Women are a cornerstone in the Spanish social economy; however, management and board positions still do not reflect an adequate parity between men and women.
In 2023, the OECD produced the report "Beyond pink-collar jobs for women and the social economy", on women's participation in social economy enterprises and entities. This report highlights the fact that, although the participation of women is greater in social economy organisations, there is still room for progress towards greater participation in positions of responsibility in the different organisations.
As a result, the Ministry of Labour and Social Economy, through the Special Commissioner for the Social Economy, has encouraged and promoted the creation of a group for Women Leading Social Economy.
The creation of this working group aims to raise awareness of the important role of women at the highest levels of the social economy, managing Social Economy enterprises and entities, as well as to highlight the need to continue moving towards effective equality in the business universe of the social economy.
The next meeting of this initiative will take place in Murcia at the end of March 2025 at an event attended by 100 Spanish women in leadership positions in the social economy.
The Mujeres LíderES group is working on preparing roadmap with the lines of action to be taken in the coming years, to address four main areas of work:
The first meeting of the group of Women Leading Social Economy took place on 27 March 2023, and a public presentation of this group was carried out on 2 June 2023, with the attendance of the Second Vice-President and Minister of Labour and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz.
In continuity with the objectives of the Mujeres LíderES working group, a parallel event of the European Social Economy Congress took place on November 14, 2023 at the Chamber Hall of the Kursaal Conference Center in Donostia/San Sebastián, under the title “Conversation between Women Leading Social Economy: challenges for a social economy that catalyzes equality in a global world”.
Among the women who participated in this debate were not only those who belonged to this Working Group, but also other women leaders in different international contexts:
In this event, the speakers addressed items from the most important challenges facing the social and solidarity economy from a gender perspective to the most significant contributions of the social economy in terms of gender equity, as well as opportunities for collaboration and partnerships at international level, which should be explored to further advance gender inclusion in the social economy.
In addition, emphasis was placed on issues such as:
