The International Chair of Women, Business and Sport of UCAM Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia has commemorated this morning the Women’s Day with an event in which Ainhoa Arteta (soprano), Pedro Guillén, (director of the UCAM Chair of Sports Traumatology and the CEMTRO Clinic), María Teresa Portela (Olympic canoeist, who will compete in her 5th Games in Tokyo), Emilio Loriente (president of INCARLOPSA, Industria Cárnica), Josu Jon Imaz (managing director of REPSOL), Antonio Huertas (president of MAPFRE) and Antonio Garamendi, (president of CEOE) have participated, either in person or telematically. From the University, José Luis Mendoza, president of UCAM, María Jesús Bonilla, the director of the Chair, Josefina García, chancellor of the University, and the vice-chancellors for Research and Virtual Teaching, Belén López and Estrella Núñez, have participated in the event.  

All the participants highlighted the need to continue to demand equal opportunities for women, supporting increased presence of women in leadership positions, for which they assured that it is necessary to count on 100% of the talent and intelligence of society. 

Training, a basic tool for equality 

María Jesús Bonilla, director of the Chair, reaffirmed the commitment of the institution to equality for all people, and emphasised the importance of education and training as a basic tool to achieve this, working so that “there is not a single woman who does not have the opportunity to develop her talent and lead her future. As a society we have the responsibility to walk and build together”. 

Josefina García, chancellor of the University, was of the same opinion, and she also stressed that “more than 50% of management positions on the Governing Council and other key structural points of the institution are held by women”.  

Many chairs and bachelor’s degree and postgraduate courses are directed by women at UCAM: Tourism, Audiovisual Communication, Journalism, Psychology, Pre-school and Primary Education, Pharmacy, Nursing, Business Administration and Management, Labour Relations, Dance and Computer Science Engineering. 

A representation of the University’s bachelor’s degrees in Education participated in the event by reading a manifesto on the importance of teachers in the fight for equality “from an early age, so that we can achieve a transformed and equal society for all”, as they pointed out. 

Research, training and communication 

The Chair is working in three areas: It investigates on the elements that distort real equal opportunities; it offers training programmes in areas of interest, such as the one they have just launched on leadership and new business models; and it communicates through events with which people of international and national reference open a space for dialogue creating a very important feedback.