Empowering women in Aticco
Maria Polo
Head of Product at Ubeeqo
From your perspective, what is the current situation of women in the workplace?
The situation of women in the workplace has improved considerably, but if we take the technological world as an example, the gender gap has widened in the last 20 years. In my opinion, this gap continues due to social norms and differences in education by sex. If a man promotes his successes, it is perceived as something positive, if a woman does, she is classified as less competent, less socially attractive and even less employable. As long as there are stereotypes or traditions that encourage boys to be brave and girls to always be perfect, this gap will continue to exist.
Statistics confirm year after year that companies with at least one woman in management obtain a higher return on investment, lower leverage and better valuations. In that sense, startups have helped to change the norm, and I love to see more and more women making their ideas and dreams come true every day, contributing so much value, collaborating and making diversity the norm and not a trending topic.
Which female figures have inspired you in your career?
Many women have inspired me in my career, from Ada Lovelace or Grace Hopper to Marissa Meyer or my mother and grandmothers. But they have not only inspired me for their contribution to the technological world, but also for their character and fighting spirit, or for showing the world that you can have a baby and continue to run a company successfully. My mother, who was a pioneer in her field, taught me that you set your own limits, and that you should never let anyone tell you that you cannot achieve this.
To this day, working in the field of product management, I have not yet met a female CPO (chief product officer), so I hope that my list of female role models will increase even more in the future.
Marina López
Senior Business Developer at Localoo
From your perspective, what is the current situation of women in the workplace?
We continue to move forward; I don't want to say we're 'still fighting' because I don't see it as a fight, but as a process of raising awareness. If the 'Me Too' movement has shown us anything, it's that many of our colleagues were not 'aware' of the inequalities, the micro-machismo in the workplace, the normalization of certain criteria, behaviors, and comments.
We continue to move forward, yes, together, thanks to the fearless voices that open debates and also the support being given from the male environment, work colleagues. Since this is not a battle of the sexes, it is not a fight of one side against the other, it is a social change that requires collaboration between everyone. Any significant and permanent change comes from everyone.
According to my personal experience in the working world:
- The "senior" roles are still mainly men's roles. I've heard "we can't find women for these roles"... Really? Subjectivity comes into play.
- The salaries... surreal, but it is still a reality, there is still disparity, and I don't understand what the reasoning is in this case.
- "The childbearing age", after a certain age the questions like "will she go on maternity leave? will she be less present when she is back?"... come into play, and it shows. In this case, again it is a change that has to come from both sides of society, companies and HR have to look for a harmony between talent and "the reality of being human" xD... I also consider that the government plays an important part. If certain laws were reformed, for example, to support equal paternal and maternal leave, we would be a little closer to a level playing field.
- "The mens club"... The normalization of behavior has started a process in which women, and especially in the world of sales, do not have to adapt to the tone of the especially male environment in which we "moved" but we can be ourselves, we can raise our hand when there is an uncomfortable behavior and it is respected.
But the truth is that we have made progress and it shows, in my current team I do not notice any difference between sexes and there is total internal transparency. I hope that, with the collaboration of everyone, this process will not stop worldwide. All good things are worth waiting for, but they come.
Which female figures have inspired you in your career?
My role models are not "renowned", they are the colleagues and mentors I have had by my side throughout my life... different cultures, generations, professions, etc. The conversations at lunchtime about past experiences, learnings, experiences that have made me learn, change perspective, make me stronger and find my voice. Anie, my sister, Mylena, Nuria, Mamen, Ana, Raquel, Xulia, Noe, Lucía... my mother, ... my father! who is not a female role model, but is a feminist. My parents have always supported me in everything, they have never made me feel limited by "being a woman".
They are relevant people only to me, but in the end they are the ones that influence me the most in my day to day. They have given me what I need to advance in my professional career... from a refuge where I can let my anger flow in the face of certain inequalities and excesses, to a springboard from which to gather energy, security and momentum to launch myself into the unknown, without fear, without prejudice, without limits...
Anna Muñoz
Managing Director at Alta Medical Services
From your perspective, what is the current situation of women in the workplace?
In general, there is much evidence that has shown that women suffer very significant workplace discrimination compared to male counterparts. It is a very complex situation to deal with, as it is very widespread. It begins in the education we receive, the stories we read, the cultural references and models that society offers us.
In the healthcare world, where I work, as in other fields, women have been gaining significant prominence. Even so, when you analyze the names of the women who reach higher-level management positions, we see again the male dominance that does not correspond to the women/men ratio at the base level.
If we analyze the percentage of entrepreneurs in our environment who discriminate against women for fear of maternity leave, it would make our hair stand on end! Which is very shocking. If this happens to us in other places, the situation is infinitely worse. There are striking examples, such as the same resume, but signed by Jane or John Smith. The salary proposal for Jane will be lower than that for John.
The startup model has a different dynamic. Initially, it seems that it is not so subject to discrimination, since there is no employer who makes you a contract and discriminates against you for being a woman. It could also be argued that being an entrepreneur does not depend on gender, but on individual initiative and personality. But when we analyze the number of female entrepreneurs compared to men, what happens in the working world in general happens again, there are fewer female entrepreneurs compared to men. There are so many factors involved that it is difficult to solve.
In the business world, women have to learn how to create a budget, since they tend to be less objective and undervalue their work from the start. Similarly, a woman's budget is often more scrutinized compared to a man's. Gender also implies certain differences in areas such as networking. Men often tend to support each other and create empathy, meet outside of working hours, and establish relationships outside of professional settings, which helps in decision-making. This is less frequent in the case of women.
Which female figures have inspired you in your career?
During my time as a research fellow at the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona, I had an exceptional teacher. Her name was Dr. Teresa Gallart, an extraordinary doctor who worked in AIDS immunology. Teresa was born in 1942 in Artesa de Lleida, a municipality in the Segrià region. She always explained the great difficulties she had in getting to study medicine, since at that time and place, it seemed that her destiny was to be a housewife, happily married and with many children.
Currently, more than female role models, I would talk about entities that have been essential to inspire me as an entrepreneur: Barcelona Activa and its Inicia program, aimed at women who have a business idea or an entrepreneurial project and want to launch it. For me it has been fundamental, since they train you in what it means to be an entrepreneur and they work, not only on the technical part, of making a business plan, the finances... but they also take great care of the emotional part. Programs like these make things a lot easier for you!
Eva Carbonell
Customer Success Manager at ElectricFeel AG
From your perspective, what is the current situation of women in the workplace?
I like to be optimistic and think that we are on the right track. A few years ago, when I started studying engineering, we were barely 10%, and if you went to other countries like Germany, you were even more of a rare bird. Now I see myself surrounded by many women involved in super interesting projects, pioneers in the world of technology, design, music... I hope this doesn't stop.
The term equal opportunities seems to me to be a difficult concept, many companies try to fix what until now "they have done wrong" and put women in management positions to look good to the gallery. This sometimes causes the opposite effect to the desired one, since it generates envy and macho comments that do us no good. I think we should start social change, not from above but from below. We must ensure that girls in school have the same aspirations as boys, that if they are sick it should not always be their mother who leaves work to pick them up, but also their father, that maternity leave is shared, and that returning to work after spending time with the family is not a setback but what it is, a natural pause.
I have lived in different countries that range from progressive, but if a woman wants to return to work before the established year of maternity leave or share part of her months with her partner, she is considered a "crow mother" who abandons her offspring. Yes, as I said, we are advancing, but it is not enough to settle, more than equality I think we should promote the diversity of sexes, cultures and ages, a person can be a good worker or a good boss, regardless of whether they are male or female, more junior or more senior, Swiss or Chinese (to give a couple of examples of countries in which I have worked).
Which female figures have inspired you in your career?
The truth is that names like Marie Curie or Margaret Thatcher don't come to mind, but rather those of my friends, my cousins, my co-workers, who went to study engineering or who decided to fight to be artists, many of them left their city to study abroad and work in a language that is not their own, surrounded by people much more experienced who sometimes thought: what is she going to teach me? And despite everything, they have fought and managed to reach management positions in large companies or to be successful entrepreneurs leading super interesting projects. They are the ones who have inspired me and still inspire me in my day to day, and I hope that this is only the beginning.
Estefanía Peral
CEO & Founder of Spanish-elearning
From your perspective, what is the current situation of women in the workplace?
I think the role that women play in the workplace has improved a lot in most developed countries, but inequalities still exist and there is still a long way to go.
In Spain, although more and more people recognize that men and women are equally qualified to hold positions of responsibility, there is still inequality of opportunity and salary inequality, largely due to the traditional structure of companies that hinders the promotion of female talent. The majority of management positions are still held by men, and although women have the ambition to grow professionally, it is not always easy for them.
With the internet, there is a phenomenon of democratization of society, of access to information, of visibility, among many other things, which may end up being key to achieving gender equality in the professional field.
I do believe that new business models, such as startups, are becoming a way for women to prosper professionally. A study recently published by The Boston Consulting Group and MassChallenge states that, despite receiving less funding, startups founded by women are more effective and generate twice as much revenue as those founded by men, in part because they receive more rejections in their credit applications and are forced to develop more realistic and less risky plans than those of men.
Personally, I think that in order for there to really be equal conditions in the workplace between men and women, the existing imbalance in the personal sphere of families must first be resolved, where women still have to bear, in most cases, a much greater burden of domestic responsibilities, both in household chores and especially in childcare.
That being said, I am one of those who believes that men and women are very different and at the same time complementary, and it is wonderful that it is so.
Which female role models have inspired you in your career?
There are many women who have inspired me throughout my life, both public figures and people in my personal environment. They all have a common component: they are fighting women who, in one way or another, have had to face very adverse realities at some point in their lives and have done so with great tenacity, resistance and resilience. I guess I feel identified with part of their stories and that's where my inspiration towards them comes from.
