Iberdrola has made visible this Monday its commitment to equality for women through sport, which already directly benefits around 600,000 athletes. It has done so with an act of presentation of the 16 new National Federations that have adhered to the collaboration agreement that the company has been developing since 2016, reaching the number of 32. In addition, after the expansion, the electricity company has more than 100 competitions with Iberdrola ‘naming right’, including 32 leagues.
Until now, Iberdrola promoted the National Athletics, Badminton, Handball, Boxing, Ice Sports, Fencing, Football, Gymnastics, Hockey, Karate, Canoeing, Rugby, Surfing, Table Tennis, Triathlon and Volleyball Federations, which were they add Underwater activities, Bowling, Winter sports, Weightlifting, Judo, Olympic wrestling, Mountain and climbing, Swimming, Skating, Ball, Rowing, Squash, Taekwondo, Tennis, Archery and Sailing.
The president of Iberdrola Spain, Armando Martínez, has been in charge of revealing the new incorporations in an event led by the sports journalist Lara Gandarillas, which was attended by a hundred women athletes representing the total of the 32 Federations, the delegate councilor of Sports of the Madrid City Council, Sofía Miranda, as well as representatives of the Spanish Olympic Committee, the Spanish Paralympic Committee and the presidents of these National Federations.
During the act, Martínez underlined that Iberdrola’s drive “now reaches 600,000 federated women, which means that we support 2 out of 3 federated womenalthough the indirect support is much greater and reaches many more women and girls who practice grassroots sports”.
Since 2016, Iberdrola has been the main promoter of women’s sports in Spain, something that has translated into an increase of 42% in the number of female licenses of the supported Federations.
Reducing the gender gap in sport is a commitment to women’s equality through excellence and translates into an important benchmark for girls, from their practice of physical activity and sports at all levels of the educational system, to point out to them that the path to federated and high-performance sports is also possible for them.
In this sense, Martínez underlined the great responsibility that these great athletes have “to send the message to all young Spanish women that they can practice the sport they want, that no one can stop them. And, what is more important, to transmit values such as teamwork, effort, solidarity or professionalism”.
The contribution of women to the sports field is very valuable, and this is attested to by the 59 Olympic medals they have won so far. A total of 7 women achieved a medal at the Tokyo Games.
In addition to its commitment to federated sports, Iberdrola has its own team of Ambassadors, elite athletes with whom it aims to empower women and raise awareness of the need for a society built on equal opportunities.
These are high-level female athletes, including Alexia Putellas, María Vicente, Ona Carbonell, Carolina Marín, Sandra Sánchez, Paula Badosa, and Queralt Castellet, present at the event, who won a silver medal in the Beijing Winter Games and for which the president had words of congratulations.
