María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, at ESADE: ''Democracy today needs a new outlook - women's outlook''

“Democracy today needs a new outlook – women’s outlook. For this to be possible, women need to be integrated in all spheres,” declared María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, permanent member of the Spanish Council of State and chair of the Women for Africa Foundation at the 14th session of the Women and Leadership Forum, organised by ESADE Alumni in Madrid, under the title “Transformational leadership for a new era: Why the globalised world can only work if it is based on equality”.

Ms. Fernández de la Vega shared her experience and vision of the need to advance toward equality in an interconnected world. “As of today, no country in the world has achieved full equality, and this is a symptom that shows that something isn’t working,” she commented. “At the current rate of progress, we would need 81 years to achieve gender parity in the workforce, 75 years to balance salaries and 60 years to achieve equality in decision-making power.”

Governing in favour of happiness

Ms. Fernández de la Vega observed that happiness is currently dissociated from politics and maintained that “governments should be capable of fostering the happiness of the people”. Politicians, she argued, have forgotten the citizens, and the crisis has exacerbated this feeling of abandonment. “In comparison with the citizens, the financial markets have been the winners,” declared Ms. Fernández de la Vega. She added: “We’re living in a time when the economy has defeated politics.” In order to recover from this situation, Ms. Fernández de la Vega argued, we need a global governance structure formed by international institutions capable of offering real solutions to the demands of today’s society. In addition, she commented: “A great politician has to be able to put the citizens’ problems first, and that’s a reality that women know very well.”

The importance of women

Ms. Fernández de la Vega, who created the Women for Africa Foundation in 2012, declared: “African women have always been feminists.” She also argued that “none of the problems in our society will be solved if women aren’t involved”. Finally, Ms. Fernández de la Vega declared: “Today, we know that no society will achieve peace if it leaves half of the population behind.”

Ms. Fernández de la Vega was joined at the session by Enrique Verdeguer, Director of ESADE Madrid; Magda Malé, member of the Executive Board of ESADE Alumni; and Blanca Montero, Deputy General Manager of Banc Sabadell.