Women have a decisive role as agents of change in the ecological transition and in the fight against territorial depopulation. However, only one in ten entrepreneurs in green activities is a woman, one in three in rural entrepreneurship, and six in 100 in green and rural entrepreneurship. Even so, Spain is one of the leading countries in the European Union in rural entrepreneurship for women (along with Lithuania, Austria, France, Greece and Poland) and in green entrepreneurship for women (only behind Italy). This is indicated in the report “Women’s Green Entrepreneurship and Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Rural Area” that has just been published by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), and which analyses green entrepreneurship, rural entrepreneurship and the intersection between the two with a gender perspective. Based on microdata from the Active Population Survey (EPA), it is estimated that, in 2022, there were a total of 56,692 women entrepreneurs in green activities and 534,595 men in Spain, which means that women make up only 9.6% of the total green entrepreneurship. In addition, only five out of every hundred businesswomen are engaged in green activities, compared to 26 out of every hundred entrepreneurs. Catalonia and the Valencian Community are the autonomous communities with the highest presence of women entrepreneurs in green activities in Spain and account for 36% of the national total, followed by the Balearic Islands and Aragon. WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN RURAL
ACTIVITIESIn 2022, rural women entrepreneurs only represented a third of the total rural business community in Spain. Likewise, 17 out of every 100 women entrepreneurs in Spain are entrepreneurs in rural environments, compared to 19 out of every 100 entrepreneurs. The ratio of female entrepreneurship is significantly higher in rural areas than in the rest of the municipalities, reflecting the fewer opportunities for salaried work in rural areas: 17.4% of rural women in employment are entrepreneurs, which compares with 12.2% of women in intermediate municipalities and only 10.1% of urban women. Four autonomous communities account for 50% of rural women entrepreneurs nationwide: Galicia (15.7%), Castilla y León (13.3%), Andalusia (10.8%) and Catalonia (10.3%). However, only in the Basque Country, Galicia and Asturias is there a balanced presence of women and men among their rural entrepreneurs. Likewise, data from the Agricultural Census in Spain show that in organic agriculture and livestock farms, women only own one in five hectares of used agricultural area and one in five head of livestock.