The International Women’s Day honours all the women who give their best every day with talent, commitment and effort! It is also the day to claim a free and equal society where every woman can choose what she wants, for what makes her happy and above all, a society free of gender violence or sexual abuse.

At Vodafone, diversity and equal opportunities for all people is one of our priority objectives. And the best way to prove it is not with words, but with actions. Therefore, not only in this International Women’s Week but every day of the year, we work to raise awareness and support women in the workplace.

We have launched initiatives such as ReConnect, specifically aimed at helping women who have stopped in their career, have the opportunity to return to work with us. The plan is ambitious, involves more than 25 countries and aims to bring back 1,000 women in the coming years —500 of them in managing positions in our company—.

And we work with young people, who are our future and the future of all. In the last two promotions of recent graduates, we have incorporated more than 75 percent of women. And within the group of scholarships, the percentage is already 60 percent. And it’s still not enough. That’s why we launched #CodeLikeAGirl; a program that wants to awaken STEM vocations among the youngest (between 14 and 18) through free training in programming environments.

For the rest, we have also wanted to strengthen during the last years the conciliation measures that have to do with maternity and breastfeeding. We have extended the permit contemplated by law, allowing women to accumulate breastfeeding hours after their reincorporation and enjoy a 26-day leave (13 of which Vodafone assumes) or a reduced working day of 30 hours per week during the six months after their return without salary reduction.

These are just some of the initiatives we have launched. If you are curious to continue knowing our projects within the slogan #ConnectedsheCan, I invite you to visit our web: http://www.vodafone.com/content/index/what/connected-she-can.html. I really like a quote from Melinda Gates, which says: “When we invest in women, we invest in the people who invest in everyone else. So when we match their commitment with our own, great things are possible”.