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| Spanish politician claims he had to hold back in Europe debate with woman | Spanish politician claims he had to hold back in Europe debate with woman |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| With a week to go until the European elections, Spain's top People's party candidate is at the centre of a sexism row after saying he felt forced to hold back in a debate because his opponent was female. | |
| Asked during a TV interview to rate his performance in Thursday's candidates' debate, the PP's Miguel Arias Cañete said he could not give himself a perfect score because he had not been able to be himself against Socialist Elena Valenciano. | |
| "A debate between a man and woman is very complicated," he told Antena 3, "because if you abuse your intellectual superiority, or whatever it may be, you end up looking like a machista [male chauvinist] who is cornering a defenceless woman." | "A debate between a man and woman is very complicated," he told Antena 3, "because if you abuse your intellectual superiority, or whatever it may be, you end up looking like a machista [male chauvinist] who is cornering a defenceless woman." |
| When pushed by the female interviewer to explain his comments, he continued. "If your interventions make you seem superior, it could be considered machista." | When pushed by the female interviewer to explain his comments, he continued. "If your interventions make you seem superior, it could be considered machista." |
| If only he had been able to debate the Socialist leader, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, he lamented, against whom "you can say all sorts of outrageous things, but with a woman it's perceived in another way. It's the truth." | |
| Social media was quickly flooded with reactions to his comments, some attacking the former agricultural minister and others pointing out that the row detracted from analysis of the content of the debate, which focused on unemployment and austerity measures. | |
| Valenciano quickly responded with a tweet saying: "So then what? What do we do? We leave women out of the debate?" Rubalcaba also chimed in, tweeting: "Cañete: the machismo of a sore loser." | |
| Others rushed to Cañete's defence. The PP's Alicia Sánchez-Camacho chastised reporters for paying more attention to personal opinions than what he had said in the debate, while Madrid's mayor, Ana Botella, warned "not to blow things out of proportion. We all make lots of statements, and some are more appropriate than others." | |
| Latest polls by Metroscopia for El País show the PP has the edge over the Socialists heading into the 25 May elections. The electoral snapshot, however, was taken before Thursday's debate and Cañete's remarks. | Latest polls by Metroscopia for El País show the PP has the edge over the Socialists heading into the 25 May elections. The electoral snapshot, however, was taken before Thursday's debate and Cañete's remarks. |