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Iberdola and the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) have signed a cooperation agreement today which is intended to bolster equality in sport, encouraging female athletes to become an inspiration for other women and society. This way, the agreement grants Iberdrola the condition of a partner for the COE's gender equality strategy.

This agreement, which is in alignment with the commitment of both organisations to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) no. 5: Gender equality, was signed this morning at the company's offices in Madrid by the president of Iberdrola, Ignacio Galán and the president of the COE, Alejandro Blanco.

The event also hosted Victoria Cabezas, general secretary of the COE, Isabel Fernández, senior vice-president of the COE, judo athlete and twice Olympic medallist (bronze at Atlanta 1996 and gold at Sydney 2000) and Isabel García, president of the Commission for Women and Gender Equality of the COE, president of the Royal Spanish Federation of Rescue and Lifesaving and vice-president of the COE.

After signing, Galán pointed out that "at Iberdrola we are sure that sport is one of the best vehicles to use for encouraging equality between men and women, which is the fifth SDG and an indisputable principle for our company, which bolsters equal opportunities, encourages reconciliation and strengthens the full development of all its workers".

Within the framework of this agreement, Iberdrola and the COE want to launch a Gender Equality programme in sport which will become a reference point for the rest of Spanish society and will involve both technical training and empowerment and specific actions (round tables or conferences) to encourage the visibility of women in sport. This initiative will also be presented to the Gender Equality Committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for it to set an example for the global Olympic movement. 

Likewise, Iberdola, an international pioneer for sustainability^[i], will become a partner in the COE's strategy in this regard, which will imply its active participation in presenting the Annual Sustainability Report of the Committee itself, as well as its support for the initiatives it promotes together with the United Nations Global Pact to implement the SDGs in the sports corporate sector and for female athletes acting as ambassadors for sustainability.

Iberdrola launches the digital eco-system "Ellas valen oro" (Women are worth gold)

Within the framework of this strong push towards bolstering women in sport, Iberdrola has launched the digital eco-system Ellas valen oro (Women are worth gold) today, through which it is able to strengthen the dissemination of information about female athletes for the next Olympic Games, which will take place in Tokyo between 24th July and 9th August next year.

This platform, which includes a website (www.ellasvalenoro.es) and social media profiles (Twitterhttps://twitter.com/ellasvalenoro), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/ellasvalenoro/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ellasvalenoro), as well as other actions to give female athletes more visibility, is intended to publicise not only their achievements and milestones in each discipline, but also the personal stories underlying them. 

With the cooperation of different federations and players, Ellas valen oro (Women are worth gold) will include videos, photos, reports and interviews that will talk about the women's path towards the Olympic Games, from their dedicated preparation to their classification, culminating in their participation in the Olympic Games in the Japanese capital. Iberdrola is also expected to implement digital actions to promote support for female athletes from the Spanish population.

Sport, crucial for promoting equality

Both signing the agreement with the COE and launching this digital eco-system are a further demonstration of the company's commitment to women's sport. In 2016 Iberdrola became the first company to make a strong, and successful, global commitment to encouraging women’s participation in sport as a way of promoting equal opportunities.

Iberdrola currently supports 16 federations: gymnastics, triathlon, rugby, canoeing, badminton, football, handball, volleyball, hockey, table tennis, athletics, karate, boxing, surfing, ice sports and fencing. Iberdrola also lends its name to 22 national top-tier sports leagues, and over 35 competitions.

The greater input of resources (facilities, medical services, referees, etc.) has not only helped to increase the number of federated female athletes in these disciplines by 32% (reaching 316,500), but is also allowing Spanish elite female athletes that have developed their sporting career in other countries to start competing again in Spain, contributing to an improvement in national competitions.

Equality between men and women is one of Iberdrola’s core values. With its commitment to women's sport, the company helps to create new role models for society and encourage healthy habits at an early age.

Iberdrola promotes and disseminates the role of women in sport through other initiatives, like the ‘Women’s Universe Tour’, in collaboration with the Higher Sports Council and the Fundación Deporte Joven, whose purpose is to transmit values like hard work and improvement, through the practicing and presentation of a variety of disciplines and to spread the word about the success of Spanish athletes.

^{[i] It is the only European "utility" included in the 20 editions of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index}