SPRI presents the results of the study on the impact of women on industrial competitiveness at the World Manufacturing Forum

Cristina Oyón, Director of Technology, Innovation and Sustainability of SPRI, presented the results of the study carried out by SPRI on the impact of women in industrial competitiveness during the World Manufacturing Forum, organized this week in Bergamo (Italy) by the World Manufacturing Foundation,

This study is the continuation of the work carried out by the SPRI Group and the Foreign Network office in Milan since 2020 as leader of the Women in Manufacturing expert group, made up of 20 people from different areas (international organizations such as UNIDO, IndustriAll and EFFRA, universities, private companies and public administration) focused on analyzing the challenges the industry is facing to guarantee greater participation, recognition and leadership of women in the industry.

Given the worrying data regarding the presence of women in the Industry that was collected as part of the work carried out by the expert group in 2020 and 2021, SPRI decided this research to test one of the premises highlighted by UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) in 2019: “gender equality no longer remains just a matter of human rights, but a fundamental issue to ensure competitiveness and economic recovery.”

Thus, the study carried out by SPRI has consisted of the development of a methodology that allows analyzing the correlation between gender equality and industrial competitiveness and the development of a case study to obtain data that allows testing whether greater equality gender benefits industrial competitiveness.

The methodology sets for a multidimensional and comprehensive evaluation of the concepts of competitiveness and gender equality in industrial companies. To this end, two composite indices were created, one related to competitiveness and the other to equality, composed of a set of weighted subindices and variables.

Once the methodology was set, SPRI designed a survey to collect the information necessary to build the indexes and carry out the correlation analysis between the level of gender equality and industrial competitiveness. The survey was launched in August 2022 to 2,500 Basque companies that operate in the industrial and/or industrial-related services sector. A sample of 474 companies was achieved. SPRI worked with The European House – Ambrosetti to carry out the analysis.

Cristina shared the main characteristics of the sample, where women represent only 21.7% of employment in the Basque industry, a worrying fact considering that they represent 44% of the labor market in Euskadi. The lower presence of women in companies is general, regardless of the level of qualification or department, but it clearly decreases in leadership positions: only 13% of the companies participating in the survey have a woman at the helm.

The introduction of the companies’ responses into the model shows that companies with a higher level of gender equality are more competitive. Furthermore, the data highlights that more egalitarian companies present better results in turnover and employment, R&D&I and Internationalization.

Besides, the most competitive companies also have higher levels of gender equality. Specifically, the study identifies the following keys to boost competitiveness from equality:

• Horizontal segregation (by departments)
• Vertical segregation (by level of responsibility)
• Measures for the conciliation of work and personal life (flexible hours, teleworking, care leave…)
• Internal equality policies (plans, commissions, training and equality protocols)

Cristina Oyón highlighted the importance of having a methodology that shows the positive impact of women on industrial competitiveness and the potential that this study has as a motivational tool for the implementation of gender equality policies in companies, since it remains proven that “gender equality is no longer just a matter of human rights, but a fundamental issue to ensure competitiveness and economic recovery.”

The World Manufacturing Foundation is an open platform that aims at improving and disseminating industrial culture around the world, as a way to ensure economic equity and sustainable development. The WMF promotes innovation and development in the manufacturing sector, advocating for improved competitiveness in all nations through dialogue and cooperation between key players in the manufacturing sector.