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How Spain’s new gender parity law will affect companies and government

The Spanish government has taken another important step in the fight for equality with the reapproval of its gender parity law. Here’s how it will work.

Published: 7 March 2023 17:33 CET
Updated: 6 December 2023 09:57 CET

How Spain's new gender parity law will affect companies and government

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (C) with Spain's Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda Raquel Sanchez (L) and government spokeswoman Pilar Alegria (R). Photo: Thomas COEX/AFP.

Spain’s Council of Ministers has reapproved its new equal representation law, which will affect big companies and public government bodies.

The law was first pre-approved back in March, and though touted by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at the time as a step in the right direction for gender equality in Spain, it was ultimately dropped due to the general election being brought forward to July.

The parity law will make it compulsory for there to be at least 40 percent representation of women in government, on the boards of directors of large companies, and in constitutional bodies. It is designed to guarantee equal opportunities between men and women, especially in important positions, both in the public and private sectors.

When it was first announced in March Sánchez said “not one step back” will be taken in defence of equality between men and women, assuring that the law’s new measures will not be dependent on whichever political parties are in government.

The government spokeswoman, Pilar Alegría, announced the reapproval of the draft law at a press conference following a Council of Ministers meeting this week: “Women have to have half of the political and economic power of the country,” she said, adding that, with this rule, “a fundamental step is taken to… real equality between men and women.”

Alegría also emphasised that this is the first law approved by the government since its reelection and is therefore “a declaration of intent.”

“This is a feminist government,” she added.

What will the parity law apply to?

Parliament and Senate – Parties such as Sumar, Unidas Podemos and PSOE were already ensuring that they had female representation on their own initiative, but it is now mandatory by law. This means that 44 percent of the seats in Spain’s Congress and 39 percent in the Senate must be occupied by women.
The Council of Ministers – The Council of Ministers (or Spanish Cabinet) must be “balanced” and have an equal number of men and women, so that each sex must represent at least 40 percent of the total.
Boards of directors of large companies – The law will be applicable to large listed companies or public interest entities that have more than 250 employees and an annual turnover of €50 million. 40 percent of management positions will have to be filled by women. The presence of women on the board was already a recommendation of the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), the supervisor of the securities markets, but there are many other companies that can also benefit.
Governing Boards of professional associations and public recognition juries – The governing boards of professional associations and the juries that award prizes with public money must also comply with the minimum percentage of 40 percent of each sex.

When will the law come into force?

The approval of the equal representation law means that other legislation already in force such as the general electoral regime, the Government Law and the law on professional associations, among others will also likely need to be modified.

The law must now be submitted through a long process that includes possible amendments, as well as debates and voting in Congress and the Senate. It will only enter into force once it is published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) which will happen once the legislation has made it through the Congress and Senate.

With the delay due to the surprise snap general election in July, the implementation schedule for the law has now been made more flexible, ranging from 2024 for the Ibex 35 (the Spanish stock market) to as late as 2028 for some public bodies.

In 2022 Spain ranked 6th in the EU on the Gender Equality Index with 74.6 out of 100 points. Its score was 6.0 points above the average EU’s score.

Despite this, there is still a gender wage gap in Spain. Women earn on average 21 percent less than men in Spain and they are in the minority when it comes to the highest wage brackets, according to recent data from Spain’s National Statistics Institute’s (INE) Active Population Survey.

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Why regional elections in Catalonia matter to Spain's future

Sunday May 12th will see regional elections in Catalonia at a time when political uncertainty and unpredictability reigns not only in the northern region but across the country. As such, the results could, and likely will, have political ramifications at the national level, perhaps even on the stability of the government itself.

If you follow Spanish politics, you’ll have probably noticed that there’s been quite a lot going on recently. And even if you aren’t a semi-obsessive politico, Spanish politics has been so melodramatic, so unpredictable and (at times) so ridiculous, that in recent months it’s been hard to ignore.

In short: Socialist (PSOE) Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez made a pact with Catalan separatist parties to stay in power after last summer’s general election. Part of this was an amnesty law that granted a legal amnesty to people involved in the failed 2017 referendum independence bid, but it caused outrage across many parts of the country and led to weeks of protests, some of which were violent.

Though Sánchez faced a lot of public ire, Carles Puigdemont, the former President of Catalonia who is a fugitive from Spanish law, takes the brunt of the hatred, particularly from the Spanish right and far-right. Puigdemont is running again in the regional election on May 12th, and has already stated that he will leave politics if he isn’t re-elected.

More recently, Sánchez shocked the country by publishing a highly personal letter on Twitter/X, reportedly released without the advice of his advisors or cabinet colleagues, stating that he was taking five days out to consider his future following repeated attacks against his wife over alleged influence peddling. This came right before the Catalan campaign kicked off and essentially brought politics to a standstill and left the country in limbo.

Sánchez then disappeared from public life, shut himself away in his La Moncloa residence and considered his future, leaving the country in the midst of what felt like a telenovela – a soap opera. On Monday he announced he was staying on and attempted to use the decision as a pivot moment to reinvigorate his government, strengthen Spanish democracy, and to make a stand against what Sánchez describes as the far-right ‘mud machine’.

Others view things differently. While Sánchez supporters see the debacle as a brave affront to right-wing harassment and lawfare tactics used against him, critics have described it as farcical, manipulative, and opposition Partido Popular leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo said that Sánchez had “made a fool of himself” and embarrassed Spain on the global scene.

Many view the move as cynical electioneering, and Sánchez does indeed have a well deserved reputation as a somewhat machiavellian political maneuverer.

But how can Sánchez’s five day mini-sabbatical be electioneering if Spain had elections as recently as last summer? Here’s where the upcoming Catalan elections come in again.

Why regional elections in Catalonia matter to Spain’s future

In short: the results of the Catalan elections have the potential to disrupt the delicate power balance in Madrid.

Some context: in the Catalan regional government, pro-independence parties Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), Junts per Catalunya (Puigdemont’s party) and the smaller Candidatura d’Unitat Popular (CUP) have an absolute majority. This allowed separatist parties, namely ERC and Junts, greater political leverage when negotiating the amnesty with Sánchez and the PSOE last year.

Though some, particularly in Junts, would like the amnesty (which is still yet to be approved in the Senate) to go further, the national government has more or less survived since the summer based on this uneasy truce. Depending on the results in Catalonia on May 12th, we may see just how fragile it really is.

Exiled Catalan separatist leader, MEP and founder of the Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) party Carles Puigdemont gives a speech during a meeting to present his list for the upcoming regional elections in Catalonia, in Elna, southwestern France. (Photo by Matthieu RONDEL / AFP)

What do the polls say? Most seem to have the PSC (the PSOE’s sister party in Catalonia) making big gains and becoming the biggest party in the Generalitat, with leader Salvador Illa becoming President. According to RTVE’s average of polls, the PSC is on course to win 39 seats, six more than in 2021. Junts is projected to be in second place with 32 seats and would thus overtake ERC, which would get 28, a loss of 5 seats, though some polls put ERC in second and Junts third.

However, no poll gives the PSC an absolute majority of 68 seats needed to govern alone. As such, the PSC, should it win, will require the votes of far-left Comuns-Sumar, but also a coalition arrangement with a pro-independence party, most likely ERC.

However, polling from El Nacional, a Catalan newspaper, estimates that undecided voters still make up a third (33.5 percent) of the Catalan electorate, so there will likely be some variation from polling data to the results on election day.

Interestingly, Sánchez’s five day reflection period seems to have actually boosted PSOE polling numbers overall on a national level. According to a flash poll taken following the letter, the PSOE vote intention surged.

But the move has not proven popular with politicians in Catalonia, particularly among the pro-independence parties Sánchez’s government relies on in Madrid. The current President of the Generalitat and ERC candidate Pere Aragonès accused Sánchez of exploiting the “empathy” of the Spanish public “for an exclusively political purpose”, describing the “five day comedy” as “yet another electoral manoeuvre.”

The ERC has even made a complaint to Spain’s electoral authority about Sánchez’s decision and subsequent interview on Spanish state TV, claiming it could have breached electoral rules by favouring the PSOE candidacy in the Catalan election.

Junts general secretary Jordi Turull, meanwhile, has accused Sánchez of “interfering in the Catalan election.”

Remember, these are the parties that prop up the Sánchez government at the national level.

Protesters hold up a banner reading “Pedro (Sánchez), traitor” and “Spain is not for sale” during an anti-amnesty protest in Madrid. (Photo by Pierre-Philippe MARCOU / AFP)

Potential scenarios

So, it’s safe to say that things are tense in Spanish politics. Sánchez has angered a lot of people with his period of reflection — not only his opponents but also those who prop up his government in Congress. Conversely, the move does seem to have increased PSOE support overall ahead of polling day, and the PSC seems to be on course to win in Catalonia.

With no party likely to win an absolute majority, the Catalan results on May 12th will require coalitions, which could in turn have a ripple effect on alliances in Madrid. This is principally because there is a possibility that ERC or Junts could be left out of the Generalitat, which could remove the incentive for one (or even both, in the unlikely event of a PSC absolute majority) pro-independence parties to keep Sánchez in the Moncloa, or at the very least to demand more from him.

The polls suggest the most likely outcome is the PSC winning the elections but needing the support of ERC. At the national level, this could lead to a split in the separatist movement and would leave Junts’ support in Congress up in the air. Junts could theoretically withdraw its support, topple the government, and trigger further general elections.

Another scenario touted by political pundits is that pro-independence parties could again win an absolute majority between them. This would heap further political pressure on Sánchez, who, after already spending a lot of political capital on the amnesty law, would likely be pressured for further concessions from the Generalitat, namely another referendum but also changes to the amnesty law. Separatist parties would point to their victory, against polling predictions, as a mandate for pushing the pro-independence movement further.

Of course, there’s also the (admittedly unlikely) possibility that Junts per Catalunya win an absolute majority and Puigdemont becomes President of the region, something that would set the scene for his return to Spain and send shockwaves through Spanish politics.

Perhaps there is no better indication of how important this election is than the fact that Sánchez’s first public appearance since his ‘will he, won’t he’ resignation stunt was at the Fería de Barcelona.

Whatever happens in Catalonia on May 12th, two things seem certain: firstly, that people from across the country will be tuning in for the results; and secondly, as the last few years have shown, predictions are essentially useless and anything can happen in Spanish politics.

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