Spanish companies are required by law to have an Equality Plan that guarantees non-discrimination of women in the workplace, but at CESCE we wanted to go even further.

With this in mind, we have developed a plan of action to achieve this desire and we have built it around a question: Did you know that a woman... illuminates?

2018: Women who illuminate: the first dossier

On the occasion of the celebration of International Women's Week, we developed a campaign on our intranet under the slogan "Mujeres que Iluminan" (Women who Illuminate) , which sought the active participation of our employees in the search for biographies of women between the 19th and 21st centuries, always within the Hispanic culture, who had stood out in their respective fields.

The success was overwhelming, with participation from both sides of the Atlantic. All the biographies were compiled into a document that was sent to the Women's Institute and the Ministry of Equality, and the initiative was selected by the Spanish Global Compact Network as an example to follow, with wide coverage in the insurance media.

2019: Turn on the light to see violence and teach light bulb making to encourage integration

On this occasion, and with special support from SDG 17 Partnerships, we wanted to act directly on the ground and work with real women with whom we could commit to improving their employment situation. To this end, together with Fundación Adecco, we joined the Carrera de Fondo para el Empleo project, in which CESCE received a group of women in the process of re-entering the labor market. From our volunteers they received large doses of advice, inspiration and the necessary certainty to remind themselves of their value.

We also support the report "A job against violence" developed by the Adecco Foundation, which shows the situation in figures of violence against women in our country and whose foreword has been signed by Fernando Salazar, president of CESCE.

For that reason, and because we are aware that our rural environment is a great field of ideas to develop, we have given impetus to female entrepreneurship in our depopulated areas by the hand of Presura in the IX Edition of El Hueco Starter of 2019, where we have delivered the "Award to the best rural entrepreneur in sparsely populated areas".

In addition, we are members of the EWI (Empower Women in Insurance) Network initiative, which aims to achieve parity between men and women in management positions.

2020: more wattage

With the help of our CESCE Institutional Relations unit, we have partnered with the Spanish Chamber of Commerce through a collaboration agreement so that this link between female entrepreneurship and rurality can continue with a strategic plan that reaches more women.

Also, this time hand in hand with UNHCR, we have participated in the project Emergency: Democratic Republic of Congo, so that displaced families have sunlight at night and minimize the risk of rape.

In addition, the second edition of our Women Who Illuminate 2.0 dossier is now open to biographies of women from any era.

In addition, we are certified in Efr with a B rating (one of the highest), because we believe that work-life balance is the fastest way to fulfillment for our employees, as stated in our Efr dossier and its section on equal opportunities.

2021: The Light We Shine: CESCE Women Speak Out

And this year we want to start by listening to the voices of CESCE's women who, being in the majority (59% of employees) and from their different jobs, can shed a lot of light on what it is like for them to be working women.

An initiative that will be followed by many more.

CESCE may not be able to change the world, but it can do its part and become the butterfly that generates hurricanes. Or the switch of a light bulb that turns on in the dark.

View infographic 'Mujeres que Iluninan' (Women who Illuminate) here