María Luisa Segoviano

María Luisa Segoviano
Judge of the Constitutional Court of Spain
Incumbent
Assumed office
9 January 2023
Judge of the Supreme Court of Spain
In office
2006 – October 2022
Personal details
Born1950 (age 75–76)
Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain
EducationUniversity of Valladolid

María Luisa Segoviano Astaburuaga (born October 1950)[1] is a Spanish jurist expert on employment and labour law. Since 9 January 2023, she has been a judge of the Spanish Constitutional Court.[2][3] She was Justice of the Supreme Court from 2006 until October 2022. In November 2020 she became the first woman to chair a Section of the Supreme Court in its 200 years of history.[4][5]

Biography

Segoviano was born in October 1950 in Valladolid, Spain.[6][1] Her father was a magistrate and her mother had also studied law at a time when she was only one of two women in class. "They even had to leave the classroom when the professor of Criminal Law was going to explain issues such as rape, as this could not be discussed in front of ladies", Segoviano explained in an interview. That was the environment in which she and her six siblings grew.[7]

She has a Law Degree from the University of Valladolid,[8] and she received an extraordinary prize of the Lasalle-Boluda Foundation.[9]

She become secretary of employment courts in 1974, which she carried out in Barcelona, Palencia and Valladolid until October 1987,[10] when she became a member of the judiciary. Her first position was in a court of first instance of Bilbao, a time she remembers as «the toughest, difficult years in a complicated political environment».[6][4][7][11] She has subsequently occupied several positionsː chair of the Employment Chamber of the High Court of Castilla y León (1997-2006); Justice of the Supreme Court (2006); Chair of the Employment Chamber of the Supreme Court (2020), and she was the first woman to chair a Chamber of the Supreme Court.[8] She was also a member of the Junta Electoral Central from 2012 to 2017.[12]

On 20th October 2022 she retired when reaching the maximum legal age.[13][14]

Justice of the Constitutional Court

On 27th December 2022 she was unanimously chosen by the General Council of the Judicial Power to become Justice of the Constitutional Court,[15] together with César Tolosa.[16][17] She assumed her position on 9th January 2023.[18]

Academic career

She has been a professor of procedural law at the University of Valladolid (1999-2006),[12] and has also carried out training activities for the General Council of the Judicial Power.[19]

Commitment with equality

Some of her judgements have been key to implement the principle of gender equality. One of them required a stricter standard of justification for dismissing a pregnant woman or a woman working reduced hours for childcare, a decision that was essential to the 2019 legislative reform and greater protection for female workers. In another of its rulings, it equated Social Service, known as ‘female military service’ during the Franco era, with male Military Service for Social Security purposes, allowing women who had performed this compulsory service to retire with the same rights as men who had done military service. [7]

About being called a “feminist judge”, she has said "Sometimes, if they say it in a derogatory way, I don't admit it, but if by feminism we mean the staunch defence of equality, then of course I am".[7]

She belongs to several academies and associations.[8]

Publications

She has written several pieces, namely on procedural law, gender equality and insolvency, and articles on human rights, use of new technologies on dismissals, social security and procedural law.[12]

Some of her works include: Derecho Social de la Unión Europea, Principios esenciales de Derecho del Trabajo, El principio de igualdad de trato en materia salarial en el ámbito de las Administraciones Públicas, La responsabilidad en la Seguridad Social o Igualdad en el mundo del trabajo y en la empresa.[20]

Awards

  • Honorary Cross of the Order of San Raimundo de Peñafort.[12]
  • Puñetas de Oro.[21]

References

  1. 1 2 "BOE-A-2022-6454 Acuerdo de 7 de abril de 2022, de la Comisión Permanente del Consejo General del Poder Judicial, por el que se publica el Escalafón General de la Carrera Judicial, cerrado al 31 de marzo de 2022". www.boe.es. Retrieved 2025-08-03.
  2. ↑ Brunet, José María (2023-01-09). "Trevijano reivindica la intervención en las Cortes durante su despedida como presidente del Constitucional". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  3. ↑ "El Poder Judicial desbloquea el Constitucional al renunciar los progresistas a su candidato". abc (in Spanish). 2022-12-27. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
  4. 1 2 Rincón, Reyes (2022-12-28). "María Luisa Segoviano, la primera mujer en presidir una sala del Supremo". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-12-28.
  5. ↑ La Vanguardia (ed.). "María Luisa Segoviano, primera mujer en ocupar una presidencia de Sala en el Tribunal Supremo". Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  6. 1 2 "María Luisa Segovianoː "Ya es hora de que las mujeres despeguemos"". Mujer Hoy. Madrid. 14 November 2020. pp. 20–23.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "María Luisa, la jueza que protegió a las mujeres con sus sentencias, hace historia en el Tribunal Supremo". El Español (in Spanish). 2020-10-05. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
  8. 1 2 3 "Últimas noticias sobre María Luisa Segoviano". Confilegal (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-01-29.
  9. ↑ "C.G.P.J - Biografías". www.poderjudicial.es. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  10. ↑ "BOE-A-2022-6454 Acuerdo de 7 de abril de 2022, de la Comisión Permanente del Consejo General del Poder Judicial, por el que se publica el Escalafón General de la Carrera Judicial, cerrado al 31 de marzo de 2022". www.boe.es. Retrieved 2025-08-03.
  11. ↑ "María Luisa Segoviano, hablamos con la magistrada que ha hecho historia en el Tribunal Supremo: "Ya es hora de que las mujeres despeguemos"". Mujer Hoy (in Spanish). 2021-06-21. Retrieved 2022-01-29.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "María Luisa Segoviano Astaburuaga". Asociación de Juristas y Profesionales del Derecho “SAN RAIMUNDO DE PEÑAFORT” (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-01-29.
  13. ↑ "BOE-A-2022-17106 Acuerdo de 7 de julio de 2022, de la Comisión Permanente del Consejo General del Poder Judicial, por el que se declara la jubilación forzosa de la Magistrada doña María Luisa Segoviano Astaburuaga". boe.es. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
  14. ↑ Valdés, Blanca (2022-10-20). "Hoy se jubila María Luisa Segoviano, la única presidenta de Sala del Tribunal Supremo". Confilegal (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  15. ↑ "El Poder Judicial desbloquea el Constitucional al renunciar los progresistas a su candidato". abc (in Spanish). 2022-12-27. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
  16. ↑ EFE, Agencia (2022-12-27). "El CGPJ elige a César Tolosa y María Luisa Segoviano magistrados del TC". COPE (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  17. ↑ Parera, Beatriz (2022-12-27). "Luisa Segoviano, la magistrada acostumbrada a romper techos de cristal". elconfidencial.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  18. ↑ Brunet, José María (2023-01-09). "Trevijano reivindica la intervención en las Cortes durante su despedida como presidente del Constitucional". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  19. ↑ "Congreso Laboral 2022 de Lefebvre - 24 noviembre". Congresos Lefebvre (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-12-28.
  20. ↑ "Quiénes son César Tolosa y María Luisa Segoviano, los dos nuevos jueces del Constitucional". ElHuffPost (in Spanish). 2022-12-27. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
  21. ↑ Redacción (2021-07-07). "María Luisa Segoviano, Premio "Puñetas de Oro" de ACIJUR, y los "Señalamientos de Juicios para 2025", Premio "Vete a Hacer Puñetas"". ACIJUR (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-08-03.
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