Matilde Fernández

{{Infobox officeholder

| image = Matilde Fernández.jpg

| imagesize = 200px

| caption =

| office1 = Minister of Social Affairs

| primeminister1 = Felipe González

| predecessor1 =

| successor1 = Cristina Alberdi

| term_start1 = 1988

| term_end1 = 1993

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1950|1|24|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Madrid, Spain

| death_date =

| death_place =

| restingplace =

| party = Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

| birth_name = Matilde Fernández Sanz

| alma_mater = Complutense University of Madrid

| spouse =

}}

Matilde Fernández (born 24 January 1950) is a Spanish social feminist and politician who served as minister of social affairs of Spain from 1988 to 1993.

Early life and education

Fernández was born on 24 January 1950 in Madrid.{{cite web|title=Matilde Fernández|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3039233/

|work=IMDb|access-date=19 October 2013}}{{cite news|title=Matilde Fernández "Hay que ver errores y nuevas propuestas"|work=El País

|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/917101007|access-date=13 June 2023|date=23 January 2012|location=Madrid|language=es|id={{ProQuest|917101007}}}} She graduated from the Complutense University of Madrid, receiving a degree in psychology.{{cite web|title=Matilde Fernández Sanz. Socia de honor|url=https://eacnur.org/es/que-es-acnur/nuestro-equipo/matilde-fernandez-sanz|website=UNHCR

|access-date=13 June 2023|language=es}}

Career

Following her graduation Fernández worked as an industrial psychologist in different companies. Later she became a member and the leader of the labor union movement.{{cite book|author=Manuel Castells|year=2011

|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|title=The Power of Identity: The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture|isbn=978-1-4443-5629-8|page=226

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l9asXV40MegC&pg=PT226|volume=II|location=Chichester|edition=2nd}}{{cite book

|author1=Mona Lena Krook|author-link1=Mona Lena Krook|author2=Sarah Childs|title=Women, Gender, and Politics: A Reader|year=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0195368819}} She began to serve as the general secretary of the Federation of Chemical Industries of the Unión General de Trabajadores in 1977. Between 1982 and 1988 she was the general secretary of the Chemical and Energy Industries. She joined the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) being part of the reformist group within it.{{cite book|author1=José Luis Martí|author2=Philip Pettit|author2-link=Philip Pettit|title=A Political Philosophy in Public Life: Civic Republicanism in Zapatero's Spain|year=2010|publisher=Princeton University Press|page=5|location=Princeton, NJ; Oxford|jstor=j.ctt7sbkt |isbn=978-1-4008-3505-8|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7sbkt}} In 1984, she became a member of the PSOE's federal executive committee and was appointed head of the secretariat for women’s participation.

Fernández was appointed minister of social affairs to the cabinet led by Prime Minister Felipe Gonzales in 1988.{{cite news|author=Alan Riding|title=Spaniards grow disenchanted with a once-charismatic leader|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/10/world/spaniards-grow-disenchanted-with-a-once-charismatic-leader.html|access-date=19 October 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=10 July 1994}}{{cite news|author=Harry Debelius

|title=Reshuffle by González strengthens hand of Socialist party centre|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/IF0503190623/TTDA?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=0c08d002|access-date=13 June 2023|work=The Times|issue=63129|date=9 July 1988|location=London}} Fernández became the first minister of social affairs since the ministry was established by her appointment.{{cite journal|author=Celia Valiente|title=Rejecting the past: central government and family policy in post-authoritarian Spain (1975-94)|journal=Cross National Research Papers|volume=4|issue=3|pages=80–96|url=http://hdl.handle.net/10016/4362|year=1995|hdl=10016/4362}}{{cite journal|author=Celia Valiente|title=The rejection of authoritarian policy legacies: family policy in Spain (1975–1995)|journal=South European Society and Politics

|volume=1|issue=1|pages=95–114|hdl=10016/4436|doi=10.1080/13608749608454718|date=June 1996|hdl-access=free}} She was backed by the PSOE group led by Alfonso Guerra.{{cite book|author1=José Luis Marti|author2=Philip Pettit|title=A Political Philosophy in Public Life: Civic Republicanism in Zapatero's Spain|year=2010|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7sbkt|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, NJ|jstor=j.ctt7sbkt|isbn=9780691154473}} She was replaced by Cristina Alberdi in the post in 1993. In the Spanish Congress, she represented Cantabria from 1989 to 2000. From 1999 to 2003 Fernández was a councilor for the Madrid City Council.

In 2000, Fernández ran for the PSOE presidency, but lost election to José Luis Zapatero.{{cite journal|author=Charles Powell|title=A second transition, or more of the same? Spanish Foreign Policy under Zapatero|journal=South European Society and Politics|volume=14|issue=4

|pages=519–536|s2cid=153664809|doi=10.1080/13608740903503886|date=December 2009}}{{cite journal|author=Mónica Méndez Lago|year=2006

|title=Turning the Page: Crisis and Transformation of the Spanish Socialist Party|journal=South European Society and Politics|issue=3–4

|volume=11|page=422|doi=10.1080/13608740600856447|s2cid=154946660}} Her candidacy was backed by the faction called guerristas.{{cite book|author=Sebastain Balfour|title=The Politics of Contemporary Spain|year=2005|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=9780415356787}} She was a regional deputy at the Assembly of Madrid from 2003 to May 2015.

Fernández became a board member of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Spain in 2007. She was elected as a senator in 2008 and served in the IXth Legislature until 2011.{{cite web|title=IX Legislatura|website=senado.es|language=es |url=https://www.senado.es/web/composicionorganizacion/senadores/composicionsenado/fichasenador/index.html?legis=9&id1=14205|access-date=13 June 2023}} As of 2018 Fernández was serving as the president of the UNHCR in Spain.{{cite news|work=El Mundo

|title="España vive con miedo a la inmigración"|access-date=13 June 2023|date=31 May 2018|language=es|id={{ProQuest|2046965084}}

|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2046965084}} Then she was made one of its honorary members.