Women are underrepresented in multiple spheres of society, which represents a serious negative bias for global development and sustainability and is detrimental to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, technological advances and digitization in the world of work are stimulating the presence of women to be greater in multiple sectors.
From the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona, an entity that promotes economic revitalization in line with the SDGs, and with the collaboration of the Incyde Foundation of the Chambers of Commerce of Spain, for years they have been working to value the role of women in key sectors of the economy. One of the most exciting initiatives is the third edition of the Barcelona Woman Acceleration Week (BWAW), which is held between March 9 and 10. It is a hybrid event that aims to combat gender stereotypes, it brought together more than 2,500 attendees in the last edition.
The BWAW was created three years ago to promote progress towards gender parity and establish itself as a parity debate. As in the previous edition, the DFactory building, an industry 4.0 node located in the Barcelona Free Zone, will bring together more than 50 national and international speakers from different sectors and success stories in various fields such as banking, science or logistics. In the ten debate sessions that make up the event, the current scenario, challenges and solutions to bring equality closer to the business world will be discussed.
“More than 50 national and international ‘speakers’ will meet in 10 debate sessions”
Within the framework of the BWAW, different topics will be addressed to advance this important objective that concerns us as a society. Among them: cases of women entrepreneurs; implementation of technology 4.0; vision of directives in financial entities and in the public sector; women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) professions; initiatives developed in the private sector to promote gender equality o Vocational Training and professional opportunities that are most in demand in the future.
look to the future
As shown by the data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), by 2030 it is expected that 80% of current jobs will disappear and those who are linked to some STEM training will be the first. Therefore, if there is no change in trend, there will be a great shortage of women in those professions that will be in greater demand in the increasingly near future. In addition, according to the latest report on Equality in figures from the Ministry of Education, in our country only 29% of those enrolled in Engineering careers are women, falling to 13% in Degrees such as Computer Science.
The Women’s Council values the vision of outstanding directives.CZFB
According to the general director of the CZFB, Blanca Sorigué, “we bet on creating a disruptive event like the BWAW three years ago because society cannot afford to lose the wealth and knowledge that women can contribute in the business and industrial field.” In line, the director highlights that “more than 50% of university degrees in our country are women, so we have reached a turning point where women must empower themselves and have the same role as men, also in those sectors or traditionally masculinized professionals.”
For his part, the special State delegate to the CZFB, Pere Navarro, emphasizes that, from the CZFB, within the framework of the United Nations 2030 Agenda, “we are fully committed to SDG number 5 focused on gender equality” . In order to achieve these objectives, the delegate estimates that “parity in organizations is a source of wealth”, since “it guarantees greater diversity and is key to sustainability, so through the commitment of all and public-private collaboration we must accelerate change so that women are fully represented in business and industry.”
“Parity in organizations guarantees greater diversity and is key to sustainability”
The creation of the Barcelona Free Zone Women’s Council in 2020 meets these objectives set by the institution, and aims to value the vision of prominent female managers whose companies are located in the Barcelona Free Zone industrial estate, one of the largest in Spain. This council is currently represented by important companies such as AMB, TMB, Nissan, Covestro, Cellnex, COCEMFE Barcelona, Mercabarna, SEAT, Parque Logístico, Aguas de Barcelona, Quimidroga or the Port of Barcelona, among others.
In order to register for the Barcelona Woman Acceleration Week (BWAW), you only have to access the website, where all the information on this event that promotes the empowerment of women in the business field is available.
MADE BY ALAYANS STUDIO This content has been produced by ALAYANS STUDIO, Henneo’s Branded Content unit.
