Global professional services company Grant Thornton has released a Women in Business 2025 report, highlighting the state of Spanish women’s leadership in private, public, public and family-owned businesses.
The report reveals a slight decline in women in senior management roles, down from the historic 40% over the past two years to 38.4%. Despite this dip, Spain is ahead of both the European and global averages 34%, and has established its sixth place worldwide as the top country in Europe for leadership women.
The report is based on 5,000 global interviews, including 400 people in Spain (200 online, 200 people on the phone, 72.65% men and 27.39% female respondents) demonstrated significant progress over time. Over the past decade, female representatives in senior positions in Spain have risen by 12.8 percentage points, up 4.6 percentage points over the past five years. However, the recent 1.6-point decline reveals the need for continuous effort. “It’s a mistake to assume that 38% is the finish line. We need to encourage aggressive equity policies in the workplace between female workers and female workers to ensure women can fully realize their leadership potential,” said Isabel Perea, audit partner at Grant Thornton and leader of its Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
Differences in female leadership across Spain
In the region, Spain’s progress is varied. Catalonia (44.2 per cent) and Madrid (42.2 per cent) have the highest percentage of female executives, followed by Aragon (40.9 per cent), Navarre (39.7 per cent), Galicia (36.8 per cent), Valencia (36.1 per cent), Andalusia (28.3 per cent) and Bascountry (35.7 per cent). Catalonia and Aragon made significant profits of 8.2 and 6.9 points respectively, while Valencia and Andalucia experienced a 7.9 and 7.7 points decline.
The report also states that only 4.5% of Spanish companies lack women in senior roles, superior to 4.7% in the EU, but slightly above 4.1% worldwide. This shows an improvement of 26.2 points over the past decade. However, women’s access to top rolls such as CEOs (down 7 points, 19.3%) and chairs (4.5%) is limited compared to other positions.
Ramón Galcerán, president of Grant Thornton, highlighted the link between gender diversity and improved business performance, claiming that businesses remain committed despite the challenges of regulatory or public opinion. The private sector is best for transparency, with 83% of Spanish companies publicly sharing gender data above the EU (78%).
