Iberdrola held this Thursday in Zaragoza the delivery ceremony for the first edition of the Iberdrola SuperA Awards, with which it seeks to recognize civil society initiatives for their contribution to promoting gender equality through sports practice. The awards, with an endowment of 50,000 euros each, are awarded in six categories to which 400 applications were submitted.
The MAAVI Foundation Soccer Club of Roquetas de Mar (Almería), has been recognized in the Social category for its work to eradicate inequalities in a geographic area with very high levels of immigration; while the Gender Equality Promotion project, promoted by the Association of Sports Federations of Castilla y León and the regional government, has been imposed in the Base category. This initiative encourages sport among girls between 11 and 16 years old and plans to encompass more than 3,000 schoolchildren.
Woman, life and sport, a women’s hockey club in Zaragoza founded by mothers of child players, has won in the Competition category. The Inclusion award has been for Much to do, a weightlifting association that develops a project at the National Paraplegic Hospital of Toledo to improve the physical situation of women with injuries and motor disabilities. FUTFEM.COM, a portal focused on women’s football information, has won in the Broadcast category. Finally, the Iberdrola SuperA + award has been taken by the Juntas Venceremos project, a platform created by players from Primera Iberdrola (the first women’s soccer division, also sponsored by the electricity company) to raise funds in the fight against covid-19 .
“We have been putting all our energy for many years to achieve full gender equality, within our company, and also in society,” Ignacio Galán, president of Iberdrola, said in a statement released by the company. “We, who know a lot about electrical networks, want to draw up another network, invisible but equally solid, to unite all those who are making a differential contribution to advance towards full equality in an area of as much impact as sport,” he added . With Galán, the delivery ceremony was attended by Irene Lozano, president of the Higher Sports Council; Alejandro Blanco, president of the Spanish Olympic Committee; Miguel Carballeda, president of the Spanish Paralympic Committee.
Also present were Marta Arce, Paralympic judo medalist; footballer Amanda Sampedro and Carolina Marín, Olympic badminton medalist. In the event, led by the journalist Paloma del Río, the athletes Sandra Sánchez and Silvia Navarro, as well as Vicente del Bosque; all of them members of the jury, which in this first edition has been made up of eight women and five men. It is completed by the skater Javier Fernández, the gymnast Jesús Carballo, the journalist Manu Carreño, the handball player Talant Dujshebaev and the swimmer and Paralympic champion Teresa Perales.
In addition to the first women’s football division, in its commitment to women’s sports, the electricity company supports 16 sports federations (gymnastics, triathlon, rugby, canoeing, badminton, football, handball, volleyball, hockey, table tennis, athletics, karate , boxing, surfing, ice sports and fencing). In total, Iberdrola names 22 top-flight leagues and 35 other competitions. The electricity company highlights that its contribution has increased the number of federated women in sport and has contributed to the return to competitions in Spain of some elite athletes who were developing their sports careers in other countries.
