On International Women's Day earlier this year, power company Acciona and the non-profit organisation Inspiring Girls sponsored a meeting between 60 teenagers and Spanish sportswomen Laia Sanz and Balba Camino to talk about gender in their respective careers.
Balba Camino, Acciona Events director and former racing driver and businesswoman, is the first female to win a Spanish motorsport championship and the first woman in the world to win a national GT championship when she won the Spanish GT in 2000.
Laia Sanz is the only woman to have ranked in the Top 10 of the Dakar Rally, a race she has finished 12 times in a row. She is also a 14-time Trial World Champion and currently races in the mixed-gender Extreme E electric SUV championship as part of the Acciona/Sainz XE Team.
Sanz noted the role of mixed-gender competitions in breaking down prejudice among young people: "We want new generations to understand that there is another way of doing things. This implies making female role models visible in activities traditionally dominated by men. It’s about shaking up systems and breaking prejudice, which is the same thing that, in another field, we’re doing with the Extreme E championship, where we demonstrate that electric cars are powerful, competitive and fully reliable.”
Acciona says Sustainable development is considered unattainable without the active presence of women in decision-making on issues of global concern.
Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and an Acciona advisor added: "So far, humanity has only used 50 percent of the human potential. Through education from an early stage, it will be possible to move towards 100 percent”
Based in Madrid, Acciona is a Spanish multinational dedicated to the development and management of infrastructure (construction, water, industrial and services) and renewable energy.
The company employs 30,000 people in 30 countries on five continents. For the first six months of 2026, it reported revenues to €10.14 billion (+9.9 percent) and a gross operating profit (EBITDA) of €1.15 billion.