The Spanish Federation of Large Families (FEFN) participated on Thursday 20 March in the round table ‘Real Family-Work Balance, a commitment to families and the future’, organised by the Popular Group in the Senate to deepen and provide effective solutions to one of the main problems facing families today.
As part of National Family-Work Balance Day, which was celebrated on Sunday, 23 March, the round table was attended by different groups with special difficulties in combining work and family: large families, single-parent families, families living in rural areas and those who are dependent on self-employed workers.
Measures adapted to each family
Eduardo Galicia, Vice-President of the FEFN, spoke on behalf of the FEFN, stressing that large families bring together all of these circumstances, with the added bonus of having more children, and underlined the need for work-life balance policies to be adapted to the needs of each household, respecting the family model that each family freely chooses. The Vice-President of the FEFN spoke about the reality of households with more children, the high cost of work-life balance in these families and the impact it has on mothers and female employment, and appealed to society as a whole to take responsibility for work-life balance, which is not just a matter for families and companies, but for everyone. For this reason, she called for more support to create a favourable environment – stability in employment, access to housing, etc. – so that young people can start a family, and for families that already have children, measures that adapt to the circumstances of households. In this regard, he highlighted the universal child benefit, which the FEFN has been demanding for years and which is already in place in most European countries, as an effective measure to support work-life balance according to the needs of each family. See video of his speech HERE.
The round table also included the participation of the Asociación Madres Solteras por Elección (MSPE), through its Advocacy Coordinator, María Guruceta; the Confederación de Federaciones y Asociaciones de Familias y Mujeres del Medio Rural (AFAMMER), through its Secretary General, Rita Mateos, and the Federación de Trabajadores Autónomos, with its Vice-President, Susana Romero, who explained their difficulties and demands. The debate was led by Ana Martín, deputy director of El Debate, and also included the participation of Ana Martín Dávila-Ponce de León, the Regional Minister for Family, Youth and Social Affairs of the Community of Madrid, who has implemented various measures on work-life balance.
María Mar Blanco, Second Secretary of the Senate Bureau, was in charge of opening the day with a few words of welcome, after which the spokesperson for the Popular Group in the Senate, Alicia García, introduced the round table and reminded the audience of the political group’s commitment to work-life balance. The debate was brought to a close by Ana Alós, Member of Parliament and Deputy Secretary for Equality, Work-Life Balance and Social Policy of the Partido Popular.
The debate took place in the Salón de los Pasos Perdidos of the Senate at 4.30 p.m. and could be followed by streaming.