Their names are Fe Ransanz, Francisca Eguía, Carmen León, Julia Miranda, Julia de la Prida, Carmen León, Paloma Sánchez and Manuela Gómez but everyone knows them as the Leaders of Villaverde. These eight women have been fighting against machismo with a powerful weapon: the microphones of a community radio station. They undertook the project ‘With a greater voice’ and sat down in the studio with numerous women who count, because perhaps at other times in their lives they were not heard.

“Enough that already When we were young they didn’t let us open our mouths“, Juli denounces. He does it before our microphone and that of the neighborhood radio station that today, 8Mhas come out to the square in the Madrid district of Villaverde Bajo.

The radio that empowers

Their voices They are more necessary than ever and they hope they inspire new generations. “Although we have made a lot of progress, men do not realize that we have the same rights” argues Manuela. They do not understand the generation gap and have become off-road journalists They even write their own scripts and scripts. “What the radio does with us is empower uswomen see the example of those of us who have been giving way to others because feminism is felt, it is lived,” says Manuela excitedly. Every Monday they spread that egalitarian message in his radio program that crosses generations and borders. “In the villages, for example, it is more difficult for women to show their faces and go out; and I I feel very proud that I have taken them out into the streets.“Juli acknowledges.

They have had to break with gender stereotypes that They especially imprison older women. They encourage them to empower themselves with slogans like this: ‘more dust on the furniture and less on the brain“.

They are a feminist reference and in their program they show that they can raise their voices and talk about all kinds of topics, even the most taboo ones, such as sex. They spoke about this to our colleagues at El Intermedio in 2019, when they commented that they want to contribute to the awareness that they did not have. “Mothers couldn’t talk to us about sex because most of them didn’t know“crites Faith.

Leaders with high fidelity

In his meeting with the neighbors we witness that They are very loved. Many listeners highlight the important work they do: “They could be our own mothers and perhaps they have not dared to take this step of speaking on the radio“, comments Elena, one of their fans. They also highlight that they have managed to tune in to that feminist call that they promote on the airwaves “which has opened their antennas” as commented by another listener who claims that she listens to them every Monday.

And it is that they put their life path at the service of all women, because they have eagerly witnessed the advances experienced by women in recent decades. “We have been very busy, because we have suffered more, so highlight the violence that women suffer“Manuela claims.

“We are older and that is why we are leaders and empowered“exclaims Mari Carmen proudly. At this point in the article you will have noticed that we have not mentioned how many candles they blow. We have done it on purpose, because they have shown us with their career that feminism does not understand ages. Their contribution to Equality between men and women is one of the projects highlighted by ‘Hablando en plata’, Atresmedia’s initiative to focus on the important contribution that older people make to our society.