Martínez cited the Basic Plumbing course, aimed at women, as an example while calling for the gender requirement to be removed. "Why should a basic plumbing course be closed to one sex?" the councillor asked. He believes separating participants "makes no sense" and called for vocational training to be open equally to men and women. The city's program also includes other workshops with "access restricted by sex," such as Basic Home Repairs for women and Introduction to Everyday Cooking for men.
The Vox councillor, however, viewed the part of the program aimed at sectors with employment demand positively and called for more resources to be allocated to this type of training. At the same time, he questioned courses on topics such as violence against women and sexual diversity, which he described as ideological content that, in his view, should not be funded with public money.
PP DEFENDS THE ROLE OF THESE COURSES
Marián Orós's response was unequivocal. The councillor said that Martínez "has not understood the philosophy behind the courses run by the Casa de la Mujer and the Equality Service" and insisted that they are preparatory activities, not professional courses directly intended to train people for a trade. "We do not provide vocational training; that is done by Imefez or different organizations," she said.
Orós explained that this preparatory component is aimed especially at women in professional fields where they are underrepresented, with the goal of challenging preconceived ideas about their ability to perform certain jobs. She cited plumbing and welding workshops as examples: "We break the preconceived notion of why a woman cannot be a plumber or a welder."
The councillor also defended the opposite approach in courses related to shared domestic responsibilities. "If you want, when you are in government, prepare courses for men so they can become beauticians," she replied, before noting that cooking and sewing activities aimed at men are available.
She said the workshops are in high demand and, in some cases, serve as a stepping stone for participants to continue with more formal training later. The current program also includes courses open to both men and women, such as Conflict Mediation, Violence Against Women and Sexual Diversity.
