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EUROPEAN PROJECT

ELIMINATION OF GENDER STEREOTYPES IN THE LABOUR SPHERE AND IN TRADE UNION ORGANISATIONS

RESEARCH WORK OF THE TRADE UNION

UNIONE ITALIANA DE LAVORO

Project Co-ordinator: UGT - Spain "With support from the European Community – Programme relating to the Community Framework Strategy on Gender Equality (2001–2005). The information contained in this publication does not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the European Commission”.

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“ Elimination of Gender Stereotypes in Labour sphere and in Trade Union Organizations ”

( VS/2004/0461 )

RESEARCH IN ITALY

By:

Maria Grazia Brinchi – Project Coordinator

Gisella Mei - Research Project Manager

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…… Baba Jaga suddenly fell upon Vasilisa

and cried:

“ What do you want? ”

Trembling, Vasilisa replied,,

“ grandmother, I have come for fire …...”

“ and what makes you think

that I will give you the flame ?” screamed

the witch

“ because I ask for it!”, shouted Vasilisa,

at the top of her lungs.

(excerpt from “Women Who Run with

the Wolves” by Clarissa Pinkola Estés)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CHAPTER I – THE SITUATION IN ITALY

CHAPTER II – THE MOTIVATIONS

CHAPTER III – THE LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK

CHAPTER IV - THE RESEARCH

CHAPTER V – WHY A STUDY ON STEREOTYPES

CHAPTER VI – THE EVOLUTION OF THIS MODEL

CHAPTER VII – POSSIBLE STRATEGIES

CHAPTER VIII – WHERE AND HOW STEREOTYPES EMERGE

CHAPTER IX – WOMEN AND TIME: PROBLEM OR OPPORTUNITY?

CHAPTER X – FOR WOMEN TIME…IS A SCARCE COMMODITY

CHAPTER XI – WOMEN ARE ATTRACTIVE

CHAPTER XII – THE MALE STEREOTYPES

CHAPTER XIII – WOMEN, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

CHAPTER XIV – WHY NOT FEMALE LEADERSHIP?

ANNEX I

EXAMPLES OF GOOD PRACTICES

IN THE RECONCILIATION OF PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL LIFE

ANNEX 2

TOWARD NEW REGIONAL STATUTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In the course of this study on gender stereotypes, we have benefited from the valuable contributions made by Associations that are true experts in gender related issues. Our sincere thanks to them for all their help.

We gratefully and eagerly made use of the results of the work done over the years by our " traveling companions ", also in cooperation with the UIL Equal Opportunity Coordinating body. We owe them a debt of gratitude, for the dedication, esteem and deep affection that went into their work. For us it was a source of new experiences and knowledge that we later applied to our model of trade unionism.

Our thanks to the Proyecto Mujer, and especially to its Chairman, Roberta Bartolucci and to Maria Satta: We had no scruples about “ plundering ” the TEE – Towards a European Equality-Quality handbook, which is a marvelous guide for Human Resources Directors of Small and Medium Size Enterprises, and a truly timeless document, containing issues, analyses and indicators that remain as current as the day they were written.

Our heartfelt thanks to all our friends of the ASDO, to its President Agnese Moro, to Miriam Bonamini, to Giovanna Declich, etc. for the invaluable contribution of ASDO´s research project on “ Territorial Coalitions for Reconciliation ”, that provides essential food for thought --and fuel for actions—toward the construction of new policies for changes that benefit women.

A warm thank-you to the Fundación Brodolini for its original research on male stereotypes entitled “ When This is a Man ”.

We gratefully acknowledge the gift so selflessly and competently given by Loredana Ruggini: her excellent advice and expertise in information systems: without which the research project data would still be a mystery pending solution and study:

And lastly, our sincere thanks to the UIL leadership and to all the rank and file members of the Education, Credit and Construction sectors for taking part in this research project that is now a part of the body of research and studies promoted by the European Commission within its Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Plan 2004/2006.

It is our hope that this research project, in which Spain, Portugal and Belgium have participated along with Italy, will be a useful tool in efforts to overcome the cultural traditions and customs that --for so many years--, have held back working women, and so, the advancement of the majority of society, by relegating them to minor, subordinate positions and denying them their rightful role in a pluralistic democratic society. Maria Grazia Brinchi Gisella Mei

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CHAPTER I

THE SITUATION IN ITALY

This project was undertaken to study a tremendously complex issue that has a

profoundly negative impact on the lives of women: gender based stereotypes in the

workplace. The stereotypes we address are based on the assumption that women are

innately incapable of performing certain tasks, or activities. The application of these

stereotypes becomes an adverse conditioning factor affecting women on all levels of

civil society, and, thus, on the majority of the population.

The following information on women and employment in Italy provides a useful

base for a later, more systematic approach to the individual aspects of the stereotypes

considered.

Italy and Greece are the nations with the lowest rates of employment for women.

With only a few years remaining for the deadline set at the Lisbon Conference, we are

still far from achieving the objective of 60 % female employment which is now

stagnate, at a pathetic 45 %, even as we face rising unemployment rates ( 10.5 % for

women as compared with 6.4 % for men ).

Women now hold and perform all types of jobs, but they continue to be more

predominantly employed in the service sector and continue to have a lower presence in

industrial sectors than men.

But more women than men work jobs with schedules falling outside traditional

hours ( the case of approximately one fourth of all new female hirees ). This is

particularly true in jobs in the sales, healthcare, hotel and restaurant industries.

On a positive note, women now enjoy a greater presence in higher management

positions, but this advance is counterbalanced by the fact almost an equal percentage

increase of jobs held by women are part time or are entered for a limited contractual

period.

An analysis of these data shows, on the one hand, slow progress in women’s

rates of employment, but also reflects a high percentage of women who will never go

back to the job market due to a lack of prospects, and also of those “ not available ” --

339,000-- a higher rate than that reflected in 1993 data.

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In other words, we are looking at overly high unemployment rates that include a

large number of women who are out of the job market for longer than 5 years: The

percentages by gender are 5.3 for women and 2.8 for men. Differences in the south are

even more extreme, rising to 12.2 % for women as compared with 6 % for men, and this

is exacerbated the fact that in the south, over half of all women are among the ranks of

the long term unemployed.

These percentages underscore the worrisome situation of Italian women in the

national labour market, something that has an exponentially negative effect on family

income and purchasing power, and leads to a generally lower national standard of

living.

It further has a tremendously negative impact on the lives of thousands of young

people who, given the precarious nature of the jobs available to them, cannot afford to

start a family, or at best, must think twice before doing so.

The obvious problems are:

• An employment policy that is systematically based on flexibility, to the extent

that, if not properly managed, it will lead generalized job instability:

• A completely ineffectual and inefficient housing policy that does not work for

young couples and/or for young singles;

• A social ´welfare´ state that provides well-being for none; one that is still

( overwhelmingly ) focused on aid to families, while completely lacking new

plans for services that are compatible with the country’s real and most pressing

needs.

This is a general overview of the situation that calls for a complex framework of

intervention to help Italy pull itself out of stagnation, and bring it up to the general

levels of competitiveness established in the Lisbon agreement.

Dealing with the problem of women’s employment means addressing what is

seen as the country’s number one priority: the need to improve the economy.

But Italy cannot do without the contribution women make in the work force,

because it is a key factor for social and economic development. What Italy needs is a

commitment to a national policy whose purpose is to design individualized tools and

ways to foster and encourage women’s presence in the workplace, in bigger and better

ways.

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And we must eradicate the negative effects on women of the stereotypical

equation “ more work, less motherhood ”, by launching effective reconciliation policies

that enable both male and female workers to strike a better balance as regards life

expectancy and expectations, family needs, working conditions and social life.

Recover the value placed on childbearing and motherhood. This, in a nation long

concerned by its alarmingly low birth rates, should be a top priority. We are well behind

–and in fact have been moving against—the progressive trends of northern European

nations, that, by applying family friendly policies within workable social welfare

systems, have registered marked increases in national birth rates, thanks to decisive and

optimal aid packages for families and older persons.

For a society that wants and needs change, to turn itself around in hopes to of

pulling itself out of the current economic crisis, a first step could be to redefine its

welfare policies and come up with new models for the public and private services it

needs. And change is the key word, above all cultural change, with FLEXIBILITY as

its watchword.

Let us now take a look at the why:

The lives of women are conditioned by the need to juggle and coordinate the

time they have available to work, to get on with their own personal itineraries, to care

for children and dependent older persons, all as a means for them to actively take part in

the social and economic processes within their individual territorial frames of reference.

This is why well defined policies on hours, scheduling, transport and other

services that enable busy citizens to take care of daily life while taking an active part in

the nation’s social and economic system are so important.

. This necessarily involves a cultural change in the roles traditionally assigned to

men and women, which, in turn, means eliminating the stereotype dictating that it is

women’s work to stay at home and take care of the family, and men’s work to be the

breadwinner, and that, as breadwinners they are freed of assuming any other tasks or

obligations at home.

The data available indicates that 77 % of all caregiving work is performed by

women, as compared with 23 % performed by men, who dedicate less than 10 minutes

each day to this type of activity.

The purpose behind participation in this Project is to point out the need for deep

seated change that should be of interest to both the labour market and civil society, and

prove that nations where the most basic rules of democracy are not applied –gender

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equality being one example - develop more slowly in ways that frequently permeate all

sectors of society: the political, economic and social arenas.

Any view taken of the labour market and employment in terms of

competitiveness and opportunity for development, shows that it is increasingly

important for both male and female workers to have equal opportunities in these areas.

Therefore, our priority should be to make the best possible use of the resources

available to us to face this challenge. Women are the resource that must be fully tapped

now and in the future, because relegating women to subordinate roles in society is a

waste of invaluable human potential that could serve to benefit the global economy. It

is the relegation, subordination, etc. that makes it difficult for women to enter the job

market, later convinces them to drop out of the job market and after that, to give up any

hope of reentry.

The motherhood stereotype is one of the causes underlying lower employment

rates for women.

A 2003 ISTAT research project performed by CNEL, found that the main reason

that most working women left the job market was the birth of their first child. In

almost all cases, once they left the labour market, they never returned, due to the

difficulties encountered in reconciling personal and professional obligations.

And what is the profile of a woman who resigns from her job when she gives

birth? Based on the studies performed, 26 % of all women who drop out of the job

market after the birth of a child have an elementary school education, 18% hold high

school diplomas and 12 % are university graduates.

This difference clearly indicates that the level of education attained has a major

impact on a woman’s push for self-realization and affects her desire to continue in her

profession: The higher the educational level attained, the lower the percentage of

women who give up their jobs. A cross comparison with labour market data shows that

only 8.9 % of public sector employees leave their employment upon childbirth, and

26.2 % of private sector employees resign, but an ( in our view, alarming ) 15.3 % of

self-employed women choose to give up their work.

This latter is a clear indicator of the job security effect: It is fluctuating and

random for self-employed women, higher within the public sector, and lower in the

private sector, and in the latter two, the flexibility in working hours, although

considerably different between the two sectors, is an influential factor.

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Only 15.5 % of working mothers with full time jobs leave the job market, as

compared with 68.6 % of all mothers with part time jobs. The economic reasons speak

for themselves: Clearly, part time workers are at a disadvantage. If they do not have

access to affordable childcare services, paradoxically, they cannot afford to work,

because their entire paycheck –or more-- would only go to pay the high cost of daycare

or babysitting services.

Another interesting piece of data from the study is that grandparents are still the

most frequently tapped resource for the care of small children: 6 out of 10 small

children are cared for by their grandparents, and only 2 out of 10 are sent to childcare

facilities. Within this group, the geographical distribution by regions ( Italy ) is as

follows: southern 6 %; central 13 % and northern 15 %.

The type of labour contract is another factor that influences a woman’s

decision to keep working or not. The job security provided by an open ended contract

enables these women to decide to make the temporary sacrifice required, which they see

as an investment, and so deal with the problems encountered in reconciling professional

and family obligations. Women working under short term contracts do not have this

luxury, and current labour market reforms have created a climate of uncertainty,

meaning that there are even fewer guarantees for couples just starting out, who would

like to have children.

According to the most frequently applied stereotypes, women have “innate

defects” and have committed " original sins ” that necessarily keep them from realizing

their personal aspirations in life:

• They give birth! • They must take care of their children’s growth and development! • They want to have a professional life! • They want to receive training! • They want to be competitive! • They want to reach the top! • They want equal opportunity policies!

In order for women to truly enjoy access to professional development, to ongoing professional recycling and training, to active participation in society, and to their own personal free time, which enables them to actively participate and make a contribution to the nation’s social and political development, the following impediments must be systematically eliminated:

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Sectoral limitations and lack of new connections between the labour market and

services needs within a given territory.

• Scant or null consideration of the burden assumed by women providing

care for elderly family members who are no longer self-sufficient.

• The lack of participation of the most important protagonists;

• Insufficient thought as regards gender relations and the subjugation of

women.

• Underestimation of the quality / use ratio of the services needed by

working women.

These are problems that hit the family, one of our weakest institutions, the

hardest: Families find it harder and harder to make ends meet, and are hurting due to the

gaps in state assistance programs, that now provide fewer and smaller subsidies, while

failing to take into account the changing face of the diversity of family groupings and

rising poverty levels.

These same components serve to perpetuate the age-old stereotype of the role

women ( should ) play in the job market and in our so called ´civil´ society. Why?

Because they influence individual and group conduct and further affect how job hours,

scheduling and the workplace in general are organized. This in turn conditions the

representation and presence of women on all levels of what we dare to call a democratic

society.

It is a trade union’s duty to determine how to best tackle the problems women

face in the workplace, identify the weak points, defend and overcome these along with

the obstacles posed by market globalization.

If women are to have the same rights as men, the same opportunities to choose,

we must take action to eradicate the unequal and unfair treatment assigned to women.

These are attitudes and practices learned first at home, only to be reinforced and further

developed within the school system and later ´filter up´ to affect attitudes in the labour

market. The result is the almost total exclusion of women from parliamentary

representation within democratic societies... as witnessed by the sad example set by

Italy: only 9% of all representatives in Parliament are women.

As Pàdraig Flynn said “ A dynamic economy is one that makes the best use of its

human resources, of the talents and skills of its people ”.

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And it is precisely the individual talents and skills that can combat existing

stereotypes, because dividing people, and therefore human resources, into different rigid

and highly defined categories is simply outdated.

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CHAPTER II

MOTIVATIONS

The definitive entry of women in the labour market as paid workers outside the

home, and the rising feminization ( generally desired in Italy and in other industrialized

nations, which is one of the most important social changes of the past century ) can be

traced back to the 1960´s and has led to a slow but sure transformation of the entire

labour system organization, and therefore of social organization.

Today, despite the labour crisis that Italy is going through, women continue to

hold jobs or seek employment after marriage and childbirth.

Within this scenario, major factors having a massive influence on business and

corporate policies absolutely must be taken into account, and we must find solutions

capable of balancing women’s presence in the job market with that of men, and

eliminating conflicts and inequalities.

If we are to achieve this, we must first be prepared to recognize the mechanisms

of discrimination affecting women’s entry in labour organizations and to launch a series

of itineraries designed to eliminate a gender based vision of the jobs and the workplace

in general.

The most highly conflictive points can be summarized as follows:

• The major increase in the number of women in the workforce has also led to

greater visibility of the fact that their potential as human capital is being

underused.

• Smaller male workforce available due to demographic changes

• The need to make use of all competencies and all human potential available

• Globalization and market expansion

• The fact that women tend to invest more, and more wisely, in mid to high

level training and in self-training

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• Women’s demand for greater access to management positions, and

aspirations to higher level employment.

Here, two major stereotypes play a fundamental role in perceptions of the

participation of both men and women in the development of the society in which they

live: SEX and GENDER

While “ Sex refers to innate physical and biological determining factors, Gender

refers to social differences that are learned, and that refer to different cultures at

different periods of history. ”

“ These are therefore shared and changing cultural definitions that assign

predetermined labels to the basic traits of being either man or woman, and have an

influence on how the two sexes relate to one another in different social contexts ”.

According to widely shared opinions, male and female identities cause men and

women to act and think in certain ways, which makes the categories of men and women

highly homogeneous.

This type of categorization is frequently a self-fulfilling prophecy, leading

individuals take on the behaviors that are expected of them, and so women tend to

assume the aptitudes attributed to them by society and to make existential decisions that

confirm the gender stereotypes prevailing within their social contexts. The concept of

mothering, as defined by Chodorow ( 1978 ), expresses precisely the tendency of

generations of women to take on the characteristics considered typical of their gender,

such as fragility, weakness, the need to be protected and submissiveness.

When they enter the labour market, women leave behind their purely

´reproductive´ role ( and the traits related to it ) and affirm their own economic and

social independence, thus initiating a process of self-empowerment and coming into

their own as rightful members of the world of breadwinners ( TEE, “ Towards a

European Equality-Quality ” – by Progetto Donna, Bologna ).

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CHAPTER III

THE LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK

1. The Italian Constitution

Article 3 states: All citizens shall enjoy the same social dignity and are equal before the law, with no distinction made for reasons of sex, race, language, religion, political persuasion, or due to personal or social circumstances. Article 37 states: Women shall have the same right as men to equal pay for equal work, and working conditions must be such that they enable women to carry out their family related commitments; Article 51 states. The Republic promotes equal opportunity among men and women through specific measures.

In the application of article 51 of Italy’s Constitution, when the regional Statutes were included amended and updated, specific articles were included on the application of measures to ensure equal rights for men and women ( see attached Annex including Statute excerpts ).

2. Law number 903 of 9th December 1977,

on equal treatment for men and women in the workplace: No discrimination of any

kind shall be permitted as regards access to employment and professional/vocational

training or in any aspect of personnel selection or in announcements of job vacancies,

due to family status and maternity, in wages, in the assignment of titles and duties or in

any other way affecting the employee’s possibilities for promotion.

3. The Equal Opportunity Act, Law 125/91

Law number 125 of 1991 was enacted to improve women’s opportunities in the

labour market, provide for equal opportunity for men and women in the workplace and

to eliminate barriers to the application of Equal Opportunity through the implementation

of Affirmative Action measures.

It introduces in Italy’s legal code the concept of tangible equality among men and

women in the workplace and in society in general, with an accent on the need for a real,

effective social and cultural change that eliminates gender related stereotypes and

promotes true equality between the sexes.

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4. Law 215/91 – on Women Entrepreneurs

The purpose of this piece of legislation was to recognize women’s propensity for

creating micro / small enterprises, and to promote the development of these by means of

specific lines of funding granted each year by the Ministry for Production Activities.

6. Legislative Decree 196 of 2000 “ Regulation of the activities of equal opportunity

advisors and provisions regarding affirmative action…”

The passage of Decree law 196/2000 was an attempt to consolidate the practice

of affirmative action as a priority tool for achieving the desired cultural change. Its

ultimate goal was to change the general mindset as regards the tools and instruments in

place to favor equal treatment of both sexes. Law 125 led to a change in the quality of

attention paid to labour policies, including training, to which access by women had

traditionally been either made difficult, or denied outright, and this has helped

disseminate knowledge and the exchange of the good practices that should naturally

form a part of fair contract and hiring policies.

5. Law 53/2000 – “ Provisions in support of maternity and paternity, defending the

right to caregiving and training and for coordination of caregiving leave and

timetables in urban settings ".

Law 53/2000 was enacted to provide new opportunities, such as:

1. enable parents to be closer to their children

2. allow them to take vacation days for personal events and reasons.

3. enable them to take time off for personal training and education.

The legitimate setting for defining how the commitments made by both parties

are later applied is level two collective bargaining agreements ( company and company

trade union ). The part that interests us most is the one that refers to certain

opportunities, defined within the Law, that could potentially help women overcome

persisting ingrained gender stereotypes, that continue to relegate them to an inferior

status as compared to their male fellow workers, and limit their opportunities for

professional advancement, because it is impossible for women to reconcile working and

family life, and because they are denied access to proper training.

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The Law in question guarantees the right of both male and female workers to

reconcile their personal and professional lives through more flexible scheduling ( and its

text cites examples, such as part time work, work performed at home, and tele-

working). It further guarantees the right to reentry, after the worker has taken leave of

different types, providing for specific training courses to guarantee reentry.

The advantages for companies applying this Law range from funding earmarked

for experiments in flexible scheduling in the workplace ( and includes coverage of the

added costs involved for each position, plus that of any software required for the effort),

to subsidies for worker training.

As provided for under law, all flex-time formats whose purpose is to enable

workers to strike a harmonious balance between their personal and professional lives,

must receive the support of both Employer and Trade Unions, which must be reflected

in specific agreements. In the areas left open to negotiation, specific chapters are

included on this issue.

On Training and Learning:

“ Specific training courses should be planned and offered to facilitate

the workplace reentry of male and female workers returning from any

type of leave of absence. Such courses shall be financed through the

employment fund reserved for this purpose, under the provisions of

Article 9 of Law 53/2000 0 ”.

On Shift/Hours Scheduling

“ so as to facilitate the reconciliation of employee’s personal and

professional lives, experimental projects on flexible scheduling assigning

priority to the parents of children under 8 years of age ( extended to 12

years in the case of adopted children ) are permitted and will be financed

through the employment fund reserved for this purpose, under the

provisions of Article 9 of Law 53/2000.”

On provisions and facilities extended to dependents for reasons of educational and

training leaves of absence

" Under the provisions and the description set forth in Article 5 of Law

53/20000, any employee with at least five years´ seniority, who submits

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his/her request 30 day beforehand, has the right to a leave of absence for

training purposes. ( here room was set aside for trade unions to have a

voice in defining employee eligibility and terms of the leaves of absence

in question). The leave of absence may be taken all at once, or divided

up, but may in no case exceed a total of 11 months of the full time the

person is in the employ of the company ).Company organized or

company paid training or CNNL training programs under the terms of

application and extension of Law 300/1970 are and shall be considered

as separate. Employees will not be paid during the leave of absence, but

their jobs will be held for them upon return from same.

6. Decree of 30th May 2005. “ Application of Directive 2002/73/ EC on the equal

treatment of men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and

promotion and working conditions ”.

The text of this Decree provides the following definition of discrimination:

“ discrimination due to harassment, defined as where an unwanted conduct related to

the sex of a person occurs with the purpose of insulting the dignity of a person, and of

creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment

(Article 2, point 2).”

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CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH

In order to verify that working women still suffer from a an ingrained culture of

discrimination, we worked with our partners ( UGT – Spain, Portugal and Belgium ) in

three specific sectors ( Education, banking and construction ), to identify and categorize

and sub-categorize the types of discrimination.

The Italian data sample was gathered on the three areas cited above, using

specific questionnaires ( the same were used by all partners ) submitted to

approximately 180 female workers ( and some male ), distributed in the following way:

Construction Sector: No. of persons

interviewed: 64

Women 44; men 20

Education Sector: No. of persons

interviewed: 58

Women 48; men 10

Banking Sector: No. of persons

interviewed: 70

All women

Our purpose in gathering this data was to gain first hand knowledge of the

employment situation of the male and female respondents within the sectors in question,

which in turn, would enable us to address the problems reflected in each of the sectors

head on, and identify tailor made best practices for each of these, that could later prove

useful in national level collective bargaining processes.

