FEATURE GRAZIA
Women are still being held back by sexist stereotypes that per vade even the heart of democracy, warns the lawyer and political activist
MIRIAM GONZÁLEZ DURÁNTEZ is formidably accomplished. An international trade lawyer, vice-chair of investment bank UBS Europe SE, author, mother, founder and chair of Inspiring Girls, an international community that ‘links female role models and girls, women from every background, age, profession… We show them to the girls so they see all the options you have in life’; founder of España Mejor, an open non-partisan political organisation that involves the people of Spain in the restructuring of their political mechanisms… Given all of which: it must have been so irritating to enter British consciousness as A Wife, I say.
González Durántez and I meet near the London home she shares with her husband, Nick Clegg. Clegg is former leader of the Liberal Democrats, he ser ved as Deputy Prime Minister to David Cameron’s PM in the UK’s coalition Government, which is why González Durántez originally gained public profile not as a mover, shaker, lawyer and activist – but as a politician’s wife.
‘It was irritating ,’ she tells me. ‘It didn’t happen in Spain.’ González Durántez should know : she was born and raised in politics. Her father, José Antonio González Caviedes was mayor of Olmedo, the Spanish town where she was born in 1968, seven years before the country transitioned from Franco’s dictatorship to democracy. González Caviedes ser ved as senator for the province of Valladolid; in Spain, apparently, the politician’s wife obsession ‘does not happen! At all! So it was a shock.’
To protect her children from the madness she’d taken them ‘ back to Spain just before the 2010 election; they were little. They said goodbye like I was going to war. As I arrived back in London there were two paparazzi by my house ; they didn’t leave for four or five weeks. They’d take pictures every time I left – for the office, to see friends, to buy a pint of milk. How is this of interest to anyone ? I had a breakdown at one point because, in my mind, it was only for four or five weeks for the campaign. But they called the coalition, so it was many more!’
Suddenly, ‘ There were 50 people outside the house. You could not smile in a different manner, it meant something ! I phoned my mum. “I can’t stand this any more.” Let’s be clear, if you have photographers outside, you put on make-up, you think, “How am I looking today ?” But there came a point when I thought, “I don’t want to have to wear make-up, I want to be myself !” My mum said, “Miriam, you are looking at this the wrong way. You should go out without make-up, look as bad as you can, and the minute the
