Pilar Alegría: “Las políticas públicas deportivas sitúan a España como referente internacional en igualdad”

• The Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, Pilar Alegría, has inaugurated the First National Congress of the Network of Leaders, a space for reflection and debate that on 24 and 25 October will bring together in Zaragoza the leaders of the Spanish sports ecosystem.

• In this context, Pilar Alegría highlighted the measures adopted since 2018 by the Government of Spain to promote women’s leadership in sport, highlighting that for the first time “Spanish sports federations have at least 40 percent female representation on their Board of Directors”. This percentage has doubled compared to 2014.

Zaragoza, October 24, 2025.- The Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, Pilar Alegría, inaugurated this Friday the I National Congress of the Network of Leaders, the main meeting point on October 24 and 25 in Zaragoza of “women referents of the Spanish sports ecosystem, who inspire, who transform and who open the way”.

During her speech at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón, where this I National Congress of the Network of Leaders is being held, Pilar Alegría placed the emphasis on the real transformation that is taking place in the sports field, motivated since 2018 by regulatory changes, unprecedented economic investment and the deployment of ambitious public policies. In the words of the minister, “equality is not celebrated one day, but is built at every step.”

The Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports has celebrated that the number of women’s licenses is at record highs – “exceeding the million federated women since 2023”, she recalled – although equality is also being imposed in other spaces, such as management.

Thus, Pilar Alegría has revealed that, “for the first time, women occupy 40 percent of the positions on the Board of Directors of the Spanish sports federations.” “In 2014, they accounted for just 19 percent. In a decade, therefore, that percentage has doubled,” he said.

For the minister, “this advance is not a coincidence”. “It is the result of courageous decisions, which promote this positive dynamic of change,” he stressed.

Pilar Alegría has linked this increase to two measures promoted by the Government of Spain. On the one hand, the demand of the Higher Sports Council to the sports federations to have a balanced composition in the Boards of Directors to access the ordinary subsidies and, on the other, the regulation of the electoral processes of the federations through a ministerial order that ensures the presence of at least 40 percent of women in their assemblies and governing bodies.

“This Government has wanted to guarantee the presence of women in the spaces where the present and the future of Spanish sport is thought, directed and decided,” he said.

Precisely, in order to promote a greater presence of women in technical bodies, in referendums and in management positions, the CSD annually calls for aid for the development of the Women and Sport programs of the Spanish sports federations, to which it has allocated 12.6 million euros since 2018. These grants make it possible to finance training and equality plans, among others.

Another of the great advances in equality is linked to the improvement of the conditions of athletes, with aid for the professionalization of the women's football league and for the social and labor improvement of basketball players. In addition, it is betting on the organization of great women’s events, which is also contributing to making our country an international reference.

“We are convinced that, when you bet on women, you don’t just win the sport. Society wins. That is why today, in this Congress, I am excited to see that we are no longer talking about a desired future but about the present that the leaders of Spanish sport are building, women who are architects of what is coming, who dare to occupy the spaces of decision and who know that useful leadership is the one that inspires and spreads”, Pilar Alegría reflected.

The First National Congress of the Network of Leaders

Organized by the Young Sports Foundation of the Higher Sports Council (CSD), the Spanish Sports Association (ADESP) and the Government of Aragon, this congress promotes a collective reflection on leadership and equality in the sports field.

For two days, the First National Congress of the Network of Leaders will combine presentations, open conversations and spaces for participation around governance, communication, employability and sustainability.

It will also be an opportunity to give visibility to good practices, studies and institutional commitments that drive the change towards a more egalitarian sport.

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