Spain
EU
Gender Equality Act 2007
Applicable to
Gender
Yes
Minorities
LGBTQ+
Veterans
Key requirements
In 2007, Spain became the first country in the European Union to introduce a gender quota through its Gender Equality Act recommending all large public and private firms to designate at least 40 per cent of each gender on company boards by 2015.
Unlike Norway, the Spanish quota extended beyond publicly listed companies and did not impose penalties for companies that failed to meet the target. Rather, it worked as a “soft” quota incentivizing compliant companies to receive preference for the tendering of public contracts.
Scope
In the field of statistics, the Act introduces specific rules on both aspects of gender mainstreaming mentioned above: disaggregation by sex of all statistics on individuals, and the establishment of new indicators to garner more accurate knowledge of the differences in "values, roles, situations, conditions,
aspirations and needs of women and men."
Penalties