Companies with greater gender equality perform better in terms of innovation and are more competitive

The Impact of Women on Industrial Competitiveness study has shown that companies that give more importance to equality perform better in terms of technological innovation and are more competitive. The compiled data indicates that as gender equality increases in companies, so does R&D&I intensity; the performance is better in terms of billing, employment and internationalisation, with a strong positive correlation between the variables.

As part of the Women in Industry initiative, SPRI – Basque Business Development Agency has produced a methodology aimed at understanding the relationship between gender equality and industrial competitiveness in the manufacturing sector. The methodology has been tested in the Basque Country, where industry accounts for close to 40% of the GDP if the ancillary services are taken into account. However, women only represent 21% of employment in industry. The results shows that the higher the equality level of companies, the more competitive they are. The full results of the study of the Basque case are now available through this link:

Thus, the companies that give less importance to equality among those studied are also seen to invest less in R&D& than the more egalitarian ones. In fact, 65.3% of the less egalitarian companies did not even invest in R&D&I in 2021.

Moreover, companies that give more importance to equality have, to a larger extent, departments focused exclusively on R&D&I, along with greater participation in international, national or regional projects in this field.

Furthermore, the study also emphasises that companies with higher levels of equality are more competitive. The data likewise highlight that more egalitarian companies perform better in terms of turnover and employment, R&D&I and Internationalisation. In turn, more competitive companies are also seen to have higher levels of gender equality, after analysing the horizontal and vertical segregation, work-life balance measures and the gender policies of the companies.

Therefore, women’s participation on an equal footing in the company is shown to be one of the factors contributing to competitiveness.