The draft Law on Equal Representation approved today by the Council of Ministers that will force 40% of women to be on the boards of directors of the Ibex in 2024 begins its process with 18 of the 35 companies in the stock market, online or by above the target, according to the information offered today by the CNMV with data at the end of 2022.
The company with the greatest presence of women on its board of directors, with 54%, is Cellnex, the only one that, together with Redeida, exceeds 50%. Amadeus, Bankinter, Acciona Energía, Inditex and IAG also exceed 45%, while Aena, BBVA, Santander, CaixaBank, Logista, Enagás, Endesa, Iberdrola, Rovi, Mapfre and Unicaja reach or exceed 40%.
On the other side of this classification, with data at the end of 2022, the delay of the construction companies and Fluidra stands out, which only has 16% women and will have to accelerate the changes if it wants to reach the date set by the Government, the June 30, 2024. In ACS the percentage is 26%, compared to 33% for Acciona or 23% for Sacyr. In the cases of Telefónica, Repsol or Ferrovial, women are equivalent to 33% of the board. Naturgy only has 25%.
At the end of March, Repsol announced that it will appoint María del Pino Velázquez Medina as a director at its shareholders' meeting on May 25, which will allow it to reach the percentage of 40% women on its board of directors.
Since 2022, the good governance code governing listed companies already contemplates the non-binding objective that the presence of women be 40% on the boards of directors, compared to the previous 30%. There is progress because in just one year the number of female directors has increased by 32% among all listed companies and, in the case of the Ibex, it is already equivalent to 160.
In general terms, women already occupy 37.7% of the seats on the boards of directors of Ibex companies, thanks above all to independent profile members, among whom they reach 53%. In the case of Mapfre, 85% of the independent directors are women.
However, the presence of women is much lower, 25%, among the proprietary members, who are the ones who represent the shareholders, and sinks when it comes to executives, in charge of the day-to-day management of the company. .
In the entire Ibex there are 59 executive directors, but only three of them are women. He is the president of Santander, Ana Botín, the CEO of Bankinter, María Dolores Dancausa, and the counseling secretary of Logista, María Echenique Moscoso del Prado, to whom executive functions are attributed.
In a field in which there is neither recommendation nor obligation, that of senior executives, the presence of women is 23%. There are three companies that break the mould, which are Aena, with 66% women in senior management, Redeia and Colonial, the latter two with 50%.
In order for all Ibex companies to reach the mandatory target in 2024, eleven new female directors must be appointed, up to 171. There are a total of 1,207 directors on the Ibex.
The draft bill approved today by the Government extends the scope of the parity requirements to constitutional and institutionally relevant bodies, including the Constitutional Court, the Council of State, the Court of Accounts, the Fiscal Council and the General Council of the Judiciary . They will join the Government, the electoral candidacies, the professional associations and the boards of directors.
The Minister for Economic Affairs, Nadia Calviño, explained that the new version of the standard "makes the implementation schedule for these objectives more flexible, which will go from 2024 for the Ibex to 2028 for public interest entities".
With the new regulation, the boards of directors of listed companies and public interest entities that have more than 250 workers and a turnover of more than 50 million euros or an asset of more than 43 million euros must have a composition in accordance with this principle, so that the number of women may not be less than 40% of the total number of board members.
The law will be applicable as of June 30, 2024 for the 35 companies with the highest market capitalization value and as of June 30, 2025 for listed companies with a market capitalization of more than 500 million euros.
