The Women and Innovation 2024 Report is the third edition of the biennial series that began in 2020 promoted by the Women, Science, and Innovation Observatory (OMCI) of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (Spain), with the aim of analysing the situation of women in the field of innovation.

The main novelty of this Women and Innovation 2024 Report is the introduction of qualitative information, through an anonymous survey and the direct opinion of a series of leading women in the world of innovation in their professional fields, whom we have gathered and interviewed to find out first-hand what lies behind the data, and to make a detailed x-ray of the situations faced every day by women innovators and entrepreneurs in Spain with the aim of taking another step forward in our strategy of monitoring, measuring and understanding gender equality in this field.

PERCEPTIONS OF WOMEN INNOVATORS AND ENTREPRENEURS

“Although we have increased data disaggregated by gender on women’s participation in innovation, it is still too little, especially in the business sphere, to really know the situation of women and the role they are achieving in the field of innovation,
entrepreneurship, and knowledge transfer. This is especially important if we want to analyse the causes that perpetuate inequalities to eradicate them. 

For this reason, this Women and Innovation 2024 Report introduces, for the first time, quantitative and qualitative information through the direct opinion of women in the world of innovation in Spain, in their professional fields, with the aim of finding
out first-hand what lies behind the data, and thus making a detailed x-ray of the situations they face every day.

To obtain this information and take a further step forward in our strategy of monitoring, measuring, and understanding gender equality in this field, the following social research techniques have been used: surveys, focus groups and in-depth interviews.
In terms of the demographics of the 248 women surveyed, 46% are aged between 45 and 54 and 27% between 35 and 44, and most of them work as entrepreneurs or are professionals with salaried employees in small companies (49 people or less). They
have an important level of education, almost half (49.4%) have a university master’s degree, and 31.5% have a university degree or bachelor’s degree, mostly in the areas of business administration and law, with 38.3%, followed by engineering, industry, and
construction, with 19.8%. More than 80% of them are currently working in activities related to their studies, and most of them belong to the sector of professional, scientific, and technical activities (38.3%), followed by information and communications (16.9%). It should also be noted that 93.2% of them lead a team/ project or hold a management or supervisory position.

In addition to these general data, the women surveyed were asked questions on five major thematic blocks: Innovative process, Entrepreneurial process, Working conditions, Equality policies and Perception of equality conditions.

Regarding the innovation process, most of the women surveyed (63.3%) consider themselves capable of both planning innovative ideas and turning them into reality. Among the main difficulties they encounter when innovating is access to financing (49.6%) and finding qualified professional staff (41.1%). The skills they consider most important for innovation are leader  teamwork, and creativity, with resilience, critical thinking, organisation and, finally, adaptability at the bottom of the list.

From the responses in the block on the entrepreneurial process, more than half (58.2%) have started and created their own business. As for the reasons they give for starting their own business (regardless of whether they have done so or not), 64.5% do so to have a positive impact on their environment, 51.6% for personal self-fulfilment and 48.4% for greater autonomy and creative independence. As barriers, uncertainty (55.2%) and difficulties in obtaining funding (49.6%) stand out. Perhaps because almost half (46%) have had to resort to private investment and family support to obtain funding and only 18.1% obtained it from public funding and 13.3% from bank loans.

As regards their perception of the conditions for equality, 60% consider that the measures taken in their institution to ensure equality are sufficient, although almost 67% of women consider that motherhood does not affect women’s careers in the same way as men and 65% agree that motherhood can slow down their careers. Furthermore, only 34.2% consider that women occupy leadership positions commensurate with their abilities and 33.7% that the most prestigious tasks are shared equally. This difference between the situation they live in, and the perception of the measures denotes a certain learned helplessness and that they have internalised that they must go through this situation.

The results of the discussion groups show that we have extraordinary women in all fields of work and that, despite the differences between the sectors in which they work, they share similar problems and visions of innovation. Their definition of innovation is quite different from the traditional definition, and in all the groups, the need for innovation to bring value to society was highlighted. Something that is also highlighted when asked about the interests that have moved them and still move them to innovate, and that is that they want to contribute to and improve society. In many cases as a response to the impossibility of doing so from research and from the university. Another common element detected is that women tend to look to close references, even if they are not from the areas of R&D&I, such as professors, colleagues, or family member. because female role models in the scientific or business world are very scarce, they are not visible.

In terms of challenges, the fact common to all groups that they quickly associate challenges with barriers stands out. In addition, initially the generalised response is that they have not suffered different obstacles because they are women. However, they end up detailing the persistence of problems of work-life balance, mains planning, gender discrimination and sexual and gender-based harassment. They share the view that innovation is still built on male parameters and that there needs to be a change in the model.

Regarding future trends in innovation, there is a widespread view of the importance of sustainability in innovation and of having people at the centre of the process and as the goal. In addition, education is seen as an opportunity to sow an inclusive mentality in general and to promote the use of modern technologies. Regarding the interviews, it is worth highlighting the diversity of profiles of women who are currently working in the field of innovation. The passion that all the participants convey for their respective jobs is enormous. Passion that it is essential to transmit to young people, who have an innate interest in creating and inventing (especially them), to help eliminate persistent stereotypes in our society and move towards a fairer and more egalitarian society for all. This path is that of knowledge transfer for social innovation to put an end to inequalities.”

Executive Summary in English

Full Report in Spanish

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