The round table, moderated by Marc Grau, researcher in the Childcare and Family Policies Chair of the Institute for Advanced Family Studies, addressed different experiences as regards the promotion of good practices, most notably the 18-week paternity and maternity leave at Change.org, Google’s equality working groups and Renault’s efforts to promote the presence of women on the assembly and design line. In the case of the latter, this policy helped increase profits and improve the workers’ performance.
The event, organised by the Cepaim Foundation, Renault, Change.org and Google, included the presentation of the programme Adelante, co-funded by the European Social Fund and the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, with income tax appropriations, the aim of which is to assist social and occupational integration. This programme focuses on improving the social and labour situation of women in vulnerable situations. The conference, which took place in February in Madrid to commemorate European Equal Pay Day, put emphasis on the need for men to take joint responsibility and for a more egalitarian corporate culture.
During the event, which brought together a number of human resources managers, it was stressed that 75% of all part-time workers are women, and that currently only 2% of the men who request a reduction in working hours do so to take care of family members. This piece of information illustrates an urgent need for more joint responsibility within families and for appropriate social policies that support it, while continuing to provide children the protection and care they need.
