Initial findings from the 15th edition of the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021 highlight how the health emergency and subsequent economic instability, have had a significantly greater impact on women than men, raising further barriers to building inclusive economies and societies.
Despite small progress in past years, it appears that the projected wait to close the gender gap globally has increased from 99.5 years to as much as 135.6 years, pushing the goal of achieving gender equality another 36 years away.
What is the situation in Italy?
Compared to the Global Gender Gap 2021, Italy has managed to gain 13 positions in the last two years, rising from 76th to 63rd place out of a panel of 156 countries around the world. This seems like a good result, but to understand the phenomenon in Italy, it is necessary to analyze the result from several points of view.
The biggest boost, in terms of improvement, is the presence of women in CDAs, 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 risen from 7 percent to 36 percent, although it has currently dropped to 17 percent, compared with 32 percent in Norway and 24 percent in Great Britain.
Even at the political level there is an increase of women in Parliament, which led Italy, at the time of the Conte II government, to rank 41st in the Global Gender Gap Report 2021 and 33rd if women in the executive are taken into account.
However, if the data “women’s economic participation and opportunity” is analyzed, our country unfortunately slips to 114th place.
Other interesting data on the issue of the Gender Gap comes from the Gender Diversity Index 2021 report by EWOB (European Women on Boards), which analyzes the presence of female figures in Top Management positions and shows how the percentage of female CEOs in Italy has dropped from 7 percent to 3 percent compared to the previous report, placing our country in the remotest positions of the ranking.
ISTAT 2021 data shows that 5 percent of all employed women have lost their jobs, compared to 3.9 percent of men.
An additional dimension, which contributes to widening the Gender Gap is the small presence of women within thelabor market. A study conducted by Censis asserts how the percentage of women representing the workforce in Italy is in a clear minority compared to men, or only 42 percent. Moreover, looking at the differences between the public and private sectors we note that the Gender Gap of the former attests to a percentage around 4.4 percent while that for the private sector rises to 17.9 percent; such a significant gap is not found in any other European country.
This difference, between the public and private sectors, is also evident in the pay gap, better recognized as the Gender Pay Gap. According to data collected by Eurostat, the pay gap between men and women in Italy corresponds to 5 percent, 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 greater monitoring and frequent application of the national labor contract, this phenomenon appears to be significantly lower than the high percentage that characterizes the private sector.
The complexity of this data makes it clear that achieving gender equality is an imperative goal but at the same time a very distant and difficult one to bridge. There is an urgent need to bring concrete measures from the political, social and economic perspectives that can reduce the Gender Gap, giving more space to female entrepreneurship, women’s representation in the political dimension and in Boards of Directors in order to ensure inclusivity to female figures in the top management of businesses.
What can businesses do today to counter the Gender Gap phenomenon by creating more inspiring, collaborative and inclusive work environments?
Analyze the Gender Gap phenomenon within organizations and act accordingly with Diversity & Inclusion Management programs that can influence the culture by going to break down gender stereotypes.
The new equality legislation
The latest Law No. 275 of 2021 expanded the reporting requirement of male and female employees to include companies with more than 50 employees; while companies with fewer than 50 employees are issued the option (but not the obligation) to prepare the report in question.
In addition, in order to achieve greater awareness about this issue, 50 million euros have been allocated to finance a relief for 2022 equal to 1 percent of the social security contributions borne by the company, up to a maximum of 50,000 euros. More specifically, each company, if in line with the required parameters, will be able to apply for the Certification of Gender Equality, a document aimed at certifying actions to reduce the gender gap in relation to opportunities for growth in the company, equal pay for equal tasks, policies for managing gender differences, and maternity protection.
We at Ambire SB strongly believe in women’s leadership development and focus part of our services by acting with targeted actions on item 5 of the UN 2030 Agenda, designing and implementing for our clients leadership projects that include diversity through a kind and inclusive leadership model.
