The Spanish Federation of Women Directors, Executives, Professionals, and Businesswomen (Fedepe) has demanded "firm and urgent advances" to make salary equality a reality on the occasion of International Equal Pay Day, which is commemorated this September 18. The organization emphasizes that equal pay is a basic right and a key condition for women's economic autonomy and professional development.
"Equal pay is a matter of justice, but also of competitiveness, talent utilization, and democratic quality. We cannot talk about real equality while women continue to receive lower remuneration and face more obstacles to fully develop their professional careers," argues Fedepe's president, Ana Bujaldón.
The head of the federation reminds that the consequences of this inequality are not limited to the short term. As she points out, "that difference does not end when the month is over." "If we earn less, we contribute less. We save less. We have less capacity to face an unforeseen event. And, when we retire, we receive a lower pension. That is why we say that salary inequality is felt in what is earned each month, but is paid throughout life," she asserts.
In this sense, Fedepe demands a joint response from public administrations, companies, and social agents to detect, correct, and prevent pay gaps. It considers it essential to know how each salary is set, to ensure objective and transparent criteria, and to strengthen controls, so that the equality recognized by law becomes a tangible reality.
The most recent data from the National Institute of Statistics indicates that, in 2024, women received an average annual salary of 26,904.90 euros, compared to 32,057.55 euros for men. The gap exceeds 5,150 euros per year and places the average female remuneration at 83.9% of the male.
Fedepe points out that, although factors such as the type of workday and contract, occupation, or seniority influence this difference, these elements are linked to structural inequalities that continue to mark women's professional careers: greater presence in part-time work and in lower-paid sectors, unequal distribution of care, interruptions in working life, and barriers to accessing higher responsibility positions.
The federation emphasizes that salary equality is not limited to the base salary and sees it as essential to also review supplements, incentives, variables, promotion criteria, and automated decision systems, areas where differences can occur that are difficult to detect without sufficient transparency.
In this context, Fedepe considers it a priority to complete as soon as possible the transposition to Spanish law of European Directive 2023/970, aimed at reinforcing pay equality through measures of salary transparency and better mechanisms for information, claims, and control. The deadline for its incorporation ended on June 7.
Likewise, it demands guaranteeing full reintegration without professional penalties after permits for birth and care, understanding that maternity and paternity cannot be a brake on promotion nor translate into lower salaries, supplements, or opportunities.
Fedepe reminds that each birth contributes to the collective future, to demographic continuity, and to the sustainability of the welfare and pension system. Therefore, it insists that supporting parenting and protecting the career paths of mothers and fathers must be assumed as a shared responsibility and not as an individual burden.
Impact beyond salaried employment and on the self-employed
The Union of Associations of Self-Employed Workers and Entrepreneurs (Uatae) warns, for its part, that the income gap between self-employed women and men is around 30%, an inequality that extends after retirement and translates into a 41% difference in pensions for self-employed women.
"Salary equality cannot end where the paycheck ends, self-employed women also suffer an economic inequality that conditions their projects and their future, we cannot talk about salary equality leaving out 1.3 million self-employed women," laments the general secretary of Uatae, María José Landaburu.
According to the latest records, of the 3,483,209 self-employed workers registered, 1,289,587 are women compared to 2,193,621 men. They represent only 37% of the group, although their presence is growing at a faster rate: 2.1% in the last year, compared to 1.8% for men.
For Uatae, analyzing the gap in self-employment also requires addressing the care responsibilities that women take on, along with the concentration of self-employed women in lower profitability activities and the difficulties in accessing financing, factors that largely explain this inequality.
"The wage gap must also be sought where it is not visible. It is in the hours that a self-employed woman stops working to care, in the professional opportunities she gives up, and in the income she stops generating. We continue to place a good part of the care responsibilities on women and then we are surprised that they reach the end of their professional career in worse economic conditions," says Landaburu.