The first law that the Sánchez Government sends to Congress is a “declaration of intentions”, according to the Government’s spokesperson minister, Pilar Alegría. It is the law of equal representation of women and men in decision-making bodies to guarantee parity in politics, administration and business, expanding its scope to constitutional bodies and bodies of constitutional relevance. This text was already approved in May, but it declined with the 23-J elections. Now, the Sánchez Government has put the text in the hands of Equality, with a socialist minister (Ana Redondo), while a few months ago it put it under the direction of the Minister of Economy. Another declaration of intent.
The standard aims to meet the objective of the United Nations 2030 Agenda based on guaranteeing women and girls “the same opportunities as men and boys in employment, leadership and decision-making at all levels.” . And it transposes Directive (EU) 2022/2381 of the European Parliament and of the Council of November 23, 2022 on a better gender balance among directors of listed companies and related measures, although it goes further by incorporating the objectives of parity and balanced participation, guaranteeing that people of each sex do not exceed 60% nor are they less than 40%, to the constitutional bodies and bodies of constitutional relevance, such as the Constitutional Court, the Council of State, the Fiscal Council, the Court of Accounts and the General Council of the Judiciary.
The new norm seeks to guarantee the effective representation of women in the political sphere. To this end, it modifies the electoral legislation in order to establish the mandatory nature of zipper lists (candidacies made up of people of both sexes ordered alternatively) in the elections of members of the Congress, Senate, European Parliament, autonomous assemblies, municipalities , island councils and island councils. The Electoral Board will ensure compliance.
In the field of the General Administration of the State, the superior and managerial bodies (for example, the secretaries of State, the undersecretaries and the general directorates) of each ministry must also incorporate this principle in the next five years. The obligation will extend to all state public sector entities.
Furthermore, the draft law incorporates the aforementioned principle of balanced representation in different areas of civil society, especially business. Currently, the presence of women on the boards of directors of listed companies in Spain stands at 32% and does not reach 22% in the cases of senior management.
However, with the new rule, the boards of directors of listed companies and public interest entities that have more than 250 employees and a turnover of more than 50 million euros must have a composition in accordance with this principle, so that the number of women cannot be less than 40% of the total members of the council. To achieve this, the selection processes must be adapted to ensure compliance with this provision, and in the event of a tie between several candidates, the one of the least represented sex on the council must be chosen. They will have until June 2026.
In both types of companies, the obligation is established to ensure that senior management also complies with this principle and the situation in this regard must be detailed in the report. In the case of listed companies, failure to comply with these provisions is established as a serious violation.
Finally, the principle of balanced representation must also be complied with in the governing boards of professional associations, which must also include in their annual report the number of members broken down by sex and, if the established percentage is not reached, clarify the reasons. and the measures taken to achieve it.
It must also be fulfilled in courts, juries and collegiate bodies constituted to grant awards or decorations from the State administration or entities that make up the state institutional public sector or when they are chaired by representatives of the former.
In the private sphere, listed companies must ensure that their boards of directors have at least 40% of directors of the less represented sex, gradually depending on their size. It will apply from June 30, 2024 for the 35 companies with the highest market capitalization value and from June 30, 2025 for listed companies with a market capitalization greater than 500 million euros.
After the corresponding public hearing, the implementation schedule is made more flexible by extending the compliance period for companies with lower market capitalization until the end of June 2026.
Given the different starting point, an additional deadline for adaptation is provided until June 30, 2026 in the governing boards of the general councils and professional associations. In turn, a progressive implementation is also established for large unlisted companies, which must meet a target of 33% at the end of June 2026 and 40% at the end of June 2028.