OVER 30 years since Spain first allowed women to join its Armed Forces, a female soldier has been promoted to General for the first time in the country's history.
Patricia Ortega, 56, from Madrid, was due to have her promotion confirmed today (Friday) when defence leader Margarita Robles proposed it in the scheduled Council of Ministers.
The Madrid Polytechnic agricultural engineering graduate completed her training and exams in March to become a General, but this never guarantees the position, since only about one in three who pass go on to achieve the promotion.
Patricia started at Zaragoza General Military Academy in 1988, a year after finishing university and the first year when women were allowed to enlist.
She continued her training at the Armed Forces High Polytechnic School, specialising in electrical and construction engineering, after passing out from Zaragoza.
The General-to-be is currently based at the National Technical Aerospace Institute, having risen through the ranks as Lieutenant Colonel and then Colonel.
Daughter, granddaughter and sister of soldiers, married with three children, Ortega says she had always wanted to follow in her family's footsteps and pursue a 'public service vocation'.
But she says she has never found her career path any more difficult because of being a woman.
“I'm a soldier, independently of my sex and, therefore, I have left behind, sacrificed and given up the same as all my other colleagues, male and female,” she says.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com