Rising prevalence of female leadership in corporations

Spain's Catalonia Leads in Female Leadership, According to Grant Thornton Report

In a significant development, Catalonia has emerged as the region in Spain with the highest number of women in leadership positions in companies. This finding is part of the Women in Business 2025 report released by global professional services firm Grant Thornton.

The report, based on 5,000 global interviews including 400 in Spain, highlights the state of female leadership across private, public, listed, and family-owned companies in Spain. Over the past decade, there has been a 26.2-point improvement in the number of Spanish companies with women in senior roles, with female representation in these roles rising by 12.8 percentage points.

While Catalonia and Aragón have seen significant gains of 8.2 and 6.9 points, respectively, Valencia and Andalusia have experienced declines of 7.9 and 7.7 points. Despite this recent 1.6-point decline, women holding senior management roles in Spain still stand at 38.4%, slightly above the European average of 34%.

Isabel Perea, audit partner at Grant Thornton and leader of its Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee, emphasized the need for active equity policies to ensure women can fully realize their potential in leadership. Ramón Galcerán, President of Grant Thornton, underscored the link between gender diversity and improved business performance.

Women's access to top roles like CEO (19.3%) and chair (4.5%) remains limited compared to other positions in Spanish companies. However, Spain is ahead of both the European and global average in terms of women in leadership, making it the top country in Europe and sixth worldwide.

The private sector in Spain is the most transparent, with 83% of Spanish firms publicly sharing gender data, more than the EU average of 78%. Encouragingly, only 4.5% of Spanish companies lack women in senior roles, a figure better than the EU's 4.7% but slightly above the global 4.1%.

Ramón Galcerán insists that companies should stay committed despite regulatory or public opinion challenges. He emphasized that continued efforts are necessary to ensure the trend of increasing female leadership participation continues.

Regionally, Catalonia (44.2%) and Madrid (42.2%) have the highest rates of female executives in Spain, followed by Aragón (40.9%), Navarra (39.7%), Galicia (36.8%), Valencia (36.1%), and the Basque Country (35.7%).

The interviews for the report were conducted online and by telephone, with 72.65% male and 27.39% female respondents. The report serves as a call to action for Spanish companies to further enhance their efforts in promoting gender diversity and ensuring equal opportunities for women in leadership roles.