Runoff election: What are Massa and Milei's proposals on gender and diversity?
Heading into the runoff election, what are the main proposals of Sergio Massa (Union for the Fatherland) and Javier Milei (Freedom Advances) on gender and diversity?
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Argentina will hold a presidential runoff election on November 19. The second round will be between the two candidates who received the most votes in the October 22 election: Sergio Massa and Javier Milei. With 35.68 percent of the vote, Massa, of the Union for the Fatherland party, was the frontrunner in the first round. Milei, of the Freedom Advances party, followed with 29.98 percent.
Among the other candidates, Patricia Bullrich, of Juntos por el Cambio, obtained 23.83 percent of the votes. Juan Schiaretti, of Hacemos por Nuestro País, received 6.78 percent. And Myriam Bregman, of the Frente de Izquierda y de Trabajadores, received 2.70 percent. We discuss their platforms here .
Thus, Massa and Milei will compete to see who will be the president who takes office on December 10, the 40th anniversary of democracy. What are the main proposals that the Union for Homeland and Liberty Advances coalition is promoting regarding gender and diversity policies? We'll tell you in this article.
Sergio Massa ( Union for the Fatherland)
In his electoral platform , the Minister of Economy and presidential candidate for Union for the Fatherland, Sergio Massa, called for building “a broad national agreement and a new majority” because “no one is safe alone.” This agreement included everyone from political forces and universities to students, young people, and diverse groups.
Regarding gender policies, the candidate did not directly address the LGBTQ+ community. He called for “implementing a comprehensive care policy” and focused on the creation of childcare centers. He also urged people to “ fight for something that is guaranteed by the National Constitution but that the labor market does not respect : equal pay for equal work.” In this regard, he asserted: “ We must end the 23% wage gap where women earn less than men.”
This Sunday, in his speech at the Union for the Fatherland headquarters in the Art Media Complex in Chacarita, the candidate who garnered the most votes in the general election made no mention of sexual diversity, but he did address women. In this regard, he affirmed that he would implement an Argentine development project "focusing on the reality of those mothers who often raise their children alone and need a present yet efficient State."
On other occasions, Massa called for “defending the pension moratorium” because “7 out of 10 beneficiaries are women, victims of a labor market that excluded them, who were unable to contribute because they dedicated themselves to caregiving.” The candidate Massa made these remarks at the closing of a meeting of women and diverse groups organized by Unión por la Patria (Union for the Fatherland) held in Merlo in July. There he also stated: “We are here to call on women to defend the idea that development must be inclusive, and that this inclusion presupposes starting from equal opportunities and rights .
In 2011, his vice-presidential candidate, Agustín Rossi, was the leader of the Front for Victory bloc. When the Gender Identity Law was voted on in the Chamber of Deputies, he spoke directly to LGBTQ+ activists and thanked them: “I want to acknowledge all the organizations of the gay, trans, and lesbian community. You did so much for the equal marriage law, and knowing you, I know that from that very day you were determined to achieve this gender identity law, on which we have taken an important step today.”.
Javier Milei ( Freedom Advances )
This Sunday, presidential candidate Javier Milei, who came in second in the vote count, addressed supporters gathered at the Libertador Hotel : “We are not here to take away rights, we are here to end privileges.” However, the proposals of La Libertad Avanza (LLA) directly target hard-won rights such as comprehensive sex education, legal abortion, and same-sex marriage.
's platform , La Libertad Avanza (LLA), has repeatedly proposed eliminating mandatory Comprehensive Sex Education at all levels of schooling. Its health proposals also include "protecting the child from conception."
This aligns with statements made to the media by both Milei and his vice-presidential candidate, Victoria Villarruel. In an interview with Alejandro Fantino on the program on Neura Media , the presidential candidate said he was “against” abortion because “it is against the right to life.” He warned that he would “at least hold a plebiscite” regarding the law on voluntary termination of pregnancy, passed in 2020. In an interview with Marcelo Bonelli on Todo Noticias, Milei stated that both he and Villarruel identify as “pro-life.” He added, “It is murder in the mother’s womb.”
For his part, Villarruel said during the vice-presidential candidates' debate that "Comprehensive Sex Education must be based on biological content." He also positioned himself against same-sex marriage in an interview with Luis Novaresio. In it, he said that unions between people of the same sex were already "guaranteed with civil unions." The candidate for mayor of Buenos Aires, Ramiro Marra, also joined in the attacks against the LGBT+ community. In a tweet, he listed a series of proposals, including: "fewer LGBT events in cultural centers."
At the presentation of his book, *The Libertarian Path* , Milei asserted that if elected president, he would eliminate the Ministry of Women, Gender, and Diversity . "I'm not going to be apologizing for having a penis. I have no reason to be ashamed of being a white, blond, blue-eyed man. I'm not going to concede anything to cultural Marxism. With this, they know that the Ministry of Women... well, you know, because the only equality that matters is equality before the law," he said.
Regarding the privileges of certain sectors, their proposals on gender issues, far from attacking them, seek to legalize them. In this sense, Lilia Lemoine, the LLA national deputy elected this Sunday, stated on the program "Una Hora y Gracias" on Neura Media that her first bill will aim to allow men to renounce paternity. This is a problem that already exists in the country, which is why various sectors are demanding compliance with child support payments.
However, with this bill, Lemoine seeks to regulate this situation, which would give men 15 days to decide whether or not they will take responsibility for their offspring. "Since women have the privilege of being able to kill their children and renounce motherhood, then why should men be legally obligated to support a child?" the congresswoman said when speaking about her bill.
Finally, the presidential candidate also positioned himself against social justice . After learning the results of the primary elections, he told the audience gathered at his campaign headquarters: “We are facing the end of the elite model, that model based on the atrocity that says where there is a need, a right is born. But it forgets that someone has to pay for that right, the ultimate expression of which is that aberration called social justice.”
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