This article discusses the analysis of the concept of collaborative economics, taking the various streams of knowledge into consideration. It also provides an overview of the different collaborative business models that have existed so far and how their evolution over time has been due to different factors, including information and communication technologies (ICTs). While it is true that these business models are still in the midst of consolidation, they represent a great opportunity both for users who want to see their consumption needs met, as well as for companies that are not only looking for new sources of revenue, but also innovation when approaching their customers. Finally, the sharing economy represents a very recent field of research that is full of opportunities for contributing to science and the development of new business models.

Human resources of a company constitute one of its main competitive advantages. Valuing the importance of this resource and working intensively in order to retain this talent will constitute one of the main challenges of the future for companies. The study of one of the most important sectors in the Spanish economy, the commercial retail sector, allows an analysis of the importance of the management of human capital through motivation. As part of this point, the concept of personal, family and work balance gains importance as a tool for human management and for the retention of talent. In order to facilitate the application of measures for balancing life, the following conditions are required: gender equality, parity and joint responsibility. The benefits for both workers and companies are many. Among them, the minimal or zero cost which the implementation of these kinds of measures involve. New technologies in particular assist a real balance. Providing knowledge about and spreading the concept of personal, family and work balance, by analysing its applicability in one of the most important sectors in the Spanish economy, is the objective of this study.

This article is a summary of the work which obtained the prize for the best Bachelor’s Thesis (TFG) in Economics and Business Studies concerning gender during the 2018/19 course. The complete work is held in the UOC’s institutional repository (O2), the portal which collects, disseminates and preserves the UOC members’ free-access digital publications that were produced in the development of their research, teaching and management activities. You can consult the complete work at: http://hdl.handle.net/10609/110566.

The objective of this article is to offer some strategies which women can use in order to develop their professional plan in the sphere of creating and managing companies, whether they are self-employed or working for someone else. Furthermore, it will allow them to overcome the difficulties that they may encounter due to gender when they set or achieve their objectives.

In order to be able to understand the foundations of the proposed strategies and measures, in the introduction section there is an identification of the principal environmental or external factors which explain the situation that women around the world have lived through and continue to live through. This situation is mostly characterised by the lack of equal opportunities.

The section on the strategies starts with that which is based on the entrepreneurship model in skills and which has its origins in the employability model referenced in the text. This model attempts to respond to four fundamental questions which allow for a definition and execution of the life project itself (professional, business and personal) with the greatest guarantee of success. As regards the other strategies, these are based on the empowerment of women, as well as on the support and personal and professional guidance from all those people with whom a relationship of mutual understanding and confidence can be established.

Finally, there is a proposal for a staff management model which places the focus of attention on the management of professional skills around the entire organization, as well as equal opportunities, independent of the personal factors involved, which allows for the building of a team with the male and female professionals who share the mission, vision and values of the project.

The difficulties in work-life balance has become greatly important in the societies of the 21st century. An evergrowing number of organisations are interested in promoting and encouraging this approach, with the objective of improving the well-being and quality of life of their male and female workers in addition to attracting and fostering talent, improving productivity and, ultimately, becoming more competitive. In this context, one of the most used measures for achieving such objectives is teleworking. This article analyses, from the point of view of female teleworkers, if this labour system constitutes an efficient strategy for the work-life balance. The methodology used has been qualitative, specifically working with indepth interviews and discussion groups. The sample was composed of women teleworkers with some form of family dependents. The principal results show that teleworking for these female workers is a labour system which goes far beyond work-life balance. This is a kind of logic or mechanism which redefines the unfolding practices and which leads to the creation of new meanings in the realm of work and in compatibilisation with domestic, family and personal life. By practising teleworking, these women are producing a critical discourse with the prevailing labour model, characterised by their long working days which exclude the possibility of a life at the margin of the world of work. They use the possibilities of flexibility which teleworking provides them in order to reclaim their roles as professionals and as mothers, and as a result do not give up either of these roles, making use of teleworking as a tool for revealing a labour market which excludes all that is related to the sphere of care.

