Sobre la responsabilidad social interna de las empresas: el caso de las políticas de igualdad de oportunidades entre mujeres y hombres

Abstract

This article invites readers to reflect on policies of equal opportunities for women as elements that could be used to adapt businesses to the ethical values of society and to ensure that those values are reflected in corporate social responsibility. The origin and development of equal opportunity policies in Spain are discussed, and the changes made for political, demographic, social and economic reasons are mentioned. If the improvement of human resource management and positive action for women were a key element of such policies during the period of social democracy, in recent years these elements for eliminating discrimination have been given less emphasis, with policies of conciliation aimed at men and women and family support policies implemented in their stead. However, the response from firms has been scant in both regards, and in general in spite of the proliferation of codes of conduct, social responsibility declarations and corporate committees for more ethical behaviour, little attention is still paid to discrimination against women —which is still rife— or to the difficulty that most female workers find in combining work and family. The article seeks to show that the role of firms in this context has to date been no more than marginal and testimonial.