Madrid Proposes Benefits For Pregnant Women and New Mothers

The President of Madrid, Isabel Diaz Ayuso. Image: Comunidad de Madrid

The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, has proposed benefits of €500 per month for pregnant women and new mothers under 30 years of age with incomes below €30,000 per year.

Diaz Ayuso is seeking re-election to lead the Capital’s autonomous community as well as positioning herself to become leader of the opposition Partido Popular (PP).

Up to 14,000 women in Madrid each year could be eligible for the benefit and it would require an investment of €250 million per year in the public purse.

“We are going to help the women who need it most with €14,500 for each child born in the Community of Madrid as long as the mother has been registered here for at least 10 years,” Diaz Ayuso said on June 17.

“All pregnant women up to 35 years of age will have priority in the VIVE plan, and for all mothers – without age limits – who are unemployed, a specific job bank, training plans and educational support for those who decide to study will be available.

“Spain has one of the lowest birth rates on the planet: an average of 1.2 children per woman,” she added, saying that statistics show “the majority of Spanish women would like more children.”

“One of the biggest problems our country has is that this issue never seems to be at the forefront of politics or government programmes. Maternity protection will be one of the most important axes of this legislature. The premise to achieve this is clear, whoever wants to have a child in the Community of Madrid should not have difficulties that make him renounce this desire,” she said.

“The economic deterioration and demographic deterioration feed off each other. As there is no future, they do not have children; since they do not have children, there is no future. We have to break that spiral. True feminism is to help women of all ages, whatever their life project, not to confront them against men,” she added.


Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to check The Euro Weekly News for all your up-to-date local and international news stories.

 

Author badge placeholder
Written by

Deirdre Tynan

Deirdre Tynan is an award-winning journalist who enjoys bringing the best in news reporting to Spain’s largest English-language newspaper, Euro Weekly News. She has previously worked at The Mirror, Ireland on Sunday and for news agencies, media outlets and international organisations in America, Europe and Asia. A huge fan of British politics and newspapers, Deirdre is equally fascinated by the political scene in Madrid and Sevilla. She moved to Spain in 2018 and is based in Jaen.

Comments