Carmen Calvo

María del Carmen Calvo Poyato (born 9 June 1957) is a Spanish politician and author who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Spain and Minister of the Presidency from 2018 to 2021.

Born and raised in Cabra, Spain, she attended the University of Seville and the University of Córdoba; she holds a doctorate in constitutional law from the latter institution.

At the university, she was Secretary General and vice-dean of the Faculty of Law between 1990 and 1994.

Calvo entered politics in the 1990s, when she was appointed Counselor of the Economic and Social Council of Córdoba between 1994 and 1996.

From 1992 to 1996 she was secretary of the Andalusian Interuniversity Institute of Criminology.

She was Regional Minister of Culture of Andalusia between 1996 and 2004.

In April 1996, Calvo was appointed Minister of Culture of the Regional Government of Andalusia under the presidency of Manuel Chaves.

She was in office between her appointment in 1996 until her appointment as Culture Minister of the Government of Spain.

She joined the Socialist Workers' Party in 1999.

Having joined the Socialist Workers' Party in 1999, she was elected MP for Córdoba in the Parliament of Andalusia in 2000.

During her eight-years-term as Regional Minister of Culture, Calvo inaugurated the Museo Picasso Málaga of contemporary art in 2003, she negotiated the Andalusian Pact for the Book —a pact for supporting and promoting of reading— and she carried out important investments to reform churches, libraries and theatres —like Maestranza Theatre of Seville— as well as developing the Quality Plan for the Museums of Andalusia —which included the enlargement of the Archelogic Museum of Córdoba.

She also served between 2004 and 2007 as Minister of Culture in the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

In 2004 Calvo debuted in the big screen with director José Luis García Sánchez with a short role in the movie María Querida.

In January 2004, she made the leap to national politics when the Secretary-General of the Socialist Workers' Party, Zapatero, created a "committee of notables" to advise him on his run to the premiership and appointed her a member of that committee.

In the Spanish general election in March 2004, she was elected to the Congress of Deputies, representing Córdoba.

She was subsequently appointed Minister of Culture in April by the new Prime Minister of Spain, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

As Minister of Culture, Calvo was an outspoken opponent of copyright piracy, and in 2005 her department spent around one million euros on a campaign to educate the public about the importance of intellectual property.

However, she was criticised by music industry officials for her statement that intellectual property is "not an absolute right".

Her decision to transfer documents from the General Archive of the Spanish Civil War to the Autonomous community of Catalonia was controversial.

Because of the bad results of the previous year in the Spanish cinema, in 2007 Calvo presented a draft law that forces the movie theaters to shown European films (at least a 25%).

This was rejected by most of the film industry and they went to strike on 18 June 2007, a strike followed by a 93% of the industry.

Minister Calvo was replaced in July 2007 and her successor approved this law with big modifications in late 2007.

She was one of the ministers with worst approval ratings and was replaced in July 2007 by César Antonio Molina.

After leaving the Ministry, Calvo was elected First Vice President of the Congress of Deputies, a position she held until the end of the congressional session.

In the 2008 general election, Calvo was re-elected MP for Córdoba and was appointed Chair of the Congress Committee on Equality, as well as becoming a member of the Congress Committee on Defence and Committee on Comprehensive Disability Policies.

She also presided over two subcommittees, one on abortion and other about gender violence.

Calvo did not run for re-election in the 2011 general election due to her disagreement with the choice to put Rosa Aguilar at the top of the electoral list in Córdoba.

She returned to her post as professor of constitutional law in the University of Córdoba.

From June 2017 to October 2021, she served as Secretary of Equality of the Socialist Party.

She has published several books about feminism and gender equality.

Calvo's primary studies were carried out at a Catholic school and her high school studies at the Aguilar and Eslava High School in the province of Córdoba.

She studied law at the University of Seville and got her doctorate in constitutional law in the University of Córdoba.

Calvo took a leave of absence from being professor of constitutional law at the University of Córdoba.

She later gained the confidence of Secretary-General of the Socialist Party Pedro Sánchez and in 2017 he appointed her Secretary for Equality of the Socialist Workers' Party.

On 5 June 2018 it was announced that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez would appoint Calvo as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Presidency, Relations with the Cortes and Equality.

This was the first time that the Ministry of the Presidency also took the equality portfolio.

She was sworn in before the King at Palace of Zarzuela on 7 June 2018.

During her term, Calvo focused on gender-based violence, especially in the wake of the La Manada rape case.

In this so-called "wolf pack" case in which a group of men attacked an 18 year old woman, the Provincial Court of Navarre convicted the men of sexual abuse —nine years in prison— and not for sexual assault or rape —that would mean at least 20 years.

The Court's decision provoked widespread social unrest.