Letter from the Chairwoman to honour International Women's Day on March 8th
Like every year, the commemoration of the International Women's Day encourages us to reflect on the progress made by women, to demand more changes and to celebrate the courage and determination of those who have played and continue to play a pivotal role in the history of their countries and communities.
The campaign chosen by the UN for this year "Empowering Woman, Empowering Humanity: Picture it!" recreates a world in which every woman and every girl can choose their future, and make their own decisions in societies free from violence and discrimination.
At FCC we have established permanent lines of action in line with those same principles. Throughout 2014 we continued to take important steps in that direction:
- We signed the Spanish Diversity Charter; an initiative agreed upon voluntarily by companies and institutions with which we establish and strengthen our commitment to the fundamental principles of equality, non-discrimination in the workplace, support for diversity and respect for people's differences. Principles that are prominent in our corporate identity and those to which we are particularly committed.
- We signed, in conjunction with other Spanish companies, the Collaboration Agreement with the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, which aims for the adoption of measures that boost the presence of women in leadership roles, management committees and boards of directors so that progress can be made towards achieving gender balance and fairness in decision-making roles.
We also publicly declared our commitment, in response to the European Platform for Action towards Parity, to support and promote equal participation of men and woman in our Board of Directors.Already in 2015, one of our main undertakings with regard to this topic will be to sign, next Monday 9 March, together with the trade unions MCA-UGT and Comisiones Obreras, the II Equality Plan of FCC Construcción which includes improvements in the scope of reconciliation and communication.
All of the above have been crucial steps in a long journey which still has many stones left unturned.
A journey in which we are all involved at FCC, particularly, the more than 12,239 women who, along with their colleagues and associates, make it possible on a daily basis.
A journey in which the 1601 women, who were incorporated to our group over the course of 2014, will face less obstacles than those encountered by the women who came before.
An enriching and diverse journey, in which knowledge and ability are not privileges inherent to any gender, as adequately demonstrated by the 49 women at FCC who are responsible for the development of projects in other countries.
A journey in which –I am convinced of– the first people to demonstrate by example and attitude that change is possible, will be the 172 female managers we currently have working in the Group.
Ladies and Gentlemen of FCC, I urge you all to stand up and defend the achievements of women, to acknowledge their challenges and to focus more on their rights, given that –do not forget– when a woman makes progress, alongside her we do too.
Kind regards,
Esther Alcocer Koplowitz
Chairwoman of FCC