“Until not long ago, organisations had a pyramidal structure where the few people at the top were all men. Now we are seeing a change in which the top and bottom are widening and the middle narrowing. Women now have to fight to be at the top, which is where the good positions are, and not at the bottom doing inferior jobs.” Thus the founder and partner of the fund, Compas Private Equity, Àngels Roqueta, bluntly expresses her concerns about the role of women in the job market. Despite the stereotypes being largely relegated to social jobs, little by little women are moving into technical subjects and top positions.
If there is one thing that seems clear, it is that technological advances have made specialists in data analysis one of the most in-demand profiles, followed by experts in 3D printing, Roqueta points out. Yet this is not enough to provide a definitive boost to females as a whole. “Still today we see that classrooms in technical subjects are full of men,” she says critically, “but the worst thing is that the number of enrolments is dropping.” Thus, if for the next academic year some 66,000 are expected, at this rate in four years’ time the forecast is closer to 58,000.
Maiques: "The younger generations have to train in skills and not professions"
Despite being able to identify some branches as potential job creators, the CEO of Neuroelectrics, Ana Maiques, points out that right now no one can predict which professions will exist in 20 years. “Who would have thought some years ago that we would now be working with Big Data? The same thing is happening now, which is why it is important to make the younger generations understand that they have to train in skills and not professions, and also so that girls can enter technology,” she said during the conference, Ciència i tecnologia: la dona davant del binomi del segle XXI, organised at Esade on Monday.
The Spanish weak point
Maths and English are the two subjects that the education system should stress in order to produce professionals ready for what is to come. “Until now maths was only to be found in secondary schools and perhaps banks, but from now on it will be needed by biotech companies and those in the health sector, because this where the most digital departments are being created,” says Maiques.
Artigas: "I couldn’t take anyone on because the profile did not exist and we had to look elsewhere to find people”
It is an idea shared by the CEO of Synergic Partners, Carme Artigas, considered one of the 30 most influential female executives in the world, according to the magazine Insights Success. However, she speaks from firsthand experience after seeing the skills of professionals who applied to her business when she set it up: “We created a profession that did not exist, that of data scientist. I couldn’t take anyone on because the profile did not exist and we had to look elsewhere to find people.”
That is why she argues that the myth of maths and foreign languages as “difficult” has to be dispelled, but she is also in favour of strengthening social skills and educating people about the fear of failure and teamwork. “They are skills that you do not learn at university but that are required to make balanced and complete teams,” she argues, adding that basic sciences, and not applied ones, will be the key to future professions.
Artigas and Maiques are considered among the most influential women in innovation and technology | Esade
To achieve these changes in terms of training, institutional support will be required. Maiques provides examples, such asBrussel·les va enviar un primer plec de càrrecs a Google l'abril del 2015 en el qual va denunciar que l'empresa reserva sistemàticament un tracte favorable al seu comparador de preus, watching films in their original languages or making more series that show female protagonists in technical and leadership positions.
Stereotypes, a stone around women’s necks
Apart from the existing inequalities between men and women, Artigas is convinced that both sexes are different. “In an innate way, women develop skills that are more social... What is needed are successful scientific or technological role models and not actresses, the stereotypes have to change,” she argues.
The CEO of Synergic Partners thinks that one of the country’s main problems is that it suffers from what is called a “triple storm”: “We do not see women in technical positions because they are associated with the image of the solitary nerd; nor in business, which is associated with speculating; nor entrepreneurs, because girls are not shown that creating your own company is a professional outlet.” And she points out that women will only arrive in these spheres when technology spreads as a horizontal skill in any profession.
Artigas: “Women tend to attribute their achievements to luck and teamwork, while owning up to mistakes”
In all, she adds that women tend to “attribute their achievements to luck and teamwork, while owning up to mistakes.” That is how she explains how over time quotas have gone from being criticised to being seen as a necessary element to boost the presence of females in top positions. “The day there is equality it will be because there are as many humble women as men in top positions,” she says.
Complementary diversity
In the United States, a strongly meritocratic country, some 19% of executive positions are filled by women, while in Norway the figure stands at 33%. What can be done to improve this number? “Complain,” Maiques responds bluntly. A call or an email, any way serves to make it clear that in a programme of a congress, a roundtable debate or a conference there should be a greater female presence.
That also applies to the work environment, where it has been shown that the blend of masculine leadership, which is seen as stricter and and more practical, with that of women, considered more fluid and empathetic, provides better results. “Yet what might be distinguished between these two ways of managing does not mean that men and women are naturally like that,” warns the Neuroelectrics CEO, who says that in the Anglo-Saxon world there are more women with a very hierarchical style.
Another argument for mixed teams is, for Artigas, the changes currently taking place: “Organisations are today more open, more collaborative and with more grey areas. Here women move around better, and men will have to develop these skills.”
And part of this diversity is age, she adds in reference to the millennial generation, which she thinks has to be included on boards in order to bring in a wider view necessary for the future.