A little over a week ago I posted on LinkedIn a clipping from the newspaper Expansión, which featured 12 businessmen/executives giving their opinion on the new state budget. I found it truly shocking that the newspaper in question hadn't found a single businesswoman, female executive, professor or consultant... the report was crying out to heaven. Please, had no one noticed that the perspective of the other 50% of society was missing? The worst part of all is that the Director of the newspaper Expansión is not a male Director, she is a female DirectOR, which shocks me even more.
The post was the following
The good news is that my post went viral; it has received almost 170,000 views, 1,537 likes and 157 comments. The controversy was served.... here's the proof -->
This same newspaper published a very interesting article this weekend: "Why do women earn less than men?", according to Montse Mateos; the small number of female executives and the lack of measures for workplace flexibility are some of the reasons attributed to this pay gap.
If the experts at Expansión will allow me, there is one variable that carries a lot of weight in the situation of the pay gap: maternity. They mention it on tiptoe, but there still exists the conviction that "ooh... if she has children she surely won't give it her all, she'll want work-life balance... a man is much better, since of course he won't take maternity leave"... but maybe that super executive breaks a leg skiing, or maybe he gets a kidney stone attack... or, fooling around with friends, a quad bike falls on top of him and he's off for 6 months! Yes, yes.... these cases are real.. maybe now with "paternity leave" some will dare to ask for it, because no matter how many children you have, how many times is it going to happen to you; 1, 3, 5 at the very most?? Let's not forget that we need children! Spain is the country in Europe with the lowest fertility rate, we have 1.34 children.... you don't need a master's in finance to foresee that we're going to have problems collecting our pensions.
In the article they highlighted the obstacles to gender balance... (in my opinion we're missing one.... maternity, what a drag....)
Expansión, February 2, 2019
The important thing: we are at a moment when something "is brewing", that's clear, but the problem is that it is not yet becoming effective: much ado about nothing, as they would say...
Now then, does this situation have a solution? Yes, it does, and it's very simple: Apply the quota law, or in other words, be feminists until the imbalance is balanced out...
According to Patricia Cauqui, head of the "Esade Gender Monitor 2018", the ideal would be for companies to act out of their own conviction and set themselves objectives so that women reach management positions, but if you weigh the pros and cons, on a temporary basis it may be the best alternative.
Expansión, February 2
An example of success in applying the quota law; we have it very close by... in 2008 the proportion of female executives in France was 8%, today it is 44%. What did they do? Apply the quota law, easy huh! :)
The next question would be: do we really know what the word "feminism" means?
Let's recall what "feminism" means according to the Royal Spanish Academy:
feminism
Royal Spanish Academy (RAE)
From the Fr. féminisme, and this from the Lat. femĭna 'woman' and the Fr. -isme '-ism'.
1. m. The principle of equal rights for women and men.
2. m. A movement that fights for the effective realization in all spheres of feminism.
The RAE makes it clear: feminism is nothing more and nothing less than the pursuit of "equality".
According to the data presented at the 2016 World Economic Forum, at the current rate, economic equality between the sexes will not arrive until 2186.
This means that our great-granddaughters will still be arguing about the same thing... equality.
This has only one solution: be a feminist.
Do we really know what the word feminism means? Let's start by recalling the RAE's definition:
Why am I a feminist?
I have the great fortune of having as a Mentor one of the professionals I admire most in the world: Eugenia Bieto, former Director General of ESADE Business School until last year. Eugenia was my Project Director when I was taking the eMBA at ESADE in 2007. Back then I was already fascinated by her knowledge and her style, but above all I was struck by how she moved within such a masculine environment; ESADE is a member of the International Association of Jesuit Business Schools (IAJBS). Years later she was appointed Director General and held that position for 8 years.
2007: When I took the ESADE Business School eMBA, only 20% of the participants were women, which struck me as very few. I asked the Program Director what the reason was for the low participation of women and he answered me "well, the average age is 30 and many are right in the middle of raising children". Shortly after I turned up pregnant, I had my first child during the first year of the MBA and nothing happened to me....
2015: This is when I begin the PDG at IESE Business School. I decide it's time to take another step in my career, and the proportion of women in my 2015 PDG class was... wait for it... 4.4%, yes, 4.4%, I'll say it again, 4.4%, unbelievable... in the 21st century, no less. We were exactly 2 participants in a class of 45 people, hardly anything... I ask the usual question of the Program Director: how can it be that we are 2 women in a class of 45? He answers me "well, it's not the norm... normally there are about 8/10, that is, between 15 and 20%". How does that leave you?
Women and business
In 1976 the company IBM set out to ensure that 5% of its workforce were female graduates. It turned out the year was ending and they hadn't been able to meet the quota, so what did they do then? They started recruiting female graduates like crazy in order to meet the quota, and more than one woman would think "wow, what a deal, just for being a woman I go straight to IBM". But careful: the fact that personnel selection is tilted toward one side of the scale in order to offset the imbalance does not mean that once you're an employee they won't demand the same of you as everyone else, and with it there's a natural selection of the "good ones". The result of IBM's policy more than 40 years ago:
IBM is the best example of how positive the application of quotas can be on a temporary basis, out of the need to adjust an imbalance.
Fortunately, great ambassadors such as Ana Botín, chair of Banco Santander, have openly declared themselves feminists. I'm glad that the most powerful and influential women dare to raise their voices and aren't afraid of being labeled... feminists? Funny, isn't it :)
There is a lot of female talent, but we must all make an effort to give it a voice. Expansión probably has its reference sources without distinguishing by gender, and right now we women make up only 22% of those holding executive positions in Spain, which means we need a strong "feminist" push in order to balance the scales so that those 22% have enough visibility. There are methods to achieve it.
One brilliant initiative is the group created in Galicia:
'Referentes Galegas', a directory that will give visibility to the women professionals of Galicia among the new generations
The 'Referentes Galegas' directory has been publicly launched as a tool to "make visible and bring awareness to" the work of "reference" women professionals among the new generations and to give them a presence in the media, on panels and in debate circles.
Europa Press, Dec 2018
I can say with pride that, as of today, I am already a "referente galega". That said... you do have to have some connection with Galicia, even if you don't work there.
The "Referentes Galegas" initiative could well be adopted by the newspaper Expansión and, in addition to talking about the pay gap, which is all very well, it could give us a voice at a higher percentage than our actual presence.
In short, something is brewing, but without everyone's conviction and at the organic pace we're going, it will take us 170 years to reach something close to parity.
Without the incorporation of women into the labor market, Spanish GDP in 2015 would have been 18 percent lower
There is a positive correlation between the presence of women in leadership positions and financial and organizational performance
For example, companies with more than three women on the board scored seven points higher than the rest in the category of work environment and values, and five points higher in coordination and control.
Women Matter 2017
A way forward for Spain. Mc Kinsey
And you'll say, well, but what about me... what can I do? I don't count for anything... yes, of course you count, we all count; as a father, as a mother, as a male executive, as a female executive, as a future leader... so fight, but fight like a girl. Like a girl? Yes, like a girl, because girls endure more, fight better, seek balance, avoid dangerous situations and lead with affection. They don't lead numbers, they lead people (I'm not the one saying it, biology says it). :)
so if you want to contribute something:
FIGHT, BUT DO IT LIKE A GIRL. (valid for men and women) :)
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