Madrid, (EFE) parity, becoming what the businesswoman Ana Bujaldón defines as “converted directives”.
Women have always been divided between those in favor of quotas for equalization with men at the top of companies and those who believed that this would only come with effort, Ana Bujaldón, president of the federation that represents 27,000 women managers and entrepreneurs (Fedepe).
“In recent times, we mostly see converted directives,” says Bujaldón, that is, those that, although they were not originally in favor of quotas, now join them if they “serve to accelerate” parity, since they see that “This doesn’t change.”
The recently approved Parity Law, which is in line with European regulations and establishes a female representation in the management and decision-making bodies of companies of at least 40%, has taken “too long to be approved” because, in his opinion, women have long had “merit and ability”.
And despite this and the recommendations for greater parity in the 2007 equality law and those published by the CNMV, the truth is that women only occupy 18% of management positions in companies, a rate that is rising, but only up to 34% in the case of the boards of directors of IBEX 35 companies.
“No one is going to give us anything. Along the way, what we women have done is leave our eyelashes, hours and hours of training, we have believed that we had the same opportunities, studying and making a great effort”, emphasizes Bujaldón, while wondering “what will there was (in for women to reach the leadership) before the quotas”.
Despite the benefits of the Parity Law, Bujaldón places the accent on SMEs, which are outside the norm and which are the creators of the majority of employment in Spain and calls for a change of mentality in society starting with the school.
In her opinion, it is necessary to eliminate gender biases, stereotypes and sexist attitudes in the entire educational space, offering female references in textbooks, but also encouraging the incorporation of women into science careers (STEM).
“We need more women at the head of technology companies, programming and designing the digital tools that are marking the transformation of society” and that have better salaries, he claims, since currently only 16% of professionals in the STEM area are women .
“Sectors that become feminized become precarious”
On the other hand, the president of the directives and executives assures that in recent times “we have been observing that the sectors that become feminized, become more precarious”, that is to say, that those, such as health, that are acquiring a greater female presence have suffered a devaluation of their wages.
And it is that employment among women continues to be marked by a certain precariousness and limited income, says Bujaldón, who also assesses the impact of the labor reform by converting part of the temporary employment, mostly female, to indefinite, although the discontinuous permanent contract “could distort the photo”.
However, it points to the 14% female unemployment, which places Spain at the head of the EU only behind Greece, as the main challenge to achieve equal employment opportunities for women.
Teleworking, opportunity to reconcile or professional brake
The popularization of remote work during the pandemic showed companies that they could telework and also be productive, says the president of Fedepe, who nevertheless is committed to a “hybrid” model, adapted to each reality and type of work.
In the case of women managers, there is a division in their point of view of teleworking, since half consider that it helps them to reconcile work and personal life and the other half believe that it jeopardizes their professional progression, according to the data offered within the framework of the III National Congress of Civil Society.
“If we stay at home it is easier to attend to domestic chores, but precisely for this reason we take care of many more things than our share”, Bujaldón makes clear.
Despite this, when women go out to work “many days it seems that we have already run a half marathon before arriving at the office,” laments Bujaldón, while calling for addressing co-responsibility and care sharing as a society.
Mary Vincent