Before reading the article put these words in the sentences to make definitions.

downtrodden / fined / liberate / machismo / split
a) If you try to____ someone, you want to set them free.
b) If you are ____, treated very badly by people with power and you no longer have the strength to fight back.
c) If you are_____ for breaking the law, you have to pay money.
d) _____ is a Spanish word for traditional male behaviour that emphasises the importance of being strong and aggressive.

e) If there areproblems that _____ a town, they divide the town into groups of people with very differ­ent opinions.

2 Look at the headline, introduc­tion, photo and caption. Answer the questions below. Who can be fined for going out on the streets of the Spanish town?

a) men

b) women

c) children

Who wants to liberate the women of the Spanish town?

a) a woman who runs a bar in the town centre

b) the male population of the town

c) the mayor of the town

What can the women of the town enjoy now?

a) a day without housework once a week

b) a regular evening out with female friends

c) a meal out with their husbands every weekend

Women's walkout splits Spanish town

Men fined for being on streets as mayor tries to liberate downtrodden women

Angelique Chrisafis in Torredonjimeno

Jose Antonio Gil, a toothless pen­sioner, was shuffling down a cobbled street on his evening stroll when he noticed he was being chased by four young women in suits. One attempted what looked like a citizen's arrest.

Mr Gil put his hands up in surren­der. "What have I done?" he asked. His crime was to step outdoors. It was 9.01pm in the sleepy Andalucian town of Torredonjimeno on the launch night earlier this month of a campaign that has polarised Spain.

Between 9pm and 2am on Thurs­day nights all men must stay indoors cleaning, while their so-called down­trodden wives take over the lapas bars, free from the bondage of Andalucian machismo.

Men daring to flout the rules faced on-the-spot fines of $5.80, and Mr Gil was the first to come a cropper, lie unzipped his leather purse and took out a 1 coin ($1.16). "It's all I've got," he said.

Torredonjimeno, with a popula­tion of 14,000 living off olive oil production, is not the obvious place tor a revolution of the sexes, and its mayor, Javier Checa, may not seem the most likely evangelist for women's rights.

A former ballroom dancing cham­pion and media baron, Mr Checa dreamt up the idea because, he says,, of his commitment to gender equality.

The town clearly has its gender issues. Though women account for more than half the population, only 10% of them work outside the home.

There were 142 reported domestic violence incidents last year, and people still talk about the local woman who was killed by her husband a few years ago.

In a neighbouring town three women were throttled, knifed or beaten to death by their husbands this year, including a 92-year-old woman murdered by her older husband.

Yet those suspicious of Mr Cheea's motives were appalled by the manner in which the fines were collected. Uniformed "stewardesses" in short skirls and high heels were patrolling the streets ready to pounce on any man who disobeyed the new rule, which may have been one of many reasons why the first weekly "women's night." quickly descended into pandemonium.

Most of the town's men refused to stay in and refused to pay the fines, even though they were sold to them as "voluntary donations of con­science" to raise money for domestic violence charities.

The women were- not too happy, either. They refused to be told which night they could or couldn't go out. Local feminists denounced the town hall for making "a mockery" of women's rights. Joined by commu­nists, union members and general leflwingers, they staged a 1,000-strong protest against the "anti-constitutional" repression of men.

Much of the furore centred on Mr Checa and his colourful past. The former editor of a Malaga daily news­paper, he found fame producing a soft-porn reality show for his Malaga TV station. With that track record, was he really a. feminist or was this an elaborate stunt?

'Our wives abuse us psychologically... they refuse to sleep with us'

At the launch of the scheme, attended by more than 40 journal­ists, the mayor swore that he believed in gender equality, promising that small actions by small towns could lead to bigger achievements.

Mr Checa, 47, swept aside 24 years of Communist-led rule when he came to power in May. He ran a women-friendly campaign for the centrist Andalucian party, producing bottles of olive oil with his face stamped on them. He came out as gay on the last night of his campaign in front of a concert hall full of traditional, retired agriculturalists who applauded.

Mr Checa, who was born in Torre­donjimeno but worked for Jacques Chirac's mayoral team in Paris, is also president of Torredonjimeno football club. One day every September, he makes the team play in kilts before an all-female audience. More than 2,000 women watched the last match.

"I've just finished reading Pablo Picasso's biography," he said. "People here worship him, but the man was a complete pig to women. He was a typ­ical Andalucian macho. We have to look at him as a person. Andalucia is full of pigs. It's scandalous and I have now succeeded in forcing a debate."

In the square, it didn't look that clear. Fernando Cortes, 35, a clothing salesman who refused to pay the fine, said: "Obviously you must respect your wife, but the brains in a relationship belong to the man, because God made it that way. Women do have power in the home: they shop, they buy their husband's clothes and choose what he will wear each day."

There were two sides of the domes­tic violence coin, said a father of two. "People talk about domestic violence against women, but we suffer serious psychological abuse from our women. Our wives abuse us psycho­logically in the bedroom. They won't sleep with us, so we have to go to prostitutes."

Juani Marchal, a middle-aged cleaner, came out to have a beer with female friends, but only after leaving enough food out for her husband. "He's at home watching football, which is what he does every day any­way," she said.

Mrs Marchal, like most other women in the street, said she went out when she felt like it, drank with men and didn't need to be dictated to about what night was suitable to go out. "It's all a bit of silliness isn't it?"

Across town crowds of men and women were chanting "freedom for both sexes".

Mar'a Dolores Gonzalez, the femin­ist coordinator of the United Left party, which lost the mayoral elec­tions, said: "Mr Checa is painting a picture of a very backward town. We are not backward — we have been fighting for equality but not against men. This mayor has a cult-like per­sonality. People here haven't been so polarised over one man since the [Franco] dictatorship."

If support for Mr Cheea's gender initiative has been mixed, his next proposed stunt is likely to keep the town talking about him. He wants to ban TV on the first day of every month from November by pulling the plug on the town's aerial.

WHILE READING

1 Read the first six paragraphs of the article down to the line "'It's all I've got,'he said." Decide if these sentences are true (T) or false (F).

a) Mr. Gil is a young man who lives in the Spanish town of Torredonjimeno.

b) Four policewomen arrested Mr Gil in the street.

c) Mr. Gil should have stayed at home after 9pm.

d) On Thursday nights all the men must stay at home and clean.

e) If men are found outside on Thursday nights, they must pay an immediate fine of $5.80.

f) Mr. Gil paid the whole fine.

2 Read the next paragraphs down to the line "... against the 'anti-constitutional' represen tation of men." Choose the cor­rect word in the sentences below.

a) The town of Torredonjimeno is a likely / unlikely place for a revolution of the sexes.

b) The mayor is an unusual / a typical

campaigner for women's rights.

c) Women are a minority / majority in the town.

d) Last year there were 142 incidents of violence on the street / in thehome.

e) In a local town three women were

injured / killed by their husbands.

f) Some people didn't like the way the fines were collected /advertised.

g) The first women's night was_/ _ wasn't completely successful.

h) Most of the town's men agreedwith / rejected the idea of staying at home.

i) Feminists were for / against the mayor's new ideas.

3 Read the next paragraphs of the article down to the line "... I have now succeeded in forcing a debate." Put yes (Y) or no (N) next to these sentences about the mayor, Javier Checa.

Javier Checa...

a) used to be the editor of a newspaper.

b) became famous for producing serious TV programmes.

c) says that he believes in equality between men and women.

d) is a Communist party supporter.

e) is a gay man.

f) has spent all his life in Torredonjimeno.

g) is president of the town's football club.

h) thinks the region of Andalucia is full of macho men.

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