Detail information

In celebration of International Women's Day 2023, at Fagor Ederlan we would like to reaffirm our commitment to equal opportunities for men and women, an essential factor in building a fairer and more equitable working environment and society.

Our commitment to gender equality is closely linked to our cooperative identity, based on the belief that respect for diversity of all kinds is essential for our company to be more equitable, innovative, and competitive. That is why we promote an environment where everyone can develop to their full potential and contribute to the success of the company through their position and proposals.

Equal opportunities in the automotive industry

The automotive industry and gender equality+

The automotive industry has traditionally been male-dominated in all its areas (manufacturing, dealerships, or advertising). However, as the industry and society have evolved, the number of women in this industry has also increased. At Fagor Ederlan we are proud to be part of this development and to promote diversity and inclusion as part of our DNA.

We know that there are still significant constraints for women in this sector and we want to challenge those constraints by offering the same career development opportunities to all individuals. As a result of this evolution, we can affirm that the highest governing body of our company, the Board of Directors, has 58% female representation, followed by 38% representation on our group management boards.

An upward and positive change that we must continue to promote. Although at Fagor Ederlan women are increasingly visible in areas traditionally dominated by men, such as technical and production areas, they still make up a small 19% of our total workforce (albeit with identical salary and working conditions for both sexes).

Challenges facing women in the automotive industry

The lack of female role models in the industry hinders access to role models and mentors who can inspire and guide women in their professional development in this sector. At Fagor Ederlan, we believe it is very important to make progress visible and to bear witness to the achievements of women in this field.

That is why this year we wanted to invite some of the leading figures in this evolution.

Judith, Esperanza, Virginia and Itsaso

The real key players in this process within the Fagor Ederlan family are the women. Some of our female colleagues have been encouraged to share their impressions and give us their views on gender equality.

Judith Muruamendiaraz

Engineering Manager - Aluminium Business

This year, Fagor Ederlan celebrates its 60th anniversary. At the beginnings of Fagor Ederlan, the presence of women was very much concentrated in the administrative and personnel areas. At the end of the 1990s, we began to include women in the technical areas, both in quality and engineering, and above all in the production area machining plants, and in some specific positions in the foundries.

Since then, we women have been increasing our organic presence in different areas of management and leadership, but from my point of view only slowly. 30 years later, women make up only 20% of Fagor Ederlan. As far as our presence in management and social bodies is concerned, we represent 58% of the Governing Board and 21% of the Social Council.

In the general direction, it is 18% again. If we consider equality to be 50%, we are still a long way off. Looking ahead, the equality plan that has been launched seems positive to me; it defines the action lines, and addresses the steps we should take to achieve equality. I think it is also positive that this plan is time-bound, so we would go from organic to inorganic expansion. This should help to accelerate the transformation.

Esperanza Herruzo, Professional Tooling Maintenance - Machining Plant in Bergara

I would say that the evolution of women has been great, both in shop floor and management positions. However, some departments are still male-dominated. And that would be our request to the cooperative: that it provides the means to ensure a greater presence of women in the workforce.

Virginia González, Manager of Fagor Ederlan - Head of Environment - Central Offices

Women in Fagor Ederlan, as in society in general, lead us to a diversity-oriented reality. I consider this situation of diversity to be absolutely necessary within the roadmap for equality. From my point of view, diversity is one of the strengths of the working groups.

It is clear to me that the profile we women bring (empathy, active listening, intuition) will be a transforming one.

Itsaso Erretolaza, Head of the Advanced Industrialisation and Testing Module - Edertek Technology Centre

Society and industry are still far from equality. If we want equality, we need women's names. In other words, as long as there are no women's names in management, on boards of directors or in vice-presidencies and presidencies, we will not be equal.

Just look at the numbers and you will see that. In cooperatives we are lagging behind in this respect, even if we are pioneers in technology or in cooperative values. I think we are falling behind, at least in comparison with others. That is why we are forced to take steps.

Furthermore, we are seeing that leadership is also changing in recent times, society is moving from authoritarian leadership to a leadership of proposals.

The increase in numbers should help us in these difficult times. It will be an enrichment for us. 

Fagor Ederlan's Equality Plan

At Fagor Ederlan we believe that diversity is valuable from both an ethical and a business perspective. We work to foster an inclusive and diverse environment not only because it makes us a fairer and more equitable cooperative, but also because it is has a positive impact on our performance. It allows us to innovate and grow more and better.

In 2021 we carried out a cooperative equality diagnosis and based on this we defined our Equality Plan, which guides and orients all our activities.