Economic equality: progress and persistent barriers
Economic parity has improved, yet the pace remains slow. Across many sectors, gender discrimination persists and often acts as an unseen barrier affecting the majority of the female workforce. Senior leadership remains hard to attain in several industries, and the challenge compounds for women who pursue executive roles after age 50. Balancing a demanding career with family responsibilities adds another layer of complexity, a dynamic not as common in men’s professional lives. The wage gap remains a quiet but damaging force, frequently overlooked but always present. These inequalities exist, even if they are not openly acknowledged.
In Spain, the ClosinGap 2024 report by PwC shows that women accounted for 51.4% of the working-age population in 2022 but represented only 42.3% of the country’s GDP, a slight increase from the previous year. The opportunity cost of closing the gap for the Spanish economy was estimated at 213,013 million euros, equating to a 15.8% rise in 2022 GDP and about 2.9 million full-time female jobs. It helps to examine how women participate in the workforce. Generally, smaller Spanish firms employ a smaller share of women, according to the report on the Role of Women in Spanish Companies. Female employment stood at 32.6% in small businesses, 37.4% in micro SMEs, and 36.9% in medium-sized companies.
Salary transparency remains the biggest taboo
Unlike the United States, where pay transparency is more common, Spain still struggles with visibility into colleagues’ earnings. This secrecy compounds the wage gap, one of the most widespread gender inequalities. A large majority of women, about 72%, believe a pay gap exists. They work in roles with similar responsibilities as male colleagues, yet many attribute disparities to factors such as remote work or hybrid models, according to a barometer of women’s leadership, equality, and reconciliation policies conducted by FEDEPE. The perception of unequal pay persists despite data and research.
Available data from the Ministry of Finance Technicians emphasizes that the pay gap could take decades to close if progress continues at the current pace. Women still earn around €5,000 less than men and would need a 24.8% salary increase to reach parity with male colleagues. The largest gaps cluster in Madrid, Asturias, and Aragon, with notable disparities in the primary sector and financial services. The pattern shows that as job pay rises, female representation tends to fall, with more than a quarter of higher-paying positions occupied by women.
Gestha points to precarity and the glass ceiling as drivers of these differences, noting that millions of women would not receive the minimum wage in some scenarios. They also highlight that higher job levels correlate with lower female employment, underscoring structural barriers in wage progression and career advancement.
The weight of care work on careers
One of the most significant hurdles is aligning the working day with care duties. The persistence of motherhood, caregiving responsibilities, and pay gaps between roles that demand flexibility and those that require long hours are central to the ongoing gender gap. Research on why the gap endures highlights the impact of non-work responsibilities on women’s career trajectories.
Because of time devoted to child and elder care, a notable share of women in Spain opts for part-time contracts compared to men. Reports indicate that the vast majority of part-time workers in care-related roles are women, who often are overqualified for their positions. Permanent contracts remain more common, and most part-time roles are in the private sector and smaller firms. This is not mere volunteering; many women would accept more hours if state-supported care were available, and a majority would return to full-time work if that support existed. Researchers note that greater pay equity could help reduce care biases and bridge the gap between men and women in the workforce.
Reach for leadership: who leads and who lags
The presence of women in top leadership positions varies by sector. Across many Spanish companies, women are still underrepresented on corporate boards, with higher representation in education and health services. Among major indices, only a small number of women reach senior management, and the share remains well below parity. Some standout examples exist in private and public sectors, where female leadership has begun to rise, yet overall progress is uneven. When women over 50 ascend to leadership roles, the challenge of discrimination remains considerable. The gap between generations is evident in leadership profiles—for instance, the contrast between the tenure of top executives who are women and those who are younger peers. The landscape shows several progressive cases, but the broader trend indicates room for improvement in achieving balanced governance and decision-making across the corporate world.