The delegate, Fran González, and the director of the IAM, Laura Fernández, sign the protocol of intentions by which the Consortium wants to continue advancing in making equal opportunities visible between men and women in the workplace
The Free Trade Zone is promoting measures regarding conciliation in the workforce, although there is still work to be done regarding parity in all categories of the workforce.
A total of 261 institutions, associations and companies have joined this initiative throughout Andalusia, 24 of them in Cádiz
The Free Trade Zone of Cádiz has joined the Andalusian Network of Conciliation Entities (RAEC), promoted by the Andalusian Women's Institute (IAM), and which until last May had 261 signatures throughout Andalusia, 24 of them in the province of Cádiz.
The accession took place in a meeting held this morning by the Special Delegate of the State in the Free Trade Zone of Cádiz, Fran González, and the director of the IAM, Laura Fernández, who was accompanied on the visit by the program advisor of the IAM in Cádiz, Celia Mañueco.
The Andalusian Network of Conciliation Entities, through the adhesion and participation of public and private entities and organizations, has the objective of designing and developing strategic lines for improving conciliation and co-responsibility in the work and private spheres through a collaborative work platform. Currently, the RAEC is in its initial phase: accession. Subsequently, a strategy will be launched capable of setting the guidelines, mechanisms and tools for the creation, dynamization and development of a Driving Group that works in favor of conciliation and co-responsibility in Andalusia.
During the event, the Special State delegate in the Cádiz Free Zone highlighted that “with our incorporation into this network, in addition to collaborating in the actions designated by the RAEC, the Cádiz Free Zone aims to give visibility to the work carried out in the Consortium to create ideal conditions for the promotion of equal opportunities between women and men in the workplace and, of course, contribute to the promotion of equality and conciliation in all our equipment.
González has highlighted that we are moving towards parity and "in fact, the current management team is made up of three men and three women, while among the middle managers we also find 50% women. However, we know that there is still a lot of work to be done and that we have to continue working hard to maintain this balance in all areas of the workforce, since we still have a female majority in the group of administrative and auxiliary staff."
With an eye on how much there is still to continue advancing in real equality, the delegate was optimistic because they are seeing fruits since the evolution of the workforce in recent years is trending towards parity. Thus, it has gone from having 59% men and 41% women in 2017 to having 55% men and 45% women today. “We are moving towards parity but we know that there is still a lot of work to be done in this matter and from public institutions we have to champion policies of equality and conciliation.”
In this sense, the Cádiz Consortium is already taking steps in measures to reconcile the personal and family life with the work life of its workers and has adopted different time flexibility measures to be able to care for sons and daughters and family members with special needs, in addition to other additional measures adopted as a result of the state of alarm and the Covid situation.
For her part, the director of the Andalusian Women's Institute has thanked the Fiscal Institution for its participation in this initiative and has stressed that "the objective is to continue advancing in matters of conciliation and co-responsibility, which are one of our main commitments. Therefore, the Ministry of Equality, Social Policies and Conciliation is promoting the first Conciliation Strategy in Andalusia through a participatory process and of which this network is a part."
The Andalusian Women's Institute will be the body in charge of advising and accompanying the entities of this network in the inclusion of the principle of gender equality in their management and organizational culture, placing special interest in matters of conciliation and co-responsibility. To this end, the IAM will offer technical and methodological tools for the implementation, coordination and dynamization of this Group.
The director of the IAM has warned that "the reality is that conciliation is still far from being effective and this affects the underrepresentation of women in the labor market." Not in vain, according to the Diagnosis of the situation in Andalusia regarding conciliation, carried out in 2020 by the General Secretariat of Social Policies, Volunteering and Conciliation, the majority reason among men for being inactive is retirement (53.4% of men compared to 19.5% of women), while the majority reason among women for being inactive is dedication to unpaid domestic or care work. (39.2% of women compared to 5.9% of men in the same situation).
“At the Andalusian Women's Institute we understand dialogue and collaboration as a form of governance and we believe that working to build bridges and alliances gives us new opportunities and will allow us to face new challenges,” said Fernández. At the same time, he has advanced that "as part of this strategy, from the Andalusian Women's Institute we are making available to companies, organizations and institutions that have already joined the RAEC five free specialized training courses on equality plans, from preparation, monitoring to evaluation, as well as on conciliation and co-responsibility with the aim of offering tools for the inclusion of gender equality in their work environments."