International Women’s Day: Equality makes us better

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One of the best-known and most celebrated "International Days" around the world is International Women's Day, which we are celebrating today; neither the pandemic nor the dramatic situation that the world is going through since the invasion of Ukraine have been able to prevent voices from being raised today across every continent to demand greater gender equality, linked more than ever to sustainable development, because as the UN states, "without gender equality today, a sustainable and equal future will remain out of reach."

To join this campaign, we have echoed it both in my personal profiles and in @MeliaHotelsInternational’s accounts, and we are using all our communication channels to support the dissemination of its statement: “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”. The campaign admirably links equality with true sustainable development, calling for "women and girls to have a voice and participate equally in decision-making related to climate change."

In addition, and like every year, we want to take advantage of this important date to reaffirm our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, a path in which we continue to advance along various lines, although we undoubtedly have a long way to go yet.

The 2021 Annual Report of Meliá Hotels International, recently published, includes a series of indicators that show the progress we are making towards equality: women currently make up nearly 42% of all our employees, occupying 29% of all managerial positions and 37% of all junior managerial positions; All of this points to a future with greater female leadership in the company, something that fills me with pride and, at the same time, with peace of mind, since I always highlight how some of our best Hotel Managers are women. As far as Senior Management is concerned, in the highest governing body of the group, the Board of Directors, we have 36.4% women (above the 30% recommended by the Code of Good Governance of Listed Companies) and we have committed ourselves to reach 40% of female directors before 2023, while in the company's Senior Executive Team the percentage is close to 16%. Some interesting data in terms of equality is that at Meliá, the percentage of women in managerial positions in income-generating functions is close to 40% of the total, or that 33% of "STEM" positions (related to science and technology, mathematics or engineering) of the Group are also occupied by women.

Likewise, both in 2021 and in previous years, despite the impact of Covid, we have seen a number of measures that have demonstrated our continued commitment, such as our second Equality Plan (approved in 2019) to promote equality in access to the company, recruitment, promotion, training, remuneration, occupational health, gender violence, communication and work-life balance. As the leading company in the sector, we believe that we must get involved in pioneering initiatives with visibility so that other companies in the sector commit themselves as well; In this way, we have signed a pioneering agreement with the IUF (International Trade Union of the tourism sector) to prevent and fight against sexual or workplace harassment; we have maintained our activity in pro-equality organizations such as the “ClosinGap” Cluster (of which we are a founding member) created to identify and reduce gender gaps in the Spanish economy, and we continue to support the “CEO's for Diversity” Alliance, a great initiative that ?works to strengthen commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in the signatory organizations.

I am pleased to confirm that all of this has allowed us to be chosen to form part of the Ibex Gender Equality Index, the first ranking that measures the presence of women in managerial positions in Spanish companies, a "de facto" recognition that inspires us to continue improving with the aim of becoming a benchmark ?company in our industry in this respect.

I know that we have challenges ahead to achieve full equality, but I sincerely believe that we are moving at a good pace and on the right path. I am convinced that equality between women and men will make us better people and better companies, and will help us face the new challenges, both climatic and social and economic, of the post-Covid society.

For all these reasons, without forgetting to remind the Ukrainian people in these absolutely terrible times for them, I would like to wish you a happy International Women’s Day and that 2022 brings greater equality and above all, PEACE.