“The search for equality between men and women is the greatest social innovation that we have presented as a society”, The philosopher Amelia Valcárcel reiterated on several occasions. The reason is not missing if we observe how by introduccing this social innovation, the result is double: a positive collective impact and economic growth.
The social innovation, understood as the introduction of new elements with the objective of transforming society, is also essential to reach an equal society.
However, despite progress, there is still a long way to go. There are currently “significant gender imbalances” in the sector, something that obstructs womens access to resources to foster innovation. This is one of the main conclusions drawn from the study Mujeres e Innovación 2020, conducted by the Ministry of Science and innovation. ”It is not that women innovate less, but, with the information available today, it is not possible to know exactly how much, where or how they do it,” the report notes.
On the other hand, structural inequality continues to be a major drag on women’s momentum and development, including in the field of innovation. Today women represent 64% of university students, but managerial positions, when talking about innovation, in the business, scientific, technological, economic field… are still occupied by a higher percentage of men.
An approach to the current scenario. Women and social innovation
Although we do not have all the data to draw an accurate X-ray of what is the situation of women in the field of social innovation, we can get closer thanks to reports such as the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). In its latest edition Spain leads the parity in the European environment for the sixth consecutive year, with 9 women entrepreneurs per 10 men, a figure that exceeds the European average (6 women per 10 men).
In addition, there are more than 650,000 women entrepreneurs in Spain, according to the ESADE Institute of Social Innovation in its study Mujeres con Impacto: ecosistema de mujeres emprendedoras sociales en España. However, these seemingly positive figures could be better if there were no barriers that women face just because they are women.
The study highlights that while in the final phases of a project, between 70 and 80% of entrepreneurs get all the necessary financial support, in the case of female entrepreneurs the figure is below 30%. One of the reasons: the sectors in which social entrepreneurs tend to start are less valued by investors.
“Women undertake more in the service sector, with the consequent lower pay, greater competition, reduced profit margins, lower chances of survival and less technological innovation.”
For their part, men devote more hours than women to their companies, but they recognize that social impact is not the main objective of their project (51% of men versus 83% of women).
And another of the biggest obstacles for women in the Twenty-First Century is care. These are still reserved for women. At present, woman continue to be more conditioned than men to reconcile family and work life.
The world is changing at the speed of light and there are many great social challenges which face us. To succeed in doing so, to quote Virginia Woolf, it’s necessary that women have their own space in social innovation, in the form of an entity, a laboratory, a company… Thus, a world that listens to the other half of the population, it would be without a doubt, a better world.
