraso’s literal response was: “We have almost almost been forced to organize it. This is a matter of fashion. In the end… Equality, maybe… The correveidile… Everyone says that you have to do things for women’s sport and it has also touched cycling.”
