Head of Leading Spanish Table Olive Producer Wins Gender Equality Award

Blanca Torrent, the exec­u­tive direc­tor of Andalusia-based Torrent Olives, was among the win­ners of the 2020 Mujer Agro awards in Madrid.

Presented by Spain’s National Association of Agronomic Engineers (INIA), the dig­i­tal news­pa­per eComercioAgrario and the Siete Agromarketing agency, the award rec­og­nizes the work of women in the agri­cul­tural sec­tor to pro­mote gen­der equal­ity and empower other women work­ing in the sec­tor.

“The jury has given this award to Blanca Torrent for strength­en­ing an impor­tant gen­der equal­ity pol­icy in the com­pany, pro­mot­ing the pres­ence of women at all lev­els of the orga­ni­za­tion and pro­mot­ing numer­ous ini­tia­tives for the empow­er­ment of women in the agri-food sec­tor in Córdoban soci­ety,” the orga­ni­za­tion announced on its web­site.

Torrent told Olive Oil Times that while she may have accepted the award, it was many of the other women in her life who deserved the credit for it.

“I remem­bered and offered it to my grand­mother and my mother, not for­get­ting my daugh­ter, all of whom showed us a real path for­ward, with their exam­ples and energy,” she said.

Torrent added that table olive har­vest­ing and pack­ag­ing is a sec­tor that has been tra­di­tion­ally dom­i­nated by men in Spain, but Torrent Olives is work­ing to change that par­a­digm.

“In Torrent Olives, the pres­ence of women at all lev­els of the orga­ni­za­tion has been strength­ened, from the agrar­ian posi­tions… to the lead­er­ship sphere,” Torrent said. ​“In addi­tion, I like to empha­size that 75 per­cent of our man­agers are women, and our board of direc­tors is mostly female.”

Through her hir­ing pol­icy, Torrent seeks to cul­ti­vate a diverse work­force by offer­ing equal oppor­tu­ni­ties to men and women from all back­grounds. She believes that these prac­tices have made Torrent Olives more com­pet­i­tive and allowed the com­pany to retain more tal­ent.

Torrent was also rec­og­nized at the award cer­e­mony for her work in coor­di­nat­ing a group of local busi­ness­women, who meet reg­u­larly to dis­cuss the issues of the day.

“Years ago, Córdoban pro­fes­sion­als met at dif­fer­ent events in the city and province, but infre­quently,” she said. ​“I par­tic­i­pated and I am still very active in this wom­en’s busi­ness group, cre­ated in 2017 in Córdoba, with the pur­pose of advanc­ing the vis­i­bil­ity of women in the busi­ness world.”

Along with help­ing to cre­ate the new group which meets for break­fast three times each year and fre­quently invites esteemed guests to dis­cuss spe­cific sub­jects, Torrent has been active in sev­eral other Córdoban busi­ness orga­ni­za­tions, advo­cat­ing for a greater pres­ence of women in posi­tions of respon­si­bil­ity at local com­pa­nies and orga­ni­za­tions.

“Companies must lis­ten,” she said. ​“Listen to their cus­tomers, soci­ety, work­ers and sup­pli­ers. They lead the way.”

Lucía Velasco Rodriguez, a farmer from Jaén, and Verónica Cirino, a researcher at the agro-tech­nol­ogy com­pany Atens Agro, also won the award.

• Mujer Agro