In worker cooperatives, women occupy 52.6% of leadership positions. Therefore, this March, on the occasion of the International Year of Cooperatives, we dedicate it to how cooperatives promote equality.
Effective equality in the world of work between men and women is still very far from being achieved in Spain. According to data from the National Institute of Statistics, in 2023, women occupied around 35% of management positions. A reality that is very different in worker cooperatives, where according to the latest barometer of the Federation of Work Cooperatives of Catalonia, women are in 52.6% of management positions in worker cooperatives.
Furthermore, in the case of women holding positions on the Governing Councils, they represent around 51%, a figure that rises to nearly 60% in the case of those with social initiatives, highlights the same report, which also reveals that 59.5% of members are women.
At Suara Cooperativa, this figure is even more pronounced, since we work in social action, care and the well-being of people, an eminently feminized sector. In this context, 89% of our workforce are women and in the case of the Governing Council, they occupy eight of the new chairs that exist.
Therefore, within the framework of the International Year of Cooperatives, we want to dedicate it to explaining how our organizations promote equality among workers to promote that women also occupy leadership positions.
Contributions of female managers
“In a world where men are still the majority in company management, women bring a new and innovative perspective when they hold a decision-making position,” defends Cristina Añañanos, director of the Finance and General Services Area of Suara Cooperativa, who adds: “Various studies indicate that female leaders bring empathy to the team, we care about their well-being, we are more inclusive and we encourage teamwork.”
Precisely, these are values inherent to Suara Cooperativa that are intrinsic to the cooperative where we have the Benestarum platform to ensure the well-being of workers; we offer flexibility to workers so that they can combine family and work life, we promote equality through our Gender Equality Plan or Protocol Against LGTBI Harassment and we promote intercooperation between people both on the same team and in different areas.
Añaños also highlights the importance of having women in leadership positions who serve as role models for other women to follow in their footsteps and also hold positions in company management or, who knows, for today's girls to also dream of being managers tomorrow.
Co-general management
Until now, all of Suara Cooperativa's general managements have been women and for five years we have been committed to a very pioneering form such as the figure of the co-general management, configured by Laura Peracaula and Tomàs Llompart.
This, among other advantages, allows women to access leadership positions while finding spaces to be able to reconcile work and family life. We live in a world where the role of care, mainly, lies with women, which makes it difficult for them to access leadership positions, since they are the ones who end up asking for leave or adjusting their schedules to take care of dependent relatives or raise children.
While it is true that at Suara Cooperativa we defend that family reconciliation should be for both men and women so that there is co-responsibility in care, the formula of general co-management is a tool that makes it easier for women to assume these leadership positions without having to give up their vital projects.
We promote the growth of workers
The majority of our workers are from home care services (SAD), an eminently feminized sector, which means that it is little recognized socially, politically and economically, since.
Therefore, this March 8, at Suara Cooperativa we wanted to dedicate the campaign of International Working Women's Day to all workers in this service to highlight their essential task in guaranteeing a dignified and quality life to all those people who are experiencing aging processes and/or are in a situation of dependency in their homes.
However, for this to be possible, it is also necessary to promote that they can work in decent conditions that allow them to build their life and work projects. Therefore, at Suara we know that their training and job growth within the cooperative can change their reality and, therefore, we promote training plans that make this possible.
This is the case of Yolanda Pérez, a cleaning assistant in a SAD managed by the cooperative, who is currently studying on a scholarship at the Suara Campus to become a family worker. Another example is Mar Sentis, who started as a family worker in the cooperative 12 years ago and later became a mentor for new workers. She is now with the innovation team in the Connected Homes service to implement sensors and artificial intelligence in home care services.
“At Suara we know that if our workers grow within the cooperative, this can contribute to changing their work and personal reality. For this reason, we promote their growth and leadership through training plans or enabling decision-making spaces. Suara, women who decide”, concludes Añaños.
At Suara Cooperativa we believe that our model represents a fair, equitable and sustainable way of understanding the world of work and society in general. That is why, this March, we reaffirm our commitment to equality and transformative leadership that puts people at the center.
Your company or organization can also help change the reality of many women through equality, training and/or work-life balance plans to promote real and effective equality in the workplace. You too can contribute to creating a more just, equal and equitable world.