The fact that women do not occupy positions of responsibility within highly competitive companies in the technological sector demonstrates how organisations are failing to adapt to the present reality: women are half of the population and are sufficiently prepared to occupy professional posts, but they are rarely welcomed. The liberalist explanations, that is to say, those which maximise the principle of freedom as regulating the market, indicate that women are not present because they take private decisions which involve a lack of ambition or commitment to the companies. In the face of this evidence, I maintain that the organisations are less than healthy social structures, which impose rules and values that cannot be adapted to the differing realities of women and men who are eager for another organisational culture – one which could fit better with their lifestyles. This work tackles this question by providing evidence on the basis of two generative axes of psychosocial risks for the knowledge society: (1) the imbalance between personal and work lives (2) the imbalance during the management of personal and emotional relations, as well as in the daily practices in the organisations, in the family and, in general, in society. The results of this work show that the technological companies are facing up to some changes relating to the profile of their workers, however, there is a need for a more profound reflection and cultural changes which abandon the idea that there exists a male professional ideal.

This work analyses the advances in regard to gender equality which have contributed to the fact that Spain ranks among the 10 leading countries in the latest edition of the Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum. This progress is mostly due to the improvement in the political representation of women in ministerial positions and in parliament. However, the economic participation of women in Spain evidences extensive room for improvement, especially in relation to the representation in corporate leadership positions and to a worrying underrepresentation in the emerging professions resulting from the digital transformation. To conclude, the work offers a series of recommendations for improving the economic empowerment of women when it comes to reaching positions of high corporate responsibility. It also recommends to prevent and improve the future economic gap in respect to women’s underrepresentation in science, research and technology professions.

The lack of gender diversity at CEO level is a critical problem in many industries, as it prevents organisations from taking advantage of the whole pool of available talent. Women have progressively been incorporated in all professional domains. Although this process is taking place with unevenness, women are in positions that were traditionally occupied solely by men. In parallel, legal recognition of women’s labour rights evolved and many legal systems worldwide have advanced towards a mandatory non-discrimination approach. Nevertheless, women remain underrepresented in power and decision-making positions. A variety of theoretical approaches, from organisational theory, sociology, psychology and economics have tried to unravel the causes behind that and the possible solutions to change the tendency. We consider that to advance, we need a theoretical framework that integrates these perspectives in order to achieve: 1) an understanding of the whole personal, academic and professional life cycle; 2) identify the key determinant factors along the life cycle, and 3) study in depth the relative importance of each determinant and their interactions from women’s perspective, decision-making and context. This perspective provides new insights to approach the problem, which is complex and multicausal, in a comprehensive and practically oriented way.

Traditionally, the creation of companies has been a job that is the reserve of men, to the point that the number of male entrepreneurs who start a business doubles that of female entrepreneurs. This lack of equality is not only quantitative, but also qualitative. Beyond the biological differences between both sexes, the article explores other explanations –sociological–which allow for an improvement in understanding the reason for the gender gap in entrepreneurship, as well as allowing for the promotion of the entrepreneurial vocation of women by recognising that there is a possibility to make an impact on this gap.

Once the Royal Decree-Law 6/2019 of 1 March, incorporating and including the new configuration for parental leave, has been completely rolled out, Spain will have obtained formal equality between men and women with respect to said leave. Starting from a description of reality in the country regarding gender biases in the labour and domestic spheres and with the support of the specialised literature, this article argues why the reform of parental leave, although it should make a contribution in the path towards effective equality, does not look to be enough for improving the current situation in a significant way. Working from this information, the way in which a new reform should be conceived is also proposed, and there is a reflection on whether a country such as Spain could pay for its cost. Finally, there is an analysis of the need for a double involve- ment of the state and the business world, along with the need for obtaining the requisite disruptive change, not only in terms of democratic qualities but also in terms of competitive advantage in the new socioeconomic paradigm.