Still a big difference between number of Spain’s male and female executives

ONLY nine women directors are included amongst the 160 highest earners working for companies listed on Spain’s Bolsa (Stock Exchange).

Minimum thresholds for female directors in listed companies have been raised over the last 10 years and the Spanish government has set a July 1, 2024, deadline for listed companies to increase this to 40 per cent.

Figures for 2022 submitted to the National Securities Commission (CNMV) nevertheless demonstrated that quotas for women in big companies focused mainly on quantity, not quality, the 11th survey of salaries by El Pais revealed.

Few women executives were truly in charge, the analysis concluded.

The continuing imbalance was also reflected in women’s salaries, the newspaper pointed out, although this was not exclusive to females.

El Pais found that the best-paid executive directors of the Ibex 35 companies – equivalent to the UK’s FTSE 100 – earned an average of €4.73 million in 2022.

This amount was 81.5 times greater than the annual €58,095 earned by the employees of the companies they managed.

The divide has also widened in comparison to previous years, as the difference between boss and employee was 76 times greater in 2021 and 79 times more in the 2020 pandemic year.