Línea Directa Aseguradora embraces the Women's Empowerment Principles of the United Nations

• By adhering to the seven principles of UN Women, known as WEPs, Línea Directa Aseguradora has deepened its commitment to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women in the workplace, the market and society.
• In joining the network of 5,800 companies worldwide that subscribe to the WEPs, the company has pledged to uphold best practices in this realm, including the commitment of senior management to promote gender equality, equal pay for women and men, gender mainstreaming in supply chain management and promoting women's professional training and development.
• Women currently account for 57% of total employees at Línea Directa Aseguradora, 40% of the company's management team, 43% of the Group's Board of Directors and occupy half of the positions of responsibility within the Group. The company's pay gap is virtually non-existent.

Madrid, 3 January 2021. Línea Directa Aseguradora has embraced the Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs), an initiative championed by UN Women and the United Nations Global Compact that promotes best business practices to advance gender equality and women's empowerment in the workplace, marketplace and society.

The seven Women's Empowerment Principles, developed in 2010 based on international labour and human rights standards, are to establish high-level corporate leadership for gender equality; ensure equal treatment and non-discrimination, including equal pay for equal work and gender-sensitive recruitment and retention practices; ensure health, safety and well-being of workers by establishing internal policies and procedures to prevent all forms of violence and sexual harassment in the workplace; promote education, training and professional development for women; implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that support inclusion and empowerment of women, such as requiring suppliers to adopt the WEPs and have supplier diversity programmes in place; promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy; and measure and publicly report on the company's progress towards gender equality.
 
Línea Directa Aseguradora has thus joined the nearly 5,800 companies worldwide that have signed up to the Principles, 174 of which are Spanish. By adhering to the WEPs, the company has strengthened its commitment to gender equality, on which it has already been working for years through its Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Human Rights Policies, as well as its current Sustainability Plan (2020-2022), which addresses eight of the major challenges of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including gender equality, into the corporate strategy.

Línea Directa Aseguradora has made considerable progress in this regard, notably that women now account for 57% of the Group's workforce. Furthermore, 40% of the company's management team and 43% of the Group's Board of Directors are women, which is above the average for Spanish listed companies. Meanwhile, the company's pay gap is virtually non-existent.

Línea Directa Aseguradora, which has also recently joined the UN Global Compact as a signatory company, is also a member of the Empower Women in Insurance (EWI) Network, which promotes gender equality in the insurance sector, especially in management positions. It is likewise a member of the European Diversity Charter promoted by the European Commission, which fosters a healthy work-life balance, equal opportunities and diversity; and has earned the Family Responsible Company (FRC) seal in Spain. 

In the words of Mar Garre, Head of People, Communication and Sustainability, "companies must play —as we are already doing at Línea Directa— a key role in advancing towards the goals of gender equality and sustainable development by promoting professional, economic and social conditions that generate opportunities for women and are conducive to their inclusion. At Línea Directa Aseguradora, since we began doing business 26 years ago, we have been championing the professional and personal development of women, which has allowed us to achieve outstanding figures in terms of gender equality for some time now. Our decision to sign the Women's Empowerment Principles is a further show of our ongoing commitment and pledge to working towards genuine equality.”