“Gender parity is a reality in the boards of directors of the large Spanish companies of the Ibex 35, only one female director is missing to meet the objective of 40% female representation required by European standards.” With these words, IESE professor Nuria Chinchilla presented the latest report on women on boards of directors that this university has been preparing together with the consulting firm Atrevia for more than 12 years.
The pride was palpable in the voice of Chinchilla, who was a pioneer in identifying the presence of women in companies and who recalled that the first woman to have a presence in those management bodies joined in 2002. “It has taken us 20 years to to achieve it, it seems like a lot but it is not that much,” says the IESE professor.
The great challenge still focuses on executive positions in which they barely represent 3.69%, a figure higher than that of 2022, which fell to 2.82%, but has not yet reached 3.98% again. of 2021.
The photograph of the Ibex 35 in terms of gender in 2023 has resulted in 176 female directors compared to 266 men out of a total of 442 available seats. This last point is notable because in these 20 years not only have more women joined, but the volume of the councils has been reduced and therefore the number of seats to be occupied.
The trend is also positive in the total of 115 companies listed in the general index of the Spanish stock market, although here the journey to reach parity still has two years left, according to the estimates of the authors of the study.
Specifically, of the 1,180 seats available on the boards of directors of listed Spanish companies, 34.49% (407) are occupied by women.
It should be noted, unfortunately, that there are still six listed companies whose management bodies do not have any female directors. They are Berkeley Energía, Borges Bain, Nextil, Nyesa, Pescanova and Urbas. “It is necessary to name them so that they feel that they are going against the grain. The rest of the companies know that this is no longer a question of reputation. It is a reality that favors the company,” Chinchilla insists.
In any case, as of next June, failing to comply with these parity criteria will no longer be a standard of good corporate governance recommended by the CNMV, but will become a legal requirement that may result in a fine for the Ibex 35 (something that will not be necessary) and one year later for the rest of the listed companies. There is still time to catch up.
The leading sector in parity continues to be oil and energy with 39.85% female representation on its boards of directors and an average of 4.08 women per company. This is followed by consumer services, which experiences the largest increase in gender balance percentages, and financial services, with a parity of 39.19% and 38.93%, respectively.
On the other hand, real estate services are once again the sector with the lowest percentage of women on their boards of directors, although female representation continues to gain weight, going from 25.76% to 27.41%.
