Since her appointment, Rosa Dávila has highlighted the historic milestone of being the first woman to preside over the Cabildo de Tenerife. This fact, in itself, represents a breaking of symbolic barriers in a traditionally male-dominated sphere, an achievement that deserves recognition.
However, the analysis of her mandate goes beyond symbolism. Political history remembers pioneers not only for reaching a position but for the transformative impact of their management. Examples such as Clara Campoamor, Carme Chacón, and María Teresa Fernández de la Vega demonstrate that the true legacy lies in paving the way for other women and promoting a political agenda centered on equality.
In the Canary Islands, female leadership in the cabildos is not new. Women like Sebastiana Perera and María Dolores Corujo in Lanzarote, María Eugenia Márquez in Gran Canaria, Guadalupe González Taño and Nieves Lady Barreto in La Palma, Belén Allende in El Hierro, and Lola García in Fuerteventura, have already held island presidencies, building a path of effort and leadership.
Rosa Dávila's case, however, presents specific characteristics. At the beginning of her term, the three vice-presidencies of the Cabildo were occupied by men. Only after a motion by the PSOE was this composition corrected, appointing women to the fourth and fifth vice-presidencies. This detail suggests that the feminization of the power structure was not an initial priority.
Furthermore, the Equality and Diversity area, which previously had a delegated councilor, has been relegated to an Island Directorate, an organically inferior position. This implies a loss of political rank and a technification of the area, reducing its centrality on the Cabildo's agenda.
Equality policies under her management have been characterized by events and sponsorships, actions more oriented towards media impact than addressing in depth the problems of inequality, precariousness, and violence affecting many women. The contradiction is accentuated by governing with the Partido Popular, which has questioned equality laws and has made agreements with Vox, a party that has also challenged these policies.
This context has led to the normalization of agreements with Vox in key municipalities of Tenerife, such as Arona and Granadilla de Abona, with the support of the leadership of Coalición Canaria, for which Rosa Dávila is the island's representative. The balance, therefore, presents the irony that the legacy of her political era could be a climate where organized machismo finds fewer barriers to access power.
