“When you find the same, you don’t feel like a weirdo.” This is how engineer Mireia Colina explains the importance of weaving a network of women in a company or economic sector, such as the international association Women in Aerospace, whose headquarters in Barcelona is one of the leaders. When she graduated as a telecommunications engineer, she says that there were hardly any female references in the sector, and the few women who were there repeated male patterns with which she did not feel identified. For Gema Martín, president of Ellas Vuelan Alto, the union of professionals, in her case from the aeronautical and aerospace industry, has the benefit of “being able to overcome a lot of structural barriers that exist on issues of inequality.” “And that many times we have it unconsciously,” she adds, before stating that there are women who do not dare to intervene in talks or presentations, even if they are amply prepared. A way of being or acting that, in their opinion, works against them when it comes to advancing in their careers. “He networkingwhich helps so much in professional development, women have not known how to develop and enhance it. From my experience, I can say that we are all very good professionals, we all work very well, but in the end, what moves the world are the contacts you have,” he says. For this reason, the association she heads tries to encourage professionals to gain self-confidence by sharing experiences with their peers.
Exchanging experiences is what is intended with Café para 10, organized by Mujeres en Farma. It is an activity in which a sector executive invites ten other women in the industry to have coffee. “We do that small committee so that opinions and experiences can be exchanged. Almost all women end up saying, ‘I thought this was just happening to me.’ Suddenly you realize that it is something that happens to all of us, that is why we have to help each other and inspire each other,” explains Elena Álvarez, president of the association.
She has been working as a headhunter in the sector for 25 years, and does not hesitate to confirm that female professionals do not apply for a job if they do not meet almost 100% of the requirements that appear in the offer, and even if they meet them, they doubt if they are prepared, while a man has no problem doing it, even if he is only 50% suitable. “We have clearly identified critical points that are fundamental in the professional development of women. We have to stop being our worst enemy. We must gain assertive communication, raise our voices and raise our hands more. Position ourselves in our professional environment and think about our own development. Change fear to be braver. Give up perfection and realize that . And stop having guilt in our personal lives and realize that what we are doing is creating role models for our children,” he says.
Precisely, especially in masculinized sectors, it is one of the key points pointed out by all the associations consulted for this report. And it is essential to do it from the earliest childhood, in the preschool and primary school cycles, “because by the fourth year of secondary school all the fish are already sold,” as Gema Martín defends.
“Even primary school is late,” adds Mercedes Hernández, promoter in Spain of the international network Womened and director of the British Council School in Madrid. “When, for example, seven or eight-year-old children are asked to draw how they imagine a surgeon, most draw a man. And if we ask them who is going to dedicate themselves to education, the majority are girls.” In the education sector, says Hernández, women represent 70% of professionals. Weaving a network of women serves, in her opinion, to encourage more female professionals to apply for positions of responsibility, “to give them support and to gain confidence.” Among the programs that the Spanish branch of the association carries out there is a mentoring program, which unites already established professionals in positions of responsibility with others who are just beginning their careers. Initiatives like this are one of the most common in this type of associations.
Networks in companies
Women’s networks are also beginning to expand within companies, as Martín says. In fact, their association has a program to promote them in companies in the sector. For now, it has been carried out in Enaire, Senasa and Ineco, and there are three other firms, which Martín prefers not to specify, that have also been interested in the initiative to implement it. In Enaire, the women’s network started at the beginning of 2019 with about 80 people, among whom there are also men, who were divided into subgroups to carry out different projects, such as, for example, a book about pioneers in the air navigation. Since then, it has been gaining weight within this public company and this year it has come under the umbrella of people management, where it went “from corporate social responsibility, as something voluntary, to being a differentiating element of the company in regarding equality policies. Even Enaire has indicators of things that the network has to achieve. “People management now champions an initiative that cost us our lives to carry out,” says a satisfied María López, head of the customer and corporate social responsibility division at Enaire and director of the network of networks at Ellas Vuelan Alto. López also maintains that public policies and legislation on gender equality, together with the greater concern of firms for social responsibility strategies, “have provided more tools to promote this type of activities.”
“These networks in companies have an additional function, which is . We have companies in which the professionals did not know each other. They didn’t know what each other was doing. It helps to have a clearer awareness of the potential we have, by having those references within your own company,” adds Gema Martín, who in turn highlights that by having the support of the companies, it is less difficult for women to carry out actions, for example mentoring or help, than if they were carried out outside.
Union of associations
Precisely the free time dedicated to the activities and organization of an association is one of the drawbacks pointed out by Martín when talking about the union of several networks. “We have had several attempts. But it is complex to determine who leads, who manages the day-to-day, what activities additional to those of each association are carried out. For now it is a project that we have left in the bedroom.”
Those that have been launched are the Spanish associations that make up W8: Women in Retail, Women in Banking, Women in a Legal World, Mujeres en Farma, Women in Tourism, Women in Real State, Women4Cyber Spain and Las Mujeres Nos Movemos. The network was presented last September with the mission of “promoting the unity and empowerment of women through the creation of strategic alliances that promote equal opportunities, professional development and participation in social causes, such as “fight against breast cancer and Alzheimer’s.” Their first event, in October, was a charity gala with more than 400 attendees in which they raised funds for the Spanish cancer association.
Elena Álvarez indicates that Women in Pharma joined together because they saw the opportunity to create a network of networks of professional women and establish a space for collaboration from which to pursue “the common goal of enhancing female leadership and generating a social impact.” “I have no doubt that women add up and that we have to help each other more and have an impact. Because when we get together we do powerful things,” he says.
Where are women in public spaces?
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“Where are they” is an initiative of the European Parliament Office in Spain to make visible the presence of women experts in the public space, especially as speakers in debates, conferences and events, explains María Andrés, director of the office.
Since its creation in March 2018, there are already 239 organizations that have joined the initiative and are committed to carrying out an internal count that analyzes each year how many women have participated in their events, with the commitment that it will increase. “There is no mandatory quota established,” says Andrés, it is measured to compare how it evolves year after year and see in which sectors it can be improved.
When comparing the year 2020 with the previous one, it was seen that the presence of women had dropped from 48% to 41.6%, which confirms, according to Andrés, that “they are the first to fall out of this type of activities when they are most necessary at home. The lack of conciliation and co-responsibility is something that influences the lack of female visibility.” Precisely, co-responsibility is one of the two elements that is always referred to in the equality reports prepared by Brussels. “It is a structural problem” that their “small office” could not address, but they did have the capacity to contribute to the lack of female references, the second element.
The director of the parliamentary office is also aware that on many occasions it is women who do not dare to take the step of participating as experts in events. “Girls are educated to be perfect and boys are educated to be daring and brave. This need to control everything creates many insecurities in us and makes imposter syndrome a reality even today in many sectors and in many high-level women. Confidence in ourselves is something we still have to conquer.”
As an official of the European Parliament, María Andrés sees with concern “the rise of reactionary parties with gender equality”, which leads her to affirm that, contrary to what it might seem, “female visibility and real equality are not a battle won. Now it is being questioned.”