The questionnaire was divided into the following 8 thematic groups:

1. personal data

2. employment access methods used;

3. seniority in the present place of employment;

4. promotion and access to management positions;

5. training access methods used;

6. wage level;

7. reconciliation of work and family life;

8. gender stereotypes;

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The 8 groups were then divided into subgroups containing 24 questions. The

responses to these a helped provide us with an overall view of the current labour

situation within the three categories studied.

The potential problems targeted in the questionnaire were confirmed as being as

common to all three respondent sectors, which show that gender stereotyping is deeply

prevalent throughout these sectors and leads to gender discrimination that frustrates

women’s possibilities for promotion, advancement and self-realization in the workplace.

The overwhelming powerlessness that woman feel regarding their possibilities for

professional advancement has led to social and political repercussions such the paradox

in Italy of the extremely low numbers of women in Parliament, in government, and in

regional and local governments.

The sector by sector responses to the survey, expressed in percentages, are

offered below:

PERSONAL DATA

1. age

.Women 70 Banking Under 18 0 From 18 to 24 0 From 25 to 34 28 From 35 to 44 28 From 45 to 54 12 From 55 to 64 2

The banking sector is a mixed environment. In this case only female employees agreed to respond to the survey and the majority of these are between 25 and 54 years of age.

Women 44 - Men 20 Construction Under 18 0 From 18 to 24 6 From 25 to 34 14 From 35 to 44 26 From 45 to 54 14 From 55 to 64 2 65 and over 2

As seen here, the respondents are mainly members of the 25 to 54 year age group. All the women work in secretarial, clerical or similar administrative positions.

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Women 48 - Men 10 Education Under 18 0 From 18 to 24 0 From 25 to 34 4 From 35 to 44 24 From 45 to 54 34 From 55 to 64 38

In the education sector the most respondents were between 35 and 64 years of age.

2. Highest educational level attained Educational levels are fairly high in all three sectors, 54 % of banking sector

employees finished high school and between 46 % and 42 % of those working in education and banking have received some university education.

Banking High school 54 % University 46 %

Construction: Junior High School 36 % Senior High School 40% University 24%

II ACCESS TO EMPLOYMENT 3. 8 6% said that being male or female was an influential factor in access to employment

Banking Frequently 47 % Sometimes 43 % Has limited influence 7 % Do not agree 3 %

Construction Frequently 38 % Sometimes 41 % Has limited influence 6 % Do not agree 13 %

Education Junior High School 3 % Senior High School 24 % University 42 %

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Education Frequently 17%% Sometimes 55% Has limited influence 14% Do not agree 14%

It was in the banking and construction sectors where women frequently said they

had problems gaining entry But this was also true in education related careers, where 55% said that being a woman sometimes represented a an entry barrier. In conclusion, the three response areas clearly show that the stereotyping of women continues to pose an impediment to job market entry. 6 Similar difficulties encountered by both men and women in access to employment

Banking Frequently 11 % Sometimes 11 % Rarely 51 % Never 26 %

Construction Frequently 13 % Sometimes 50 % Rarely 19 % Never 18 %

Education Frequently 21 % Sometimes 38 % Rarely 34 % Never 3 %

Although in this case there are also some differences between the responses of

men and women: While 50 % of those interviewed in the construction sector indicated that men also have problems gaining access to employment, men rarely reported such difficulties in the banking sector ( 52 % ), or in educational fields ( 34 % ) . The 38 % reporting that gender sometimes posed a barrier to entry in the field of education is cause for reflection, given the high rate of feminization of such fields.

7 Types of difficulties encountered by women.

Banking Unequal sharing of family responsibilities

39 %

Preconceived ideas and stereotypes

38 %

Low confidence levels 26 % Low training levels 3 % Lack of professional experience 3 % Discrimination 1 % Predominantly male 1 %

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Construction Unequal sharing of family responsibilities

44 %


56 %

Low confidence levels 50 % Low training levels 6 % Lack of professional experience 19 % Discrimination 13 %

Education Unequal sharing of family responsibilities

52 %


41 %

Low confidence levels 34 % Low training levels 48 % Lack of professional experience 14 % Discrimination 7 % Predominantly male 3 %

One of the main difficulties encountered by working women is having to share

so called caregiving tasks with their partner, which makes it hard for them to reconcile their personal and professional life.

But, the fact that gender related stereotypes continue to exist in their places of employment leads women to have very low self esteem which is manifested in a marked lack of confidence in their own capabilities and possibilities. The lack of proper training and of professional experience plays a major role in all of this, particularly in education related professions and in the construction sector.

8 Types of obstacles

Banking yes 51 % No 46 % No response 3 %

Lack of training 12 %Lack of professional experience 12 %Lack of confidence in their abilities 12 %Lack of time 26 %Preconceived ideas and stereotypes 26 %

Construction Sector:

Yes 53 % No 38 % No response 9 %

24

Lack of training 28 %Lack of professional experience 19 %Lack of confidence in their abilities 6 % Lack of time 6 % Preconceived ideas and stereotypes 19 %

Teachers Yes 28 % No 69 % No response 3 %

Lack of training 10 %Lack of professional experience 21 %Lack of confidence in their abilities 7 % Lack of time 3 % Preconceived ideas and stereotypes 3 %

The responses received to this question are a clear illustration of the previous question, which is that respondents feel that there are barriers to access to employment in all sectors surveyed

9 Stereotypes

Banking True FalseWomen are naturally inclined to take care of others

80 % 20 %

Women are naturally well suited to domestic tasks

15 % 85 %

Women are more honest

28 % 72 %

Women are nice to look at 51 % 49 %Women have no desire to supervise the work of others

6 % 94 %

Women are not as strong physically

74 % 26 %

Women are not as good in math’s and sciences

6 % 94 %

Women are more willing to take orders

20 % 80 %

Women are more docile and complain less

18 % 82 %

Women are more likely to accept lower salaries

45 % 55 %

25

Construction True FalseWomen are naturally inclined to take care of others

75 % 25 %


75 % 25 %


58 % 42 %


46 % 54 %


59 % 38 %


3 % 97 %


16 % 84 %


25 % 75 %


66 % 34 %

Teachers True FalseWomen are naturally inclined to take care of others

55 % 45 %


24 % 76 %


83 % 17 %


17 % 83 %


55 % 45 %


14 % 86 %


17 % 83 %


34 % 66 %


74 % 26 %

The preconceived ideas held about women are summarized in these tables. But

according to the responses received, despite this, we can see that gender stereotypes have fueled a culture of discrimination against women for far too long –and the way they have traditionally been depicted is simply a misrepresentation - a social misrepresentation that absolutely must be corrected to reflect what women are truly like.

26

CHAPTER III PERMANENCE IN THE JOB MARKET

10 Employment categories by sector

Banking

Skilled labour 35 %

Administrative tasks 32 % Unskilled labour 3 % Technical work 18 % Management 3 %

Construction

Skilled labour 25 %

Administrative tasks 16 % Unskilled labour 9 % Technical work 38 % Management 13 %

Education

Skilled labour 38 %

Administrative tasks 41 % Unskilled labour Technical work 10 % Management 17 %

Technical and administrative functions are those most frequently performed. In the construction sector and education posts there are a good percentage of management functions, and in the case of education/schools access is via contract. Conversely, the situation in the construction sector is very different: In fact, 13% of all managers are male. In the banking sector, only 3% of all women interviewed held management responsibilities.

11. Level of satisfaction

Banking Satisfied 54 % Dissatisfied 46 %

27

Dissatisfaction was due to:

Assigned duties below their skill level

45 %

Lack of duties 26 % Assigned duties above their skill level

13 %

Overworked.Too many duties assigned

17 %

Construction Satisfied 34 % Dissatisfied 59 % No response 7 %



49 %



29 %

Education Satisfied 54 % Dissatisfied 46 %



54 %



23 %

The degree of satisfaction with the duties assigned in all three sectors is slightly

higher than that of dissatisfaction. The highest dissatisfaction levels were due to being assigned duties below the employee’s level of skill or competence, and was also frequently due to ´work overload´ within the employee’s level of competence. The lack of a specific job description, or assigned duties, is another major cause of dissatisfaction in the workplace.

28

12. Employment/position matches employee competencies

Banking

yes 46 % no 35 % No response 19 %

Construction yes 34 % no 28 % No response 38 %

Education yes 34 % no 59 % No response 7 %

Feelings of individual job satisfaction are higher in the banking and construction sectors. The highest dissatisfaction levels were registered in the field of education, a total of 59 %. This, in our view, should be added onto the percentage of the “ no response ” category, and deserves more in depth consideration at a later point in time, as regards all three sectors surveyed. This, because “ no response ” is definitely not an indication of job satisfaction or self realization, but rather indicates insecurity and/or concern.

13. Most highly sought qualities in employees:

Banking

Good organizational skills 58 %

Ability to objectively assess the situation

35 %

Decision making capacity and common sense/practicality

58 %

Negotiation skills 55 %

Good written and spoken language skills

66 %

Leadership capabilities 20 %

Self-motivation and committment 60 %

29

Good overall personal appearance 23 %

Good teamworker 56 %

Demonstrates personal initiative 38 %

Takes pleasure in helping others 28 %

Good manual skills 9 %

Physical strength 0 %

Willingness to travel 12 %

Construction



31 %


28 %



59 %


Self-motivation and committment 44 %








Education



19 %


24 %



34 %

30


Self-motivation and commitment 38 %








This group of questions reflects the qualities most frequently sought in women and identified with women. However, while there is no doubt that women have particularly good organizational skills, when this is compared to the leadership capabilities attributed to women, we see that gender stereotyping is firmly in place, since women are traditionally considered to have no particular aptitude for leadership.

14. Measures or strategies adopted to promote the hiring of women

Banking

Yes 8 %

No 63 %

No response 29 %

Construction

Yes 31 %

No 44 %

No response 25 %

Education

Yes 32 %

No 45 %

No response 23%

31

Efforts by potential employers to foster a higher presence of more highly skilled

women in the labour market are not yet fully satisfactory. The lowest levels for efforts

of this kind are registered in banking, at a mere 10 %.

15. The job sector

Banking Predominantly female

22 %

Predominantly male 22 % Mixed 53 % No response 3 %

Construction Predominantly female


Education Predominantly female

36 %


15. On gender blind equal treatment

Banking equal 34 %

unequal 57 % No response 9 %

Construction equal 38 % unequal 44 % No response 18 %

Education equal 48 % unequal 48 %

32

No response 4 %

Questions 15 and 16 indicate the perception of equal treatment in the three sectors studied, as refers to whether the working environment is predominantly male or female.

The general perception is that women are discriminated against for gender based reasons.

The reasons affirming different treatment assigned to men versus women are: Banking Women are paid less than men for equal work

15 %

If both candidacies are equal, companies prefer to hire the man

49 %

Although job performance is equal, men get promoted ahead of women

40 %

Top management positions are mostly held by men

46 %

Gender discrimination in access to training opportunities

12 %

Existence of gender stereotypes and prejudices

18 %

Unfair and unequal distribution of family related responsibilities

6 %

Job insecurity is higher for women, despite equal skills and performance

9 %

Despite equal skills and performance, more women are in part time positions

6 %

Construction

Women are paid less than men for equal work

9 %


19 %


13 %


22 %

Gender discrimination in access to training

16 %


18 %


9 %

33


9 %


0 %

Education Women are paid less than men for equal work

13 %


28 %


28 %


38 %

Gender discrimination in access to training

3 %


14 %


24 %


10 %


7 %

The most critical points of this group of questions are seen in the responses to points 1-3. Where the stereotype manifests itself the most clearly. To whit: given the same skills and competencies, employers tend to prefer to hire the male, rather than the female candidate, and –once again in cases of employees with the same performance and competence levels-- men receive preference in terms of promotions and professional advancement.

34

PROFESSIONAL PROMOTION AND ACCESS TO MANAGEMENT AND DECISION MAKING POSITIONS.

16. Promotion of women to management positions.

Banking Management positions are held by men

94 %

Management positions are held by men

6 %

Construction Management positions are held by men

78 %

Management responsibility divided equally among men and women

22 %

Education Management positions are held by men

34 %

Management positions are held by men

41 %

Management responsibility divided equally among men and women

21 %

No response 6 % While management positions obviously continue to be occupied for the most part by men, the answers of 21 % of all respondents who felt there is male - female parity in management positions within the construction sector and in teaching and education posts posed an interesting counterpoint. 18. Measures and strategies adopted to increase the number of women in management and decision making posts

Banking Yes 3 % No 80 %No response 17 %

Quotas 38 Training on gender equality 17 Training for women 3 % Scheduling of meetings adjusted to facilitate attendance

20

Flexible scheduling 22

35

Quotas Training on gender equality 20 % Training for women 3 % Scheduling of meetings adjusted to facilitate attendance

12 %

Flexible scheduling 28 %

Childcare facilities 26 %Training on gender equality 20 Training for women 4 % Flexible scheduling 26 Scheduling of meetings adjusted to facilitate attendance

24

While some measures have been adopted, scant attention was paid to training

opportunities for women. Although successful contract negotiations have led to more flexible working hours, access to and participation in training is still seen as highly problematic, as evidenced by the following questions and responses to same.

19 Problems encountered by women applying for management positions

Banking Company management is predominantly male

86 %

Lack of confidence in women’s abilities

63 %

Problems arising from unequal assumption of family responsibilities

69 %

Stereotypes, preconceived ideas lead to attempts to dissuade women from management positions

38 %

Hostile reactions of colleagues 9 % Lack of training 6 % Lack of professional experience 3 % Lack of job security 3 %

Construction Yes 19 %No 53 %No response 28 %

Teachers Yes 10 %No 69 %No response 20 %

36

Construction Company management is predominantly male

41 %


38 %


25 %


28 %

Hostile reactions of colleagues 13 % Lack of training 13 % Lack of professional experience 22 % Lack of job security 3 % Hostile reactions of family members

3 %

Education Company management is predominantly male

66 %


41 %


76 %


41 %

Hostile reactions of colleagues 10 % Hostile reactions of colleagues 3 % Lack of training 21 % Lack of professional experience 10 % Lack of job security 17 %

The most critical points within the problems cited as affecting access to management positions are a mirror image of the ones seen as affecting permanence in the job market: The difficulties involved in reconciling professional and personal life, lack of confidence in one’s own capabilities and possibilities for success, which is further exacerbated by hostile reactions from colleagues when women do manage to succeed professionally, receive promotions, etc. Note should be taken of the ( albeit very low ) percentage of respondents who reported hostile reactions within the family unit.

37

V. ACCESS TO TRAINING

20. Participation in training courses

Banking Yes 26 % No 63 % No response 11 %

Participant evaluation of courses received:

Satisfactory 26 % Unsatisfactory 26 % No response 48%

Construction Sector: Yes 6 No 75 % No response 16 %


Satisfactory 3 % Unsatisfactory 3 % No response 94 %

Education Yes 24 % No 72 % No response 10 %


Satisfactory 14 % Unsatisfactory 2 % No response 84 %

Poor or inappropriate training is one of the most frequently cited reasons leading to lack of opportunity for advancement in all three sectors.

21 Is scheduling designed to make professional, personal and family life compatible:

Banking Yes 23 %

38

No 47 % No response 30 %

Construction Sector: Yes 3 % No 3 % No response 94 %

Teachers Yes 10 % No 2 % No response 88 %

22. Regarding the question as to whether women have been offered to opportunity to attend courses to help them qualify for management positions:


Average 3 % Compatible scheduling 3 %

Women employed in the banking sector evaluated the content of the training courses they attended, and were asked to indicate if scheduling was ´user friendly´. Responses indicate a total lack of ´reconciliation´ sensitivity in the scheduling of such courses, thus making it extremely difficult for women to take part.

Construction Yes 12 % No 69 % No response 19 %

Construction sector employees overwhelmingly chose NOT to

pronounce themselves as to the content or scheduling of the training courses.


The grade assigned here was below average

average 7 %

39

VI. WAGES AND SALARIES UNFAIR / UNEQUAL COMPENSATION

Banking Yes 26 % No 425 No response 32 %

Among women survey respondents reporting wage discrimination: 8 % stated they were paid less than their female colleagues, while 38 % reported they received lower pay than their male colleagues.

Construction Yes 22 % No No response

13 % of respondents in this sector said they were paid less than their colleagues, and 2 % reported male – female wage differences.


10 % of all respondents in this sector feel they are underpaid in comparison to their colleagues. 10 % feel underpaid in comparison to male employees.

40

VII. RECONCILIATION OF PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL LIFE


Construction Yes 28 % No 47 % No response 19 %


Most of those interviewed say that for them, scheduling is NOT a problem. This positive feedback can most probably be attributed to successful collective bargaining, and is a testimony to its successful efforts to improving the general organization of labour.

41

VIII. COMBATTING GENDER BASED STEREOTYPES

Banking

Early start on sensitivity and awareness of gender equality issues

66 %

Public education campaigns to combat gender stereotyping

20 %

Dissemination of statistics on inequality segregated by gender

3 %

More services for the care of children and dependent persons

58 %

Elimination of salary discrimination 32 %

Education for workers on the issue of equality 38 %

Training programs to encourage women to assume higher responsibilities

43 %

Encourage the economic activities of women 23 %

Measures to encourage an equitable division of family responsibilities

38 %

Reinforce the social rights of persons holding precarious types of employment

26 %

Construction

Early start on sensitivity and awareness to equality issues

41 %


22 %


22 %


22 %


42



25 %



22 %


16 %

Education

Early start on sensitivity and awareness to equality issues

41 %


41 %


24 %


55 %




24 %



3 %


3 %

This last group of questions is designed to encourage wider dissemination of

equal opportunity practices, with particular attention to the new generations now joining the labour market. This is tremendously important because it is the only way to overcome the existing labour market culture still permeated by hard to eradicate

43

stereotypes and prejudices. Two of the most important tools for achieving a cultural change in the labour market are: Information and education. By providing correct information on the real situation that women face in today’s job market, and through education and training programs, progress can be made in the battle against precarious employment, the underground job market, wage inequalities and gender based divisions of labour in the job market, thus helping to achieve higher participation by women in all aspects of the complex process of the societal development.

44

CHAPTER V

WHY A STUDY ON STEREOTYPES

Society has subdivided individuals in a conventional series of categories: This is

useful in helping distinguish between them and classify them. The problem arises when

such categories are taken as absolute truths, and when human beings are blindly defined

based on the characteristics contained in these categories.

The categories of sex, ethnic origin, age, social class, physical appearance are

all sources of discrimination among individuals.

Since the contexts we live in ( work and family ) play a major role in the perception we

build of ourselves, by studying gender stereotypes, and understanding where they

come from, how they change and how they condition self-perception, we help

ourselves to see these differences as social constructs, and NOT as innate

differences.

Studies performed within some professions/trades that are commonly considered

to be representative of differences due to social constructs have led to highly interesting

reflections, particularly on how women perceive themselves within their individual

working environments and in civil society.

Women are constantly torn between the role they play in the workplace and the

one they play within the family. And although they may overtly deny the existence of

conflicts between their professional and personal lives, women continue to perceive

themselves and their roles in terms of subordination and not in terms of leadership.

Recent studies ( also performed in Europe ) have found that:

- The number of women in the labour market is on the rise, but continues

to be in traditionally ´female sectors such as social services, health care

and teaching.

- 80 % of this increase is registered in the jobs requiring unskilled labour.

The number of women having reached top management positions

remains low: Between 3 % and 6 %. While more women are entering the

professional fields ( as engineers and architects ), the greatest

concentration of women in the labour market continues to be in human

resources / services and health care.

- On the average, women earn approximately 16 % less than men

45

- 80 % of all part time work is performed by women ( an option generally

due to their family commitments )

- Unemployment rates for women are much higher than for men

In this situation, in which women’s skills are undervalued and underused,

Europe is starting to face a Human Resources crisis, due to:

- A lack of qualified specialized personnel

- The need to increase the total labour force

- The drop in population levels

When drafting the 2005 community action framework, the European

Commission wanted to tackle the problem of women’s segregation in the workplace

through an integrated focus, in an effort to break down barriers impeding a new and

different kind of compatibility between working and family life for women, and also for

men.

Gender integration in diversity management policies responds to the needs of

both men and women, as well as to the business community’s and employers´ demands

for the greater flexibility / productivity ( from a mutually beneficial standpoint) .

The economic, demographic and social challenges Europe is facing call for a

new perspective on the roles of men and women as economic players in the society they

live in. Encouraging women to become an active part of the labour market is one of

those challenges. But we will NOT be successful if we FAIL to adopt an integrated

focus of the problem, that is, by launching measures to encourage higher participation

of women in the labour market, in combination with other parallel measures to

guarantee equal treatment in the workplace and employment opportunities, thus

permitting a proper work-life balance.

The societal framework within Italy and Europe has evolved over the past 20

years: We have moved from a model in which men were the sole breadwinners, to one

in which the family benefits from the income earned by both husband and wife.

46

CHAPTER VI

EVOLUTION OF THIS MODEL

BUT THE EVOLVED MODEL STILL LEAVES WOMEN MUCH MORE

VULNERABLE THAN MEN

The problems involved in the new model are:

• Problems encountered in the reconciliation of family responsibilities and full

time employment

1. The employment rate for women with small children is 12.7 % below that of

women who are childless or have older children, while the comparable rate for

men with small children is 9.5 % above that of their male colleagues who do not

have small children.

2. Women continue to assume almost all family related burdens. As a result, they tend

to move in and out of the labour market, which negatively affects their possibilities

for advancement, salary levels, accrued retirement benefits, and furthermore, the

majority of part time jobs are held by women.

3. Women now have higher educational levels, sometimes higher than me.

But DESPITE all of the above:

1. The number of men earning doctoral degrees is nearly twice that of women

( 39 % compared to 61 % )

2. Women’s educational options tend to reproduce gender stereotypes: 36 % of

all female university graduates took degrees in traditional fields, and only 2 % in

fields like engineering, architecture and building

• Professional and sectoral segregation are still strongly felt: The number of women

in low paid and unskilled jobs or in the more traditionally feminine fields is still

high: Health care services, teaching, public administration, and retailing, while they

have a disproportionately presence in technical and traditionally “ male ” sectors

such as engineering, finance and middle management.

• In the European Union, women’s salaries are average of 16 % below those of

men. Only a few countries have adopted measures to make serious headway toward

reducing that difference.

47

Women are now a key resource for the labour force, but one that still tends to be

underused and underestimated, despite all the progress made. In the short term this will

become an effective cost that will influence the competitiveness of businesses, and will

affect their market presence and productivity. It is what the JUIL calls “ the cost and

the paradox of inequality ”, because this myopic view, that undervalues women as a

labour market resource, will take a high economic toll in the future.

Thus, the best strategy appears to be to maximize the economic contribution that women can make to the labour market, in terms of both quality and quantity.

48

CHAPTER VII

POSSIBLE STRATEGIES

Within the strategies to achieve a more balanced representation of women, it is

important to promote employment ( and later permanence in that employment ) for

women and men in all the sectors where they are underrepresented.

We must recognize and build upon the female competencies found in those

professions where women predominate.

Provide information on job offerings and related functions and duties to attract

higher numbers of women to those sectors that have traditionally been “ hostile ” to

hiring women.

Intervene in working environments to promote a more productive mix of the two

genders, in environments that are healthier and safer for having been optimized from a

gender perspective.

And, therefore,

Attract women to NON traditional sectors and occupations;

Motivate and update the training of women seeking reentry in NON

traditional types of employment;

Provide a NON – discriminatory working environment in which differences

are valued and appreciated;

Implement practices of Total Equality in all company processes: Personnel

selection and hiring, training, career advancement opportunities, working

conditions, reconciliation of family and professional life, and decision making

policies.

49

CHAPTER VIII

WHERE AND HOW STEREOTYPES EMERGE

The family is the social nucleus where stereotypes initially tend to be formed

and reinforced.

It is a known fact that the personality development of children is highly

influenced by the gender stereotypes and conducts they observe at home. When

parents praise, give tacit permission or fail to censure certain interests or attitudes

of a child they perpetuate the conduct in question, because it is perceived as

receiving parental approval.

If we assume there are basic intellectual differences between males and females,

we will probably consciously or unconsciously expect different gender based behaviors,

and will decide, based on gender stereotyping, what our sons and daughters can or

cannot, should or should not do.

It is a commonly held conviction that childcare and childrearing tasks are the

exclusive prerogative of women, one that tends to relegate them to the domestic

environment and serves to undermine and delegitimize their role in society and in

decision making.

This, according to Chodorow, makes it more difficult for girls to establish a

sense of personal identity involving any role outside the home.

The assignment of sex typed activities is a proven and effective determining

factor that leads to the stereotyped conduct expected.

From family to corporate organization: Transforming stereotypes The study performed in the three labour sectors clearly shows that women have

been taught to perceive themselves as people who are attentive to others, dedicated to

caregiving, to helping, to relationships.

Society recognizes women as being necessary in the roles they play as family

caregivers and in the performance of domestic tasks, and that stereotype has been

transferred and applied within the job market, where women are generally assigned

subordinate roles, having to do with interpersonal skills and relationships, caregiving

and social commitment.

50

One of the analyses clarifies that some professions such as secretary, school

teacher and nurse are sex typed, while there is significant LACK OF PRESENCE

of women in jobs requiring what are considered traditionally male behaviors.

Inside companies, gender stereotyping leads to the permanence of the women

who are least apt to deal with highly complex commitments and situations and who DO

NOT KNOW how to control their emotions by assuming the indifferent attitude adopted

by men.

Furthermore, whenever data are cited on the placement of women and the duties

they are assigned in their jobs, the response is that the distinctions made are due to

women’s natural preference for professions such as caregiving and services, where

lower levels of responsibility are required. But the truth is that it is traditional

stereotyping that has long led women to choose professions that only confirm the low

value placed on their aptitudes outside home or family related functions.

Gender stereotyping is even more prevalent in the school system: Most teaching

positions are occupied by women, while school administration posts are almost always

held by men.

Educational institutions are strongly influenced by gender stereotyping with a

division of labour that is only “ female intensive ” on a certain level.

Teachers tend to focus more attention on male than on female students, which is

an example of extreme stereotype based conduct.

Women’s lack of self-esteem is due to social and cultural conditioning factors.

This, in turn, has an influence on the functions women assume in their professional

lives, and lead women to have very low expectations regarding their job-related future

and opportunities for professional advancement.

This cause and effect is highly visible in the construction industry. There are still

very few female worksite supervisors ( engineers, etc .) in construction. Female

employees are almost always in administrative or secretarial positions, but are rarely

construction workers per se, although increased immigration flows have brought some

timid attempts –mostly from eastern European entrepreneurs-- to form micro

construction companies employing higher numbers of women on the job site itself.

Also in the banking / credit sector, while there are some differences, the situation is NOT far off the general workplace organizational scheme that tends to reproduce stereotyped conducts and make it harder for women to climb the rungs of the corporate ladder. And this DESPITE evidence of women’s capability in core business management, of their adherence to the company’s mission statement, of their

51

adaptability to change, in short, of their being fully capable of managing new processes that are fundamental to achieving internal and external client loyalty in a service sector such as banking.

52

CHAPTER IX

WOMEN AND TIME: PROBLEM OR OPPORTUNITY?

Paradoxically, it’s almost as if it is women themselves who want to perpetuate

gender stereotyping as an excuse for their making undemanding career choices.

And, as the survey indicates, when they do take the career route, they are

accused of having limited time to participate in all the activities that –conversely--

working men always have time for: Training, transfers and job related travel, long

working hours, overtime, etc.

But, to what extent can time truly be the problem?

Historically, until only a few decades ago, most of women’s time was dedicated

first and foremost to childbearing and caregiving.

The job market has not caught up with these not so recent changes: new models

in the organization of gender neutral working environments are sorely needed. Within

the group of women employed outside the home, most now work ´double shifts´, since

they continue to assume the full domestic workload at home.

This is due to the fact that, like companies and corporations, the family as an

institution is behind the times, since it has yet to adapt itself to the redistribution of

labour required in this new scenario, one in which women can no longer assume sole

responsibility for childcare, housework and the care of dependent family members.

The following stereotypical attitudes continue to have a strong influence on

family life:

Men’s Time: A straight line: home to office to home. Any variants? Home to office to gym to home

53

In many cases, it is the women themselves who prefer not to ask men to help out

in family and domestic organization; rather they continue to assume the burden alone.

Women who work outside the home has less and less time for themselves, because they

continue to perform their ´other´ job and take care of the needs of those who depend on

them ( children, husbands, school related duties, household management…) as clearly

seen in the following scheme:

The organizational model used by companies and businesses today “ forces ”

employees who seek promotion and career advancement to dedicate one hundred

percent of their time and efforts to the company and to their assigned duties.

Time and availability are therefore two very important elements for

organization that can lead to discrimination against women: This gives rise to the

idea that men, precisely because they have higher availability, are more productive than

women, and therefore are better suited to occupy top management positions.

Women’s Time

work

School/day care

Leisure activities for their children

supermarket

Home Sweet Home

54

Women in this field suffer marked discrimination: While having a family is

considered a source and sign of stability and reliability in men, for women it becomes

an obstacle to career advancement.

Studies on women in the labour market rightly use the term “ double shift " to describe the overlapping work/family roles and functions that working women are forced to assume.

55

CHAPTER X FOR WOMEN TIME….. IS A SCARCE COMMODITY

As noted earlier, when employee productivity is evaluated, it is seen as directly

proportional not only to the skills and competencies acquired, but also to the time

individuals have available and are willing to invest in their jobs.

Since, according to the stereotype, women invest more time ( and assign higher

priority and are more emotionally involved ) in the family, the general belief is that if

women are forced to choose between the time they dedicate to their and time for home

and family, home and family will always prevail. In 2003 ISTAT performed a study on

a small sampling of 50,000 working mothers with small children. Responses included

one particularly alarming piece of data: more than half of these quit their jobs to take

care of the children themselves, and, particularly in southern regions, many never return

to the labour market.

Because men have more time available for their jobs, they are generally

considered more productive and more efficient than women, which is seen as

justification for gender based wage differences, thus widening the pay gap and

perpetuating the feminization of poverty.

Even today, the majority of women work in low level jobs, and while they

perform the same duties and hold the same responsibilities as their male fellow workers,

they earn between 15 to 20 % less.

And the situation is not much better for women workers holding temporary

contracts, who earn approximately 14 % less than their male co-workers.

Italian legislation prohibits any kind of salary or wage discrimination among male and

female workers in temporary occupations, but specific observations by Employment

Coordination ( the branch of the UIL that represents temporary employees ) indicate

that there are some “ differences in working conditions ”. Based on a recent study

entitled “ Salary differences between men and women in temporary employment ",

performed by the Observatory of the Center for Studies on Temporary Employment ( a

Bilateral Body within the sector ), it was seen that, even if salaries are equal, the

compensation received by men versus women can differ in two ways: how men and

women are distributed among the different production sectors and differing distribution

within the various professional categories.

56

The study was performed in 2004 on a non-formal sampling of 863 individuals,

138 female ( 16 % ) and 725 male ( 84 % ) ( EBITEMP data bank ). It shows that men

clearly outnumber women in semi-skilled trades and similar, while women predominate

in management and the highest levels of employment.

In the metals and mechanics sector, the largest employer of temporary workers,

male employees greatly outnumbered female.

Conversely, the public sector, health care and retail sectors are markedly

´feminine´. In other words, all the areas where social customs have traditionally led

women seek work, despite their individual aptitudes and aspirations.

Even though larger numbers of women than men are employed in commercial

sectors that are very important for the national economy, the EBITEMP data bank

indicates that there continue to be salary differences that favor men over women.

In fact, in 2004, the monthly salary for female temporary employees was 1,130

euros, as compared with 1,313 euros for men, a difference of approximately 14 %.

The study shows how the sectoral distribution of male and female workers

affects salary differences: While it is true that a higher number of women are employed

in the services sector, at higher salary levels than those of industry, a closer look at each

individual job category, particularly in the case of unskilled and skilled workers, the

numbers for professional positions, which are generally more frequent in temporary

employment, shows that there is a salary difference that places female workers at a

disadvantage, with a lower impact and presence in the industrial sector.

There have been recent signs of a rise in the employment of temporary workers

by companies in the tertiary sector. If this trend is confirmed, we will see a rebalancing

of salary levels between men and women.

Given the lack of research performed in this area, the EBITEMP study findings

call for reflection on a labour market based on niches and sectors that are open only to

one sex or the other, and that continues to perpetuate gender stereotyping; A labour

market in which the women’s employment / professional options continue to be closely

related to the traditionally ´female´ sectors that reproduce the gender based patterns

established within the family, in the educational system and in training in general,

where women, the "workers of the future" are guided into a market that dictates who

can perform certain types of jobs, based on predefined, untested and unproven models.

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If this type of orientation / guidance does not change, it will effectively end up

closing the door to some sectors, and certainly to major industry ( which prefers male

workers ) for women, who, conditioned by social and cultural referents still do not view

these as a potential markets for their careers and professional development.

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CHAPTER XI

WOMEN ARE ATTRACTIVE

One of the gender stereotypes that lead to major discrimination, particularly in

the workplace, has to do with women’s physical appearance.

Attractiveness as a gender based trait is a determining value judgment applied

to women, a fact confirmed by research. In fact, approximately 50 % of all women

interviewed admitted that when a woman has a pleasing appearance, the gender

stereotype generally applied is that she is not intelligent, is dependent upon a man and is

incapable of independent decision making. The mass media, advertising and the cinema

also perpetuate this perception by depicting beautiful women as stupid and useless, and

ugly women as intelligent. Thus, beautiful women would have a harder time doing a job

requiring high level decision making.

Different studies have demonstrated that there are no major differences between

men and women’s cognitive abilities and social attitudes. Despite this, women are

generally thought to have better communication skills, organizational skills, be more

cooperative, more emotionally sensitive, better listeners and more capable of decoding

non-verbal communication.

Careful! These qualities are also stereotypes and furthermore are tremendously

subjective. And, if we take a look at the characteristics sought by potential employers

( that are also stereotypes ) we can see that they backfire on women.

If we were to define the personality traits that are conventionally expected

of a high level manager, they would probably be: Be specific, capable of rapid

decision making, have good leadership qualities, be self-motivating, independent,

visibility and emotionally neutral.

The qualities of women, as easily seen in the survey responses, do not fit the

traditional profile sought for such positions, and personnel evaluation models are still

far from valuing certain female characteristics, and from considering them traits that

are useful and efficient in the workplace.

One of the weak points discovered during the research was precisely the

women’s lack of propensity for leadership posts, but this is because they are not asked

to demonstrate leadership as a basic ability, and so the issue of female leadership simply

does not come into play, and is therefore not even considered a possibility. Specifically,

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only 9 % of women working in the construction sector have shown any interest in

leadership. The percentage is slightly higher in the field of education ( 14 ) and in the

banking/credit sector ( 20 ). We can just imaging what the consequences of this attitude

are: During personnel selection, employers place a higher premium on male candidates

to cover positions requiring higher levels of responsibility. Be that as it may, the

organizational culture also tends to have an influence on candidate selection: If the

company’s top management acts based on the gender stereotype and effectively

segregates women, then the human resources director, or interviewer tends to

accept that stereotype as well, and chooses the candidate seen as ideal, based on the

company’s known expectations.

Going back to physical appearance, since according to the stereotype,

management positions are associated with masculinity, women who dress like men are

the ones who gain access to management posts. That is, when women perform

functions that are traditionally considered to be masculine, they must change their

appearance and project an asexual image.

In other words, women have to make themselves as socially invisible as

possible, and avoid any situations, events or expression of aesthetic preferences that put

them too much on display.

Sexual segregation in professions is also due to cultural reasoning and actions

that discredit what are considered to be typically feminine activities. All jobs

performed by women are considered to be of lower status, and easier to do, in

terms of the duties and work performed. Generally speaking, the professions

occupied by women provide lower levels of career advancement than those

occupied by men.

Teachers, clerks, and secretaries realize that they cannot expect to advance much

in their careers, since the kind of jobs they hold do not automatically give them merit

based access to the realm of higher management. Also in the market niches that are

traditionally female intensive, such as social services ( frequently provided by social

cooperatives using mostly female personnel ), teaching, library science, etc., a very low

percentage of women are in management positions ( Proyecto Mujer )

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CHAPTER XII

MALE STEREOTYPES

The Giacomo Brodolini Foundation performed a cognitive study of men

employed in sectors that are culturally, traditionally and statistically considered to be

feminine.

Analysts are extremely interested in studying men working in the ´female´

professions, particularly because it could help them break down the stereotype of

feminization within certain professions.

The fact that women are slowly but surely breaking down gender based

professional barriers – and entering professions that were previously closed to them-

should incentive us to determine if this experience can be replicated for men. We might

well become witnesses to the paradoxical but not impossible masculinization of

professions that up to now had been always been performed only by women.

The Brodolini Foundation’s study bases itself on the assumption that due to their

high educational levels, women generally feel they have a legitimate right to take part

in “ traditionally male professions .” And this, for example, is evidenced by the fact

( which could also be considered a stereotype ) that the term career woman is strongly

associated with positive values. But the opposite is not. Whenever men cross the line

( and become caring men1 ) it usually raises questions and eyebrows within their social

settings, and they feel the need to provide explanations in order to defend their choice.

In this case, a positive value is not automatically assigned to their choice of field or

occupation, rather the option they have chosen is frequently viewed as almost

demeaning.2. This is also due to the fact that there is a general tendency to assign lower

prestige to ´the feminine´ and higher prestige to ´ the masculine´, which enjoys a

greater degree of validation. The result is that men are generally not at all eager to

enter the types of employment traditionally performed by women. For this reason, while

it can be said that men now have gender different options available to them, given what

is available, they actually continue to have fewer than women.

1 “Caring men”, versus “Career Women”. 2 Cases where society and their colleagues see men´s taking part in “female work ” as positive is another side of the coin that will be discussed later.

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The purpose of the Brodolini study, performed within the Project entitled

“ When this is a Man ”, is to focus positive attention on those men who have overcome

the limits imposed by gender stereotyping, and to take a closer look at the traditional

gender structures of which all individuals ( consciously or unconsciously )form a part.

This positive focus is intended to help other men see their way clear to make new

choices. A deeper understanding of the men who work in what used to be " women

only” fields ( and of how the fact that they are male is accepted, negotiated and

interpreted ) could motivate and help many other men to defy the gender function

defined employment structures, historically ´off limits´ to men, that characterize today’s

labour market ( which currently makes clear gender based distinctions ).

The project’s originality can be summarized along three main lines:

1) Expand the range of opportunities for men within gender related functions, and

therefore improve their range of choice, and options.

2) Eliminate some of the most widely extended stereotypes;

3) Help redefine some of the gender based labels typically assigned to certain kinds of

work3

The third point can be further subdivided into three secondary objectives: The

hypothesis is that men who have “ taken the leap ” in choosing their field of work have

begun to break down the culturally stereotyped view of what " is permitted ” and in

doing so have helped redefine the general context. In other words, the goal is to

understand what action strategies these men adopted that helped them overcome

ingrained cultural barriers and decide to work in the “ female ” labour market. New

types of behavior and actions and gender behaviors are analyzed in this gender

stereotype defying light.

Current social thinking But why this interest in men who opt for traditionally female occupations? If

today’s women want to and must compete with men ( on an uneven playing field ), isn’t

there a danger that women might end up the being the losers since, unlike men, the

career choices they make are much more frequently conditioned by strategies that

enable them to reconcile their personal and professional lives? The answer is no that is

not the expected outcome. Some social scenarios lead us to believe that the trend will be

3 ’Gender labelling’ is understood as ”lthe feminine or masculine characteristics of a job” (Nielsen & Sørensen 2004, pág- 6). Naturally, in this study, it is the feminine characteristics that require redefinition.

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toward an increase in the number of service and caregiving professions, i.e., toward

jobs traditionally labeled as female.

Furthermore, forecasts indicate a dramatic drop in the need for semi-skilled

workers within the European industrial sector, due to technological advances and to the

fact that many production centers are being relocated to Asian countries. There is also

the fact of the ageing European population. Longer life spans, and lower birth rates in

Europe indicate that soon there will be a much greater demand for skilled and semi-

skilled personnel in the health related and caregiving professions

The final argument for this study is that it is based on scientific fact: Up to

now, no qualitative strictly empirical study of this kind had been performed on men seen

as a gender minority within the labour market. But, there are some extremely

interesting and highly valuable studies on gender minority groups, such as those of

Bloksgaard and Feber (2005) on nurses and on the police force, and several others that

focus on one sole occupation/profession ( for example: Hjort & Nielsen 2003 and

Pedersen 2005 ). ( FGB www.fondazionebrodolini.it )

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

Moving back to the subject of our research, female stereotyping: up to now,

when women have begun to enter certain areas of traditionally male professions, it has

triggered a process in which the professions themselves have suffered a loss of prestige.

One case in point is that of education. As increasing numbers of women entered the

profession and gradually began to teach all subjects, the social status of teachers

dropped markedly, along with their economic compensation.

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CHAPTER XIII

WOMEN, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Science and technology are the fields in which the greatest gender inequality

persists, both professionally and socially. There is a great deal of data documenting this

situation. We cite only a few examples excerpted from the Third European Report on

S&T Indicators of 2003.

Very few women choose fields of study related to natural sciences and

technology. In Europe, only 2 out of 10 university graduates in the engineering fields

are women, and fewer than 4 out of 10 female graduates take degrees in fields related

to natural sciences and mathematics. Conversely, women are over represented in

educational sciences, and literature ( in both cases, 7 out of 10 university degrees in

these fields are earned by women ).

Within the European Union ( EU 15 ) women comprise 29 % of all researchers.

That figure drops to 23 % in the field of natural sciences and is a mere 12 % in the

case of engineering.

Women opting for academic careers women are denied advancement, as shown by

the percentages of women in the different stages of university careers. The

following table clearly illustrates how women are gradually cut out ( the scissors

diagram ), and reflects marked vertical segregation, particularly in the highest

promotional levels ( associate professor and full professor ). Women are less likely

to continue their university studies through graduate school, as seen in the following

table.

Women Men University graduates 52.0 48.0 Graduate Students

44.9 55.1

PhD holders

37.8 62.2

Assistant Professor

37.8 62.2

Associate Professor

27.8 72.2

Full Professor

11.6 88.4

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b. There are also fewer women than men in the private sector. In countries like

Denmark and Sweden, women account for under 25 % of all R+D professionals, and percentage that drops to 14 in Austria.

c. The number of women in R+D in public employment is higher, but continues to be low overall. The maximum percentage of women is in Denmark, at 4 7 %, while the lowest percentage is registered in Sweden, 33 %.

2.2. The obstacle factors

There are a multitude of reasons underlying this kind of segregation.

Many authors have underscored that because of their informal nature, the

segregation mechanisms applied are much less visible, and so frequently go unnoticed

even by the interested parties themselves, i.e., women. For example, women working in

research receive “ negative kicks ” that pose obstacles to career success, such as the

denial of proposals for research funding, articles that do not pass peer review. These

setbacks occur much less frequently for men. The tendency toward preferential

treatment of male researchers to the detriment of their female colleagues is rarely

explicit, and is perceptible only after careful statistical analysis. But all of this provides

unerring proof of just how markedly the systems for evaluating scientific results are

conditioned by prejudices that discriminate against women ( as well as other categories

of individuals )4.

Another factor that enters heavily in play is women’s still marginal

positioning in professional networks and in research networks, that are essentially

based on informal relationships5, and frequently relegate women to situations of

relative isolation or subordination. This is even more serious considering that a major

portion of the scientific and technological research performed today is done through

research networks, frequently transnational networks that feed on direct, collegial

relationships which are bolstered by the use made of the network website.

Undoubtedly the marked vertical segregation in place, in all organizations,

but especially in the private sector, is a further problem for women. While women have

been gaining ground for many years in middle management positions, and occupy

4 Cole J.R., Singer B., “A theory of limited differences: Explaining the productivity puzzle in science”, in Zuckerman H., Cole J.R., Bruer J.T. (Eds), The Outer Circle: Women in the Scientific Community, New York, 1991 5 Gibbons A., “Gaining standing by standing out”, in Science, 260, 1993

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between 20 % and 4 5%6 of these overall, depending on which part of the world they

live and work in, there is no denying that, regardless of sector, the very top positions

are reserved for men, and the percentage of women holding such posts is negligible.

For example, in the United States, where women hold 45 % of all management

positions, they account only for 5 % of senior management nation wide; a percentage

has hardly varied over the past twenty-five years.

In the fields of science and technology, the perceived social functions of

women, mainly those relating to marriage and motherhood, have a negative impact on

their careers. The numerous studies performed7 all emphasize that for women in the

fields of technological and scientific research the problems they encounter in the

reconciliation of their professional and personal lives have a greater impact than in

other sectors, causing them major psychological and organizational conflicts. In most

cases these women are forced to put their careers on hold and in some cases, to give

them up prematurely. Other obstacles are found in the educational guidance that

schools give to girls expressing an interest in pursuing careers in science and

technology. They are frequently discouraged from studying these subjects, and are

rerouted into other disciplines considered to be “ more in keeping ” with the supposed

cognitive aptitudes of women8.

2.3. The effect of instruction factors

In science and technology, instruction appears to have even a greater impact

on the horizontal and vertical segregation of women than it does in other fields.

Because western cultures still place great symbolic emphasis on women on the one

hand, and science on the other, when the two overlap, the deeply ingrained cultural

stereotypes and preconceived ideas are applied in ways that are highly punishing for

those women who have crossed the line.

