GDANSK, Mar 8 - Spain's large listed companies made progress on gender equality targets in 2023, maintaining the upward trend of recent years and approaching parity, although top management positions remain a hard-to-access preserve for women.

According to a new report by IESE and Atrevia published on Wednesday, female representation now stands at 34.49% in listed companies as a whole, up 2.12 percentage points from 32.37% in 2022.

The IBEX 35, which groups together the largest listed companies, leads the progress, rising from 37.47% in 2022 to 39.82% in 2023, an increase of 2.35 percentage points that places the stock market index on the doorstep of the target determined by the European Commission.

"The progress recorded can be explained by the active role played by the institutions, the fact that they have set specific targets and have internalized the need to measure these advances towards them," said Atrevia's CEO, Asunción Soriano, at the press conference when presenting the report.

EU law requires that, by 2026, women hold at least 40% of non-executive board positions or, failing that, at least 33% of all positions - executive and non-executive - in listed companies in member states.

After analyzing the 115 companies in the Continuous Market, the IESE and Atrevia study shows that the IBEX 35 has fallen one board member short of complying with the European Union directive, adopted in 2022, which has also been taken up by the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

Another study published on Wednesday by the firm Grant Thornton considers that the goal of parity - understood as a percentage above the 40% threshold - has been achieved, stating that "women occupy 40% of executive positions in Spain for the first time".

In any case, IESE and Atrevia believe it is likely that the IBEX 35 as a whole will reach this goal by 2024.

SENIOR MANAGEMENT, A PENDING ISSUE

Progress on boards of directors is not reflected in the top positions, where women's representation continues to be negligible. Only four of the 35 chairmanships of the Spanish stock market index - 11.42% - are held by women, and only one of them, Patricia Botín at Santander, holds an executive position.

Moreover, only one woman holds the position of CEO: María Dolores Dancausa at Bankinter, which represents 2.86%, compared with 97.14% still dominated by male CEOs.

"Although women have an increasing weight in management teams, they do not always occupy the most powerful positions," says the Grant Thornton report.

In this regard, Nuria Chinchilla, from IESE, believes that it is in the executive committees "where the need for greater effort is evident."

At Cellnex, which appointed Anna Bouverot as non-executive chairwoman in March 2023, they agree on the need to break the glass ceiling that prevents women from accessing more executive positions.

"We are not obviating that it is a priority to improve the female presence in managerial positions and in our sector in general. As a company, we have as a business objective the presence of women in positions of responsibility. We share this objective and have made it an additional priority, which is reflected in the annual business objectives," said Yolanda Menal in reference to Cellnex's progress.

CELLNEX IS THE ONLY COMPANY WITH MORE FEMALE DIRECTORS THAN MALE DIRECTORS.

Of the total number of listed companies, 40 already meet or exceed the requirement of 40% of women on their boards of directors, 21 of which belong to the IBEX 35, compared to 18 in 2022. Of these, 4 have 50% female representation, 8 exceed the minimum requirement, and another 8 remain within the 40% threshold.

Cellnex continues to lead the list with 53.85%, as it is the only company with more women than men on its board of directors (7 versus 6), while Redeia, Aena, Inditex and Logista remain at parity with 50%.

"Our commitment to generating equal opportunities is very strong. We believe that talent has no gender, age," Yolanda Menal, global head of people at Cellnex, told Reuters.

"The more diverse the decision-making bodies are, the more effective they are in creating more diverse teams and inclusive environments, and the virtuous circle is generated. Diverse teams generate higher levels of discussion, broader points of view, greater creativity and, in the end, better decisions," Menal added.

Another 16 companies exceed or equal the 40% threshold, led by Mapfre (with 46.67%), Acciona, Amadeus and IAG (all with 45.45%), Rovi, Unicaja and Iberdrola (42.86%), and Endesa (41.66%), according to the report.

Sacyr, Naturgy and Fluidra are at the bottom of the ranking with less than 30% female representation on their boards of directors, making them the worst positioned companies in terms of parity.

Some of the studies and reports used to prepare this information were published on the eve of March 8, a day on which International Working Women's Day is commemorated and which highlights the shortcomings that continue to exist in terms of equality in the labor market and within society in general.

(Report by Mireia Merino, edited by Tomás Cobos)