May 1st 2008 | MADRID
From The Economist print edition
Spain's government wants firms to appoint more female directors
THE sight of Spain's heavily pregnant defence minister inspecting the troops in early April seemed to herald a new era of opportunity for Spanish women. Spain is the first European country ever to produce a government with more female than male ministers. José Luis RodrÃguez Zapatero, the prime minister, has appointed nine women and eight men to his new cabinet, including Carme Chacon, Spain's first female defence minister.
Despite their sudden ascendancy in politics, however, women are still practically absent from the upper ranks of business. Spanish women make up just 4.1% of corporate boards, according to a study by the European Professional Women's Network, an lobby group, and Egon Zehnder, a recruiting agency, against an 11% average in Europe (see chart).
One reason is that fewer women make it into the workforce than in other European......
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