The first results emerged from the 15th edition of the Global Gender Gap Report 2021 The World Economic Forum highlights how the health emergency and the consequent economic instability have had a significantly greater impact on women than men, raising further barriers to the construction of inclusive economies and societies.
Despite the small progress made over the past few years, it appears that the expected expectation to close the gender gap at global level has increased from 99.5 years to as much as 135.6 years, alienating the objective of achieving gender equality for another 36 years.
What is the situation in Italy?
Compared to Global Gender Gap 2021Italy over the last two years she has managed to gain 13 positions by rising from 76th to 63rd place on a panel of 156 countries around the world. It seems a good result but to understand the phenomenon in Italy it is necessary to analyze the result from several points of view.
The biggest push, in terms of improvement, is the presence of women in the CDA, due to the Gulf – Moscow law, thanks to which, over the years, the presence of women in the administrative branches of Italian listed companies has increased from 7% to 36%, although it has currently fallen to 17%, compared to 32% in Norway and 24% in Britain.
Even at the political level there is an increase in women in Parliament, which led Italy, at the time of the Conte II government, to position 41st in the ranking of the Global Gender Gap Report 2021 and 33rd, if women are taken into account in the executive.
However, if the data "female participation and economic opportunity" is analyzed, unfortunately it slips to 114th place.
Other interesting data on the Gender Gap theme come from the report Gender Diversity Index 2021 EWOB (European Women on Boards) that analyzes the presence of female figures in Top Management positions and highlights how the percentage of women CEOs in Italy has fallen from 7% to 3% compared to the previous report, placing our country in the most remote positions of the ranking.
Data from ISTAT 2021 show that 5% of all women employed lost their jobs, compared with 3.9% of men.
A further dimension, which helps to widen the Gender Gap, is the small presence of women within the labour market. A study conducted by Censis claims that the percentage of women representing the workforce in Italy is in a clear minority compared to men, i.e. only 42%. Moreover, by observing the differences between the public sector and the private sector, we note that the Gender Gap of the first attests a percentage of 4.4% while the percentage of the private sector rises to 17.9%; such a significant gap is not present in any other European country.
This difference, between the public and private sectors, is also evident in the pay gap, which is better recognised as Gender Pay Gap. According to Eurostat, the pay differential between men and women in Italy is 5%, one of the lowest in the ranking.
In conclusion, it can be said that the Gender Pay Gap characterizes the two sectors differently: in the public sector, where there is more monitoring and frequent application of the national employment contract, this phenomenon is significantly lower than the high proportion of the private sector.
The complexity of these data shows that the achievement of gender equality is an unavoidable objective but at the same time very distant and difficult to fill. There is an urgent need for concrete political, social and economic measures that can reduce Gender Gap, giving more space to women’s entrepreneurship, women’s representation in the political dimension and in the CDAs in order to guarantee theinclusiveness to female figures in business leaders.
What can companies do today to counter the phenomenon of Gender Gap by creating more stimulating, collaborative and inclusive working environments?
Analyse the phenomenon of Gender Gap within organisations and act accordingly with Diversity & Inclusion Management which can influence culture by breaking down gender stereotypes.
The new equality legislation
The last Law No 275 of 2021 extended the obligation to present the relationship of men and women to companies with more than 50 employees; whereas for holdings with fewer than 50 employees, the possibility (but not the obligation) of drawing up the report in question is granted.
In addition, EUR 50 million has been allocated to finance a reduction of 1% of the company’s social security contributions of 2022, up to a maximum of EUR 50 000, to achieve greater awareness of this issue. More specifically, each company, if in line with the required parameters, can request the Certification of Gender Equality, a document aimed at certifying the actions aimed at reducing the gender gap in relation to business growth opportunities, equal pay for jobs, gender diversity management policies and the protection of maternity.
We at Ambire SB strongly believe in the development of female leadership and focus part of our services by acting with targeted actions on point 5 edUN Agenda 2030, designing and implementing leadership projects for our customers that includes diversity through a kind and inclusive leadership model.
