The Barcelona City Council, through Barcelona Activa, today inaugurates the new LIDERA, a hub of economic activity aimed at promoting women’s professional growth, fostering the diversification of the economic fabric and helping to break the glass ceiling that still limits women’s access to positions of responsibility.

Created in 2018, the LIDERA initiative takes a significant step forward after eight years, having already supported more than 8,000 women. It is now consolidated as a hub of economic activity, increasing its resources and investment to expand its impact and reinforcing the municipal commitment to quality employment and the promotion of female talent in the city.

The new LIDERA is expected to provide services to more than 3,000 users per year. It is aimed at professional women who want to improve their skills, entrepreneurs who lead a project, businesswomen who want to consolidate or grow their company and women who aspire to access middle-management or executive positions. It is also addressed to entities and organizations committed to promoting female talent.

This hub is structured around three main areas of activity: talent and training, with mentoring, workshops, training programmes and scholarships linked to the IT Academy; entrepreneurship, innovation and financing, offering support to create and manage business projects; and ecosystem, with a community of talent and entrepreneurship that already includes organizations such as ASODAME, Dones en Xarxa, Dones pel Futur and Lean In Network.

The  facility is located on the second floor of the MediaTIC building and includes an auditorium, coworking spaces, training and meeting rooms, podcast and video rooms, a library and an outdoor terrace for networking activities, with the aim of becoming a strategic asset for the city in support of female talent.

According to the study Women in the labour market by the Barcelona City Council and Barcelona Activa, female participation in the labour market has maintained sustained growth over the last twenty years. Although the female unemployment rate in Barcelona (8.1%) is lower than that of Catalonia, Spain and the European Union, women continue to experience long-term unemployment to a greater extent. In this context, initiatives such as LIDERA aim to strengthen women’s professional opportunities and move towards a more equitable labour market.

Find out more on the LIDERA website.