they prepared a conference on the theme «Empowering young women entrepreneurs».
On 11 February, on the International Day of Empowered Women in Almeria and Girls in Science, a conference was organised in the district centre of El Puche on the theme «Empowering young women entrepreneurs». Twenty-three young women from the neighbourhood participated in the event and were actively involved in the activities.
In an event organised by the «Asociación para el Desarrollo y la Integración de la Infancia y la Adolescencia» and the «Cooperativa Agrícola de Mujeres GEA Almería» in collaboration with the «Área de Familia, Igualdad y Participación Ciudadana», the directors of GEA, María Inmaculada Idáñez and Isabel Romera, shared their experience and expertise on the Entrepreneurship in the agriculturalsector in Almeria with women, especially young women. They shared their experiences and knowledge on entrepreneurshipin the agricultural sector in Almeria, focusing on the following topics related to the empowerment of women, especially young women
For more than an hour, the presenter talked to young women about their careers in the labour market as entrepreneurs, company directors and in leadership positions (in this case, in the agricultural sector). Women as part of and promoters of the cooperative movement, independence and self-reliance.
The GEA women’s cooperative has also introduced new technologies in agriculture, such as computer programming and irrigation machinery, which have led to significant advances in production. Scientific innovation is essential for the development of agriculture, and both women wanted to share their experiences to set an example for women who are leading this scientific development.
At the end of the event, Paola Leines, Regional Councillor, presented a plaque of thanks to the GEA delegates and a certificate to all participants, stating that «this conference has allowed us to achieve our main objective, with wide participation and interest: in an environment where women have constantly left aside due to their specificity. The IAM expressed its satisfaction with «the wide participation and interest in the conference and the achievement of its main objective: increasing the participation of local women in actions aimed at empowering women in an environment where they are constantly sidelined because of their specificity».
The IAM supports women entrepreneurs in Almeria through the «Foro Joven» initiative.
María Montaguet, project advisor of the Andalusian Association of Women of Almería (IAM), and Rosario Ruiz, head of Foro Mujer y Sociedad, have collaborated in the mentoring programme of Foro Mujer y Sociedad, which aims to promote entrepreneurship among young women in Almería. The Society’s mentoring programme.
It is an educational project based on learning through the transfer of knowledge and experience in a structured process that builds a personal and intimate relationship between mentor and mentee.
This training runs parallel to the individual mentoring programme at the Regional Women’s Centre in Almeria. In the first year, fifty women participated in this project twice as many as in the first year.
Women’s Spiritual Leadership is a Women’s and Social Forum training programme, in collaboration with the Andalusian Women’s Association, through the Provincial Women’s Centre of Almeria, the Provincial Council, the University of Almeria and Caixabank.
The main phases of the project are currently underway.
The project is implemented in four phases: In the first phase, the training of mentors has been completed, and 25 women with extensive experience in their field of expertise have been selected to provide support and expertise to the mentors. The second phase has been completed and is presented to the mentees and mentors.
Mentees and mentors will go through a series of tasks to develop their capacity to be agents of change, face today’s social challenges, discover their life purpose, and set permanent goals to achieve it. These sessions will continue until May. During this process, the Youth Forum initiative will be launched.
The IAM project advisor in Almeria says: «With this event, we want to deepen the knowledge of mentoring. With this event, we want to deepen the knowledge of mentoring, but we are addressing all students this time. We aim to reach out to postgraduates, career changers and other young women who are moving forward in their careers and their lives».
The Youth Forum initiative, led by the Andalusian Women’s Association, consists of four training sessions involving 25 students from the Provincial Women’s Centre on motivation, bioethics, the domino effect and equality in business.
In addition to teaching students in the project, the initiative is open to the public. This forum will take place in February and March. The final stage of this educational project will be evaluating the programme and the awarding of the diploma.
In this sense, María Montagé stresses that «promoting women’s empowerment, entrepreneurship, employability, equality in employment and fostering young women’s networks is one of our main objectives.
This is evidenced by the range of resources we offer to support companies in this area, such as the ‘Equipa’ service and the ‘Andalusian Excellence in Equality’ seal.
Equipa is an advisory service aimed at facilitating drawing up equality policies and plans.
Equipa provides an advisory service to facilitate the development of equality measures and plans for public and private companies, labour organisations, consultants, citizens and the Andalusian administration.
One of the commitments of the Andalusian Women’s Association is to help companies comply with the law so that equality becomes the norm in all Andalusian companies». Therefore, within the framework of this programme, we advise on the development and implementation of protocols to prevent sexual and gender-based harassment in companies.
In addition, we offer courses aimed at educating companies on equal opportunities, vocational training on equal opportunities in the workplace and online training provided and delivered by the IAM,» she stressed in a statement.
Montage underlined that «it is our greatest wish that more companies choose the newly launched equality label». As recently announced by Rocío Ruiz, Minister for Equality, Social Policies and Work-Life Balance, the Andalusian Women’s Association is promoting the Andalusian Equality Good Mark, which supports companies’ efforts to improve the quality of female employment by introducing equality measures in their human resources management.
This includes the introduction of time management measures that promote work-life balance, the adoption of measures that encourage the sharing of responsibilities among men, the promotion of women in all decision-making areas of the company, especially in technical and scientific positions, the inclusion of diversity management measures and, above all, the recognition of efforts to reduce the pay gap. This includes recognition of efforts to reduce the pay gap.
«Essential for building a strong economy».
Montage stressed that «empowering women in all areas of economic activity is fundamental to building a strong economy, a more equal and equitable society and sustainable development». But we need tools to make this empowerment a reality, and mentoring is one of them».
«Empowerment happens when young women turn their insecurities into confidence, face challenges with enthusiasm and excitement, learn the technical and emotional management skills to achieve their goals and seize every opportunity for growth guided by the values of hard work, teamwork and solidarity».
The president of Mujer y Sociedad, a forum for professional and managerial women, thanked the Andalusian Women’s Association and other administrations and institutions for their support for the project, stating that «our organisation aims to bring about the changes that society needs in the 21st century, using which we can achieve a more equitable society». She emphasised that «our organisation aims to awaken young professional women to the need for leadership and their responsibilities, and to participate in initiatives, projects and associations to achieve a more equitable society». And we have decided to support this project to achieve a more egalitarian society open to all cultures.
«We hope that the young women we lead will take up the baton from the many women who, through determination and hard work, have achieved a level of equality that we should continue to enjoy and strive for.