Gender[1] Equality Plan (GEP)

Location: Barcelona, Spain
Effective Date: 01/08/2025
Plan Period: 2025 – 2026
Signed: Paul Lacharmoise (CEO) & Aleksandr Perevedentsev (CTO/founder)
_________________________

1. Publication & Statement of Commitment

“We, the leadership of Molecular Gate, are committed to building a company where gender equality is a core operational principle, not just an aspiration. As a deep tech startup developing security solutions for the global market, we understand that diverse perspectives are critical for innovation, risk assessment, and product design. This plan outlines our concrete strategy to improve our gender balance, particularly in leadership and decision-making roles, and to foster a truly inclusive culture from the ground up. Molecular Gate is committed to creating and maintaining a working environment that respects the inherent dignity of all persons, affording them the opportunity to reach their fullest potential. Every person working for Molecular Gate has the right to be treated with dignity and respect, and to work in a safe environment free from bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination.”

2. Dedicated Resources

  • Primary Responsible: Paul Lacharmoise is directly accountable for the implementation and reporting of this GEP.
  • Support & Advisory Role: The female researcher will be invited to participate in a voluntary GEP Task Force to provide feedback on initiatives related to company culture and recruitment. This ensures a representative voice is heard without placing an undue burden on her.
  • Budget: A specific budget is allocated for mandatory unconscious bias training in Q1 2026 and to review our recruitment and promotion processes.

3. Data Collection, Monitoring & Annual Reporting

  • Baseline Data (As of 01/08/2025):
    • Total Staff: 5 FTE
    • Gender Breakdown: 4 male (80%), 1 female (20%)
    • Leadership (Founders & C-Suite): 2 male (100%) – CEO, CTO
    • Technical Roles (Research, Development): 3 FTE (2 male, 1 female) – 67% male, 33% female
    • Formal Advisory Role: 1 male (100%)
    • Exclusively Non-Technical Role: 1 male (100%) – CEO
  • Monitoring Indicators: We will track sex-disaggregated data on:
    1. Applicants, interviewees, and hires for technical and non-technical roles.
    2. Allocation of professional development budget and opportunities.
    3. Participation in high-visibility projects and client meetings.
  • Reporting: An anonymised annual report on these metrics and progress against this plan will be shared with all employees.

_________________________

Concrete Measures & Targets by Area

 

Work-Life Balance & Organisational Culture

  • Measures:
    1. Parental Leave: The company actively supports and promotes the application of Spanish laws regarding maternity, paternity, and parental leaves. We fully endorse the principle of equal rights and access to leave for all parents, regardless of gender, and commit to fostering a culture where all employees feel empowered to take the full leave to which they are entitled.
    2. Meeting Culture: Implement a policy that no meetings are scheduled outside of a 09:00-17:00 core window unless absolutely critical, to respect personal and family time.
    3. Visibility of Work: The CEO will explicitly recognize and credit the technical contributions of all researchers in internal and external communications to ensure equal visibility.

Gender Balance in Leadership and Decision-Making

  • Current Challenge: Leadership (C-Suite) is currently 100% male.
  • Measures:
    1. Inclusive Decision-Making: For all technical roadmap and strategic decisions, the CTO will formally solicit input from the entire research team (male and female researchers) in a structured setting, ensuring diverse perspectives are included.
    2. Succession Planning: As the company grows, we will define leadership competencies for future management roles to ensure transparent and bias-free progression paths.

Gender Equality in Recruitment and Career Progression

  • Context: Our hiring need (4-8 roles in the next year) is a critical opportunity to correct our imbalance.
  • Measures:
    1. Equal Pay for Equal Work: We strictly adhere to the principle of equal pay for work of equal value. All starting salaries and subsequent remuneration adjustments will be based on objective, gender-neutral criteria including skills, experience, performance, and market benchmarks.
    2. Diverse Sourcing for All Roles: We will proactively target female talent for both technical and non-technical roles (e.g., operations, business development) using platforms like Women in Tech Barcelona, LinkedIn groups for women in STEM in Spain, and partnerships with universities.
    3. Structured Technical Interviews: All technical candidates will be assessed using a structured interview with a fixed rubric focused on skills. The interview panel will include the female researcher whenever possible.
  • Target: For the next hires, our goal is that 50% of our new hires for technical roles are women, aiming to bring the overall company gender ratio to at least 30% female in the short term and 50% in the medium-long term.

Integration of the Gender Dimension into R&D Content

  • Context: Our product (smart packaging security) is used globally by a diverse population.
  • Measures:
    1. User-Centric Design: We will integrate a mandatory step in our product development cycle to consider diverse end-users. This will involve asking: “How might the usability or perceived security of our packaging differ across genders and cultures?”
    2. Diverse Testing Groups: We commit to ensuring that future user testing groups for our solutions are gender-balanced.

Measures Against Gender-Based Violence including Sexual Harassment

  • Measures:
    1. Formal Policy Adoption: We will formally adopt a zero-tolerance policy on sexual harassment and gender-based violence, which will be included in every employee’s contract and the employee handbook.
    2. Mandatory Training: The unconscious bias training for leadership will include a specific module on identifying and preventing microaggressions and sexual harassment.

[1] By using “gender” as an umbrella term, this plan recognizes the full spectrum of human experience and identity, rather than focusing solely on sex or the male/female binary.