The chemical sector has become one of the sectors with the most real gender parity. According to FEIQUE, the Spanish Chemical Industry Business Federation, 44.4% of employees in the chemical sector are women. In just four years, and with a pandemic in between, the number of women employed in the industry has risen by 8.5%.
FEIQUE points out that the chemical sector is one of the industries in which women have a greater presence and compares it with the manufacturing industry, where women do not even represent 30% of the total number of employees.
Today, the chemical industry employs more than 103,000 women as direct wage earners, while the figure for men is slightly higher at almost 130,000. In total, the chemical industry employs more than 233,000 direct employees and indirectly almost 800,000 people.
Women lead the way in the area of R&D&I
Women lead in R&D&I. Women already account for 55% of researchers in the chemical sector. FEIQUE explains that it is especially in the pharmaceutical sector where there is a strong female presence, as women represent almost 55% of the human capital in the R&D&I area.
FEIQUE seeks to promote the visibility and presence of women in the chemical sector by creating women of reference in the Spanish chemical industry. One of the ways they use to do this is the programme #WomenwithChemistry that they organise together with Foro Química y Sociedad to give visibility to women who develop their profession in the field of chemistry and attract female talent.