HerEnergy
HerEnergy – our initiative to promote and make female talent visible
At Iberdrola we know that we have an incomparable source of energy – our female leaders. That is why, in order to activate their talent and ambition, we are conducting the HerEnergy programme that seeks to make visible, accelerate and expand the development of women in our business
At the Iberdrola Group, we know that one of our main assets is our excellent human capital. For this reason, as part of our firm commitment to diversity and inclusion, we want to make the talent of our female employees more visible and promote their development through specific actions. We are aware of the significant progress made, but our goal is to continue making progress until we consolidate our position as an international benchmark in gender equality – both inside and outside the company.
To this end, we are conducting the HerEnergy programme, designed to make visible and promote the managerial talent of Iberdrola's women through their leadership in projects that are relevant or have an impact on the business. The aim is to broaden the strategic vision of the participants and strengthen networking by working in multidisciplinary teams.
Our 2025 Goals
Increase the percentage of women leaders in positions of relevance to 30%.
30 %
Increase the percentage of women in positions of responsability to 35%.
35 %The first HerEnergy call was attended by 31 participants from different positions and from all of the Group's subholding companies: 16% from Iberdrola España, 19% from Avangrid, 26% from ScottishPower, 19% from Neoenergia and 19% from Iberdrola Mexico.
Why is this programme necessary?
The energy sector, like many others, has historically been a male-dominated field across all professional and skill profiles. As a consequence, although women represent – according to World Bank data – 47% of the global workforce, they make up only 22% in the energy sector. Furthermore, most of them are in low-level managerial or technical positions – according to the International Energy Agency.
Behind these data lies the significant gender gap in technology and science careers – the so-called STEM careers (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). According to UNESCO global data, women represent only 35 % of those in STEM higher education and less than 30 % of scientific researchers.
The gender pay gap in Europe – which has the second highest level of gender parity – will take six decades to close at the current rate, according to a study by EAE Business School. The same report looks at the representation of women in leadership in companies in 22 countries, and only a few sectors come close to gender parity in leadership. Among these sectors, there are non-governmental organisations (47%), education (46%), and personal services and welfare (45%). At the other extreme are the energy sector (20%), industry (19%) and infrastructure (16%). According to the Gender Gap Report 2022, it will take 151 years to close the economic gap between men and women and 132 years, at the current rate, to reach full gender parity.
We promote gender equality
At the Iberdrola Group we are committed to promoting the presence of women.
Women at Iberdrola Group
Our aim is to be an international benchmark in equality.
Promoting scientific vocations
We have initiatives to support the professional development of women in STEM areas.
Iberdrola and its commitment to equality
In the Iberdrola Group, we hired 1,564 women in 2023 – which represents 33.6% of the total number of new hires. Women represent 24.4% of the company's workforce, 43% of its Board of Directors, 27.8% of relevant positions and 34.5% of leadership positions (a percentage that will reach 35% by 2025, leading the governance, ethics and compliance rankings).
Aware that we have a responsibility to continue to promote and attract diverse talent to our Group, we have several initiatives in place. ScottishPower, Avangrid, Neoenergia and Iberdrola Mexico have implemented affinity groups – internal employee networks focused on promoting the progress of women talent in the organisation.
Neoenergia, which is committed to increasing the number of women in leadership positions by more than 31% by 2025 in all its business units, has a School of Electricians for women – a free training and professional skills programme. Another of its commitments is to have 35% of women trained in this school and 12% of women in electrician positions.
Iberdrola Mexico has the Impulso STEM programme, carried out since 2019 in alliance with local institutions that seeks to promote the study of engineering among Oaxacan youth, especially women. The programme will have an impact on at least one hundred public schools and over 12,000 students by providing university scholarships, training for teachers and career counsellors, and by developing STEM courses for students in basic and secondary education, as well as carrying out communication campaigns to encourage – especially women – to study engineering. At the end of 2022, 58 scholarships were awarded; half of them to women. In 2023, 23 more scholarships were awarded in the fourth call for applications. In addition, 120 teachers have been trained – creating an impact on 2,000 direct and indirect students and teachers. In addition, the first Impulso STEM 2020 Perception Study was carried out.
Iberdrola in the United States supports the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). Since 2021, the company has been part of Paradigm for Parity – a coalition of organisations dedicated to addressing racial and gender gaps in the business sector and achieving full gender parity by 2030.
In the UK, our subsidiary ScottishPower is a member of POWERful Women, which aims to advance gender diversity in the energy sector. Its goal is for 40% of middle management in UK energy companies and 30% of board positions to be held by women by 2030. The institution also supports the Energy Leaders Coalition – an initiative with sixteen of the country's leading energy CEOs who have publicly stated their commitment to improving gender diversity in their companies and in the market.
In Spain, one of our most ambitious projects, in addition to agreements and alliances with different entities, is the Technovation Girls initiative. This project seeks to encourage girls' interest in STEM careers through a programme in which they work alongside volunteer mentors to solve problems in their environment by using technology. In addition, we have the Iberdrola España Cybersecurity Bootcamp, in which Iberdrola finances 100% of the enrolment fee, with 60% of the students being women. This not only guarantees access to trained profiles to fill vacancies, but also allows a high percentage of these new recruitments to be women.
Furthermore, in order to have access from the Talent Attraction area to the best female profiles, an alliance with Womenalia and with AEMENER has been established with the aim of helping companies to promote STEM opportunities among women. In this way, Iberdrola has access to women's profiles that may fit the technical vacancies in demand – thus allowing for a greater balance in hiring.
Lastly, Iberdrola International includes its female employees in specific training programmes such as "Women in Leadership", offered by MIT.