Forum on female leadership in troubled times

Forum on female leadership in troubled times

Getafe CF Foundation organised the latest version of the “Women and Leadership Forum” which focused on the topic “Management and leadership in troubled times”.

Clemente Villaverde, General Manager of Getafe CF, and Diego García, General Manager of the Getafe CF Foundation and CSR Director of the club, emphasised the importance of this initiative, which began in 2019, and which aims to show, make visible and highlight the role of women in business and in the field of entrepreneurship.

The foundation streamed the online event through the official YouTube channel of Getafe, from the VIP room of the Coliseum state, and with the online connection to the countries of origin of some of the speakers.

The forum is an initiative within the framework of Getafe CF’s corporate social responsibility policy, thus contributing to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, specifically SDG number 5 and the fight against the gender gap.

This new session was attended by:

Beatriz García Pérez, President of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Getafe, who wanted to express the progress of the association, which has been growing for 10 years, and the role of women in the professional field. She also wanted to emphasise that “we must keep people active and motivate them to continue creating companies and businesses”.

She was followed by Nidia María Chávez Montiel, Director of the Telefónica Movistar Foundation in Mexico, who gave some very interesting data, such as the fact that 33% of workers in the telecommunications sector are women and that only 38% of women study STEAM careers. Nidia admitted that “many efforts are being made in Mexico to encourage women’s leadership but much more needs to be done” and pointed out that “it is necessary to empower people so that they learn to make decisions”.

Carmen Santillana, CEO of Carsan Renting and Laundry Group, referring to her personal and professional experience, commented that “the traditionally male business model has scorned the integration of women in their management teams”. She also encouraged women to become entrepreneurs, stating that “if you are eager to undertake, you will surely find the way. Thousands of bold ideas give rise to thousands of jobs. Finally, she wanted to emphasize the role of CSR and its importance in Carsan’s project.

Giselle Bayona, Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), then spoke. Bayona, above all, wanted to express how “the pandemic has shown that the inequalities between men and women are totally structural in nature”. She also provided data showing that “90% of the world’s population has some prejudice or bias against women; that there is no equal pay in the same positions held by men and women; or how in Ecuador 50% of women working in the media have received negative comments”.

Quan Zhou, intercultural author, illustrator, activist and speaker, ended this session with a very entertaining presentation in which she told us about her personal experience and her interculturality, reflecting on how “human beings grow through references” and how “more references for women” are needed. She also spoke not only about the well-known “glass ceiling” but also about the “bamboo ceiling”, the difficulty for the Asian-American community to reach high positions.