Organisers of the 19th annual Carrera de la Mujer race in Madrid have come under fire for offering ‘sexist’ prizes to female runners. Winners of the race were presented with kitchen appliances and low-fat food products, sparking criticism from politicians and social media users around the world.
The controversy began after the race, which involves over 30,000 runners, took place on Mother’s Day, with Serbian Ivana Zagorac taking first place in a time of 24 minutes and 7 seconds. The Spanish Ministry of Equality was quick to criticise the gifts, describing them as ‘sexist.’ Spain’s secretary of state for equality, Rodriguez Pam, tweeted her disapproval of the prizes, stating: ‘If you win: housewife and if not at least you’ll lose weight.’
However, it was the prizes given to the winners that caused outrage, with the race’s sponsors donating a Thermomix kitchen robot to the first-place winner and low-fat food products to other runners.
Politician Alejandra Jacinto also chimed in on the controversy. ‘Machista [male chauvinism] is that gifts to women have to do with housework,’ she said. ‘Public policies must serve to prevent women from being the ones who do these tasks mostly.’
‘We accept the criticism, we reiterate our apologies if anyone has been offended, and we promise to take measures necessary to avoid this controversy in the future,’ the statement read.
Despite the outcry, the race’s organisers initially defended the gifts, claiming that they were intended to promote healthy nutritional habits among female athletes. However, they later issued a statement apologising for any offense caused, stating that they had not considered the potential sexist implications of the prizes.
The race is a charitable event aimed at raising funds for the Spanish Association Against Cancer and other organizations that support women’s causes. The organisers emphasised that they have always been ‘absolutely aware of the fight for the eradication of any sexist stereotype’ and that they carry out ‘an almost daily self-censorship exercise to prevent negative comments.
Despite this, the incident has once again highlighted the issue of sexism in sport in Spain, with the Madrid Open tennis tournament also coming under fire for similar incidents of misogyny.
Both men’s and women’s players celebrated their birthdays during the tournament, but men’s star Carlos Alcaraz was presented with a multi-tier gold-trimmed cake, while women’s player Aryna Sabalenka was given a far more modest single-tier cake.
‘We regret that a test in which 32,000 women have participated, which has been ‘promoting healthy lifestyle habits and sport among women for 19 years, which fights against cancer and claiming the role of women in sport and in society in general, is involved in this controversy that we do not share,’ the statement said.