The following are only a few examples of some widely held beliefs9:

6 Davidson M.J., Burke R.J., “Another Century in the Rearguard!”, in: European Synthesis, no. 2/2003 7 A summary can be found in Sheridan B., “Strangers in a Strange Land”. A literature review of Women in Science, CGIA Gender Program, Working Paper No. 17, Washington, 1998 8 DTI, Get with it! Adopting a creative approach to engaging girls in science, engineering and technology, 2001 9 European Commission, Science Policies and the European Union: Promoting excellence through mainstreaming gender equality, Luxembourg, 2000; Thielen C., Survey of literature on Women and Engineering, SWE Magazine, 2002; Equal Opportunity Commission, Evidence to the House of Commons Science and Technology Group Inquiry, London, 2002

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The idea that science is a purely rational field based on objective reasoning and

logic, and as such is incompatible with women’s supposed tendency to deal with

reality from an emotional perspective, which makes them incapable of objective

analysis ( this is similar to the belief that men are better at handling objects and

women are better at handling people ) 10 ;

The idea that the performance of scientific or technological research is an all

absorbing occupation, and therefore is incompatible with the all absorbing tasks

involved in caring for a family;

The idea that women in research are less productive than men;

The idea that scientific and technological research is a highly competitive field,

requiring researchers to be extremely aggressive and exhibit behaviors considered

innately male;

The idea that women, who are supposedly more sensitive to issues involving

environmental protection and to caring for and defending the weak, have more

negative attitudes than men toward technology, and the risks it may involve.

These and other preconceived ideas lead to gender biased focuses and projected images

that are evidenced in behaviors. For example:

Observers11 in coed classes have noted teacher attitudes and behaviors, and a

tendency to compare female and male students in ways that discourage girls from

studying scientific and technical subjects.

The same tendency is seen in families, where it is common for parents to apply a

double standard, one for sons and another for daughters, in evaluating their

children’s aptitudes and capabilities.

This, and other applications of the double standard appear to be alive and well in

research institutes, particularly when it comes to evaluations of scientific research

and to appointments of ( male or female ) research supervisors for extremely

complex projects. The majority of such evaluations/appointments are made by male

researchers.

10 For example, Keller E.F., Secrets of Life, Secrets of Death:Essays on Language, Gender, and Science, New York, 1991; Wajcam J., “Feminist Theories of Technology”, in Jasanoff et al. ( by, Handbook of Science and Technology Studies, Thousand Oaks, Sage, 1995 11 European Commission, Science Policies and the European Union: Promoting excellence through mainstreaming gende equality, Luxembourg, 2000

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From middle school on, girls are taught to lower their career expectations, and are

thus encouraged to choose less challenging fields than natural sciences, math, or

engineering.

Some studies12 have shown that toy design plays a role in encouraging or

dissuading girls from choosing technical fields. One example is video games, that

are designed and manufactured with the young male population in mind, because

girls are considered to be uninterested in, or incapable of, using electronic

equipment.

Surveys and studies show that the profile of the average scientific researcher has

not changed since the 1960´s: researchers are middle aged men, not very involved

with their families, who systematically neglect both wife and children because they

are totally immersed in and dedicated to the subject of their latest research project.

The cases and tendencies cited above show that special attention in the battle against

gender stereotyping in the workplace must be assigned to the fields of science and

technology, certainly to promote equal opportunity for the women working within the

myriad fields affected, but also because Europe simply cannot afford to continue to

senselessly waste valuable human resources. ( From the “ Integrated project on the

segregation of women in science and technology ” – ASDO-ROMA )

12 European Commission, Science Policies and the European Union: Promoting excellence through mainstreaming gender equality, Luxembourg, 2000

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CHAPTER XIV

WHY NOT FEMALE LEADERSHIP?

The EWMD study on Sustainable Leadership that surveyed five groups of male and female international directors from 9 different country and included young directors within the Senior Manager group underscored the main qualities and traits that men and women felt a leader should have. These are:

Communication skills Strength Energy

Personal Attributes Intelligent and Sensible Management skills Self - esteem Affirmative It is known that the traits having to do with feelings predominate in women, while those involving techniques and strategies predominate in men. But these qualities / traits – if considered in terms of strength and weakness – can also take the form of a stereotype that has major repercussions on what is demanded of women and men in positions of power. It is important to establish that leadership should not be specifically associated with specialization or with technical knowledge, but rather with social skills and with personal qualities that can be developed. And it is precisely on these factors that the foundations of diversity management are based, which is the only kind of management that can lead to the true development of democracy. This naturally has positive repercussions on the organization of labour, the economy and therefore on the entire community. The European Union is based on diversity, and only through the proper management of its own diversity can it become a great economic, political and social force, as proposed in the Lisbon Conference. Women represent 52 % of Europe’s population and 95 % of all demographic growth will come from zones with migratory movements.

Given this diversity, that includes not only gender, but also skin color, race, languages, religions, lifestyles, customs and habits, the management culture must necessarily change as well.

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Culture Change

Management Control Manage by giving orders Responses / Answers Limit and define Give orders Disciplinary routine Hierarchy What? Work quality monitored through supervision Automatic annual pay raises Military model Keep people tense Punish “ This is what you have to do " Limited vision Exercise authority

Leadership

Change Manage through responsibilities Solutions Assign and delegate power Act Creativity / innovation Work based on functions How? Joint negotiation for attainable results Rewards based on quality of work or profits Teaching model Create a stimulating environment Reward “ Can I help you? ” Strategic vision Reach consensus

This different way of leading is based more on relationship management skills than on issuing orders, and contains more feminine than masculine behavior traits.

Therefore, in the current situation, in which changing markets, corporate competitiveness, and faster production processes play a decisive role in their economies, European nations are starting to recognize that women are capable of bringing innovation to traditional management methods, and therefore, that new channels and processes are needed to enable these gender qualities to emerge.

For many years, women have been victims of the gender role stereotype as family managers, in a household in which the true formal and economic power ( leadership ) was exercised first by their own fathers, and later by their husbands. This has led women to become highly skilled at managing relationships ( behind the scene management ). They were involved in mediation ( between generations ), and economic aspects ( money management ), but were expected to be formally submissive to the male power figure. And therefore no empowerment process could take place: in other words, self-esteem.

But without empowerment, it is difficult for women to assume an active role in social and corporate life, because they remain invisible ( forced to remain behind the scene ), and tend to underestimate their own skills and feel unable to control their emotions.

Companies should therefore start to launch actions to help women gain a better awareness of their own self-worth, and to have a more positive perception of their own competence and efficiency. The experience of companies that have implemented positive action projects, using tools that value female competencies is that leadership paths can be defined in which the specific qualities of women can be extremely useful

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for the company’s bottom line, and has provided us with some interesting information in this regard.

In fact, research has also shown that the factors motivating individuals to pursue leadership positions are: 1 power

ego The need to gain prestige money influence Public recognition and high visibility

It is interesting to note that men are more motivated by prestige and public

recognition, while women are more motivated by the possibility of enhanced self-esteem and personal development.

Based on the survey responses, it is evident that women are still greatly lacking confidence in their own abilities. By recognizing, and enabling women themselves to recognize the need to reinforce their self-esteem, a company can more easily implement systems that enhance professional growth and foster the assumption of leadership functions.

Naturally, since low self-esteem in women is due to the stereotype that places men in a dominant position over women ( in terms of capability, efficiency and competence), the challenge lies in finding ways to get men to accept and recognize the stereotype, and keep women’s growth from leading to conflicts within the organization.

Companies now have little choice other than to increase the number of women in leadership positions, since as of 1995 for the first time in the history of the European Union, more women than men finished a university degrees and more women than men are entering professional fields. The same situation is true in Italy, where the color of the business community is increasingly ´pink´, and a highly qualified ´pink´ it is ( due to higher formal educational degrees and self training ), which raises the demand for increased gender awareness in Human Resources management. (TEE- “Towards a European Equality-Quality” – www.progettodonna.net) WOMEN IN THE UIL The amendment to article 51 of Italy’s Constitution states:

“ All citizens of both sexes are eligible to enter public office and hold elected offices, and to do so under equal terms, as prescribed by Law ”.

The following sentence was added:

“ to this end, the Republic shall promote, through the application of proper measures, equal opportunities for men and women ”.

Based on this constitutional principle, the UIL Confederation Secretariat is taking steps to ensure that a large number of women delegates is sent to the June 2006 Congress, and that this representation leads to the election of a large group of new female leadership.

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This was reaffirmed in the latest meeting of the Central Committee held last November, where specific indications were issued on the strategy to be followed by all the Federations and regional and territorial Unions.

The decision made by the UIL´s highest ranking leadership body is a symptom of the firm conviction and acceptance of an unstoppable cultural process for a society that aspires to be a truly civil society.

The unanimous recognition of the needs is implicit, as therefore is the agreement on the true meaning of personal and social Empowerment, for men and above all for women (this latter is cited as a European objective and is defined as “constant, progressive and conscious growth of the potential of all human beings, accompanied by a corresponding growth in personal autonomy and assumption of responsibility”).

The full assumption of this principle could be the key to fostering a different kind of communication, one based on shared convictions leading to a new and different kind of behavior affecting both men and women, with the undeniably ambitious goal of achieving a profound change in the culture and customs, change that can only prove beneficial to society. But while this is a step forward, it is not enough to have a positive attitude toward women gaining total visibility in the world of politics and within institutions. Specific measures must be implemented in order to obtain valid and lasting results.

The will to include a larger number of women in the union’s executive bodies is a sign that the UIL Equal Opportunity Coordination body has been waiting to see for a long time, one that will enable us to correct the current imbalance, through better, more constant, representation of women, commensurate with the requests we receive daily from our membership.

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ANNEX 1 EXAMPLES OF GOOD PRACTICES IN RECONCILIATION OF PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL LIFE

In this chapter we would like to discuss the adoption of practices included in

collective bargaining agreements for entire segments and sectors, or that are the result of

collective bargaining negotiations between individual companies and employee

representatives, but which are unilateral as regards other subjects within the territory

because, they are applied by different companies. ( from the RALFA 2003 Project -

www.ralfa.com )

The most complex partnerships, while not containing all the characteristics that

should be included for territorial benefit ( and therefore do fully implement them ) are

the ones coming closest to application of these.

1. UNILATERAL INITIATIVES

Flexible scheduling

The first group of initiatives is to introduce flexible scheduling modules in

places of employment, to facilitate the reconciliation of professional and personal life.

This is a practice that has been widely implemented in Italy, where, as almost all of our

qualified respondents report, flexible scheduling is practiced to a greater or lesser extent

in all sectors of economic activity. In large corporations and in public institutions, there

is an increasing trend of allowing employees to take time off in compensation for

unused vacation or overtime worked.

As part of the project carried out by the Fundación Seves, the consulting firm

Gender, identified nearly one hundred agreements under which companies have

modified working hours and scheduling to foster reconciliation. One case of a good

practice identified is that of Whirlpool, that now offers flexible shift scheduling to its

employees.

Another interesting experiences is the Isola project, an initiative of the Toscana

y Lazio Co-op, under which cashiers are subdivided into groups that manage their own

shift scheduling and also organize substitutions when a cashier needs to take

emergency leave.

But in small and medium sized enterprises, flexible scheduling to facilitate

reconciliation is also becoming a much more common practice.

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Some studies have noted that small and medium sized businesses are starting to

apply and even expand upon the terms of national collective bargaining agreements, or

agreements reached in large corporations, and to apply them on a case by case basis,

depending on individual need. These include part time work arrangements, SWH

(Shorter Working Hours), longer vacation periods for employees who need them, and a

combination of possibilities that enable employees to take paid vacations, time off for

doctor’s appointments, and leave for family related reasons, this latter being unpaid but

accompanied by advance payment of settlements, flexible job entry and exit times, and

other accompanying measures ( Ruggerini, Merelli, Nava, 2000 ). Other studies have

documented informal practices in place that grant days off for convalescence, leave and

substitutions, etc. ( Mastropietro, 1999; Ruggerini, Merelli, Nava 2000 ).

Still other efforts deserving of mention are the pilot projects submitted to Italy´s

Ministry of Social Welfare between 2001 and 2005. These were all for flexible

scheduling and working arrangements to be financed by a line of funding allocated

set aside under Law 53/2000. The initial stage included projects submitted mostly by

small and medium size companies ( followed by later submissions from medium to

large companies ). Most were located in central northern Italy, but there were also

submissions from southern regions where companies are now starting to experiment

with such approaches. All proposed solutions to achieve flexible scheduling designed to

help both male and female workers better reconcile their personal and professional

lives.

Job sharing

Job sharing is a formula for organizing part time work, under which a job is

shared and managed by the two participating employees. It is already a fairly widely

disseminated practice in some European countries, like the United Kingdom and France

( particularly in middle management ), and has been tried out in a few, but not many,

cases in Italy.

Job sharing appears to have been particularly well received in health care and

related personal care-giving sectors, but also in some service providing institutions

( banks ) as well as industrial and retail companies.

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Tele working

Experiments in different types of tele working have been tried out in every

conceivable economic sector in almost every country in the world, but always with a

limited number of employees participating. To cite one example, it is not hard to find a

company in which some of its senior managers regularly work from their homes one

day a week. We could cite innumerable experiments in this regard, carried out under

the projects financed by Law 125/91, including those promoted by:

• la Banksiel Spa (a company providing computer related services to banks and

insurance companies); Tecnopolis Csata (a consortium that supports innovation

and local development, formed by companies, universities and local institutions in

Puglia).

• la Solvay Italia; the Aurora de Parma Social Services Cooperative; CINECA (Inter-

university Consortium of Northeastern Italy for Automatic Computing).

Broadened scope of work leave benefits

With the advent of Law 53/2000 on parental leave, some interesting changes were

noted in the business community ( or in the collective bargaining agreements reached in

these or within the sector in question ). Now companies are more likely to extend or

expand upon the legally required benefits in such cases, by either lengthening the

prescribed leave period or by increasing economic compensation. This trend is

seen across all sectors of economic activity, even in small and medium sized companies

that, unlike larger companies, find it more difficult to in manage and cover the positions

of employees on leaves of absence.

Along these same lines, there are some highly interesting initiatives that can help

female entrepreneurs and self-employed workers organize ways of covering their

job obligations while they take time off for maternity leave. Further credit is due in

this regard to the STOP project that, under an initiative of the CNA´s Emilia Romagna

Women’s Works Council, and Municipal Government of Forli, provides supplementary

funding to self-employed women during the maternity leave.

Finally, some businesses try to make it easier for their female employees to come

back to work after maternity leave, and so persuade women not to leave the job

market after childbirth. For example, the Toscana y Lazio Co-op has opened a

maternity and paternity clearinghouse to facilitate and help manage the mother’s

return to work after maternity leave.

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Company sponsored day care centers

In Italy, we are seeing a few some initiatives by companies to create ´in-house´

day care centers. They are not yet very numerous, probably due to the high cost

involved. These initiatives have been carried out in all sectors of economic activity,

although the examples appear to be concentrated mainly in the areas of health care,

education and public institutions, transport companies and financial intermediation

institutions.

In Italy, day care centers have been opened in some Ministries, in the Livorno Co-

op Hypermarket and in companies like PEG Perego in Arcore, Cartasi in Milán and

Electrolux Zanussi in Forlì, as well as in the offices of Alitalia, the San Carlas Hospital

in Milan and the insurance company, RAS.

Agreements with external childcare services

Some companies have entered outsourcing agreements with day care centers to

facilitate their employees´ access to child care.

Information on childcare services

Another practice is to provide services that directly inform the employees

themselves of the childcare options available within their geographical area.

Initiatives of this kind were reported to exist in all sectors of activity, but they are

most frequently found in the health care and education sectors. This type of support

service for female employees is especially common in small and medium sized

companies that lack the resources required to launch their own childcare services or to

enter outsourcing contracts with existing centers.

2. PARTNERSHIP

Family friendly initiatives carried out under partnerships were also identified in

the course of the research. These are usually organized through agreements between two

or more private individuals and public entities and/or non-profit organizations.

Agreements between companies and local authorities for the creation of services.

One of the simplest types of partnerships is between the companies wishing to

offer child care services and local authorities. Normally the contribution of the local

authorities consists of technical assistance and aid, while the business / company must

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provide the funding for construction and management ( this latter is more frequently

outsourced ) for the service.

In Italy the agreement is usually to reserve a certain number of enrollment slots in

the day care center for the children of area citizens, in exchange for their helping

defray the cost of running the center, and / or construction of the building. This is

the formula recommended by some operators in the sector and by the union, because

it opens up the company day care center to the public, and keeps it from being

exclusively an in-house initiative.

In Forli, la Confartigianato opened a company day care center for the children of

its employees and for children of artisans. An agreement signed with the municipal

government sets a quota of enrollment slots that must be reserved for the general public.

In Módena a company day care center was opened that reserved 50 % of its space for

the children of employees and the other 50 % for those of local area residents, in

exchange for public funding.

In Pavia three institutions are partnering in a day care center project: The

municipal government, the university and the local building authority.

Finally, in Rome, the Toscana Lazio Co-op in cooperation with the city

government is about to open a company day care center that will also be open to the

children of neighborhood residents.

Company sharing of day care centers

Another more advanced and more promising type of partnership is when two or

more companies share the same center. This is a formula now being moved forward in

Italy under the initiative of provincial Industrial Trade Unions and local entities

( examples include: the Aquilone project for a company shared day care center in an

industrial district of the province of Treviso; the project in Bolzano province to create

Childcare Centers in an industrial zone through collabouration between the local

ministry of Industry and the province’s Industrial Trades Union; similar initiatives are

now in the designing or planning stages in different cities throughout Italy ).

Initiatives to better coordinate public service and shop hours with working hours

in cities

In recent years, both France and Italy have launched initiatives to improve the

coordination of the hours public services are open to the public ( these are mostly

administrative services, but in some cases also include childcare services ) and also

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those of shops, to better match these with the population’s rapidly changing work

schedules.

These initiatives are generally led by local authorities. In some cases, there is prior

consultation with representatives of the business community, trade union organizations,

parents and other stakeholders. The advantage of this type of intervention ( but also a

limiting factor ) is that they deal almost exclusively with ´software´ and therefore do not

involve any major investment for the creation of new services. In some cases

organizations providing services to children have begun to stay open longer hours, to

help parents better reconcile their work schedules with childcare responsibilities.

( Examples of this type of initiative can be seen in the Parma Province Guidelines on

the scheduling and organization of urban services ).

Initiatives that combine more flexible work scheduling with facilitating access to

services

One final type of partnership that has come about in Italy, mainly as part of programs receiving European funding ( particularly within the Equal program ), that benefit a great many users, calls for diversification in the type of interventions. These may be job related ( for example, experiments in different types of tele working ), or may involve territorial family related services. The purpose is to make it easier for working women residing within a given territorial area to reconcile their personal and professional obligations. Two examples of these types of initiatives are “ the common network ”, coordinated by the Municipal Government of Forli, and the project entitled “ No Time ”, promoted by some local institutions in the southern region of Lombardia.

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ANNEX 2

TOWARD NEW REGIONAL STATUTES Women and the new statutes: Equal opportunity and electoral formulas.

Excerpt of the proposals voted on or submitted to amend regional Statutes under the terms of Article 51 of the Italian Constitution ABRUZZOS Article 6

Equality of the sexes 1. The Region recognizes and values gender differences and promotes equal rights, guarantees equal opportunities for men and women in all areas of activity, and ensures effective equal access to public and elected office; adopts programs, enacts laws, and launches positive actions and initiatives to guarantee and promote the presence of men and women in the labour market, in the performance of care giving activities, and their equal representation and participation in social, cultural and political life.

Artículo79 The regional Equal

Opportunity Commission 1. The regional council hereby forms a regional Commission to defend equal opportunity for men and women and their equal representation under law. 2. The Commission’s mandate is to identify gender based differences so as to eradicate any and all direct discrimination; its shall serve as a consultative body, making proposals to the Council and the regional government; its duty is to evaluate the equitable impact of gender on regional policies; offer its opinion on the proposals and deliberations of the Council and the regional government on subjects falling within its areas of competence.

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BASILICATA Article 2

( principles and purposes ) The Region concurs with state and local institutions in the application of constitutional principles and its internal regime is based on the principles of the importance of the individual, personal dignity, equal social and gender based dignity for all its citizens, liberty, equality, democracy, pluralism, peace, solidarity, justice and subsidiarity.

Article 3 ( equality and equal social dignity )

The Region acts within the scope of its competencies to achieve… b) the affirmation of equal rights and equal opportunities for men and women and commits itself to pass regional laws to eliminate any obstacle that might impede equality in regional social, cultural and economic life, and to also guarantee the effective equal access of both men and women to elected office.

The Regional Equal Opportunity Commission was formed by Republic Decree No. 27 of 26th November 1991.

The Commission is constituted by the Regional Council at the opening of each legislative term. Its members are appointed to serve during the full legislative term.

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CALABRIA Article 2 ( principles and purposes ) 1. The Region concurs in the application of the constitutional principles on which the Italian Republic is founded, one and indivisible, and shall be ruled by the principles of liberty, democracy, equality, justice, solidarity, subsidiarity, equal social dignity, peace and non-violence. 2. The Region’s actions are inspired based on the pursuit of the following objectives: a) true defense and full exercise for all of the rights and interests recognized under the Constitution, acting to overcome any and all economic and social obstacles that impede the full development of human beings. b) recognition of the rights of the weakest sectors of the population and eradication of the causes of inequality or lack of well being; c) support for the family, through social, economic and financial policies and services organized to this end; d) elimination of any obstacle impeding the full equality of men and women in regional social, cultural and economic life, and also promote the equal access of both men and women to elected office;

Article 8 ( The regional Equal

Opportunity Commission ) 1. The Region hereby institutes, under Law, the Equal Opportunity Commission.

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CAMPANIA Article 6 Value of gender difference

1. The Region recognizes and values gender

differences as a guarantee of respect for liberty and human dignity.

2. The Region shall eliminate any obstacle impeding the full equality of men and women in social, cultural economic and political life, and guarantee actions to further promote equality in the planning, application, control and evaluation of such actions.

3. The Region, shall, in pursuit of the ends cited in point 2, adopt programs, positive actions and any other initiative required to guarantee full respect for the principles of equality, equal opportunity and non-discrimination and toward a more equally balanced representation among men and women in elected office, as well as promote equal conditions for access to electoral consultation and a balanced representation of the two genders in all public offices and posts.

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EMILIA ROMAGNA

Preamble II

The Region exercises its own powers, pursuing the political and social objectives reflected in the Constitution of the Republic, and its legal code defends the principles of liberty, democracy, equality, pluralism, solidarity, equal social dignity, gender equality, peace and respect for human rights. 2. The Region’s actions are inspired particularly by pursuit of the following aims a)…… b)…… c)……. d)……. e) a commitment to full achievement of equal legal, social and economic rights of women, and the eradication of obstacles impeding the full compliance with the said principle in any facet of life, including access to elected office. Article 9 (passed in the Session held on 3rd June 2003) 3. Election Law shall observe the following principles: …………… c) promote equal opportunity and access of men and women to elected office, as prescribed in articles 51 and 117 of the Constitution. , Article 9 dup (passed in the session held on 1st July of 2003) 1. The regional electoral Law, in order to

ensure equal access by both sexes to elected

office, as established under articles 51 and 117

of the Constitution, and in application of point

three of article 9 of this Statute, provides that

men and women shall be equally represented

on electoral ballots, and any ballot not

complying with such equal representation shall

be declared null and void.

Article 32 Equal Opportunity

Commission

1 Regional Law hereby institutes before the Legislative Assembly, an Equal Opportunity Commission to guarantee the equal opportunity of men and women, and establishes its composition and powers, making the provisions required to guarantee its proper functioning.

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LAZIO Article 5

( Fundamental Rights ) 1. The Region assumes the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as its own. 3. Its actions are to ensure that the right of all individuals to employment is effectively observed, that such employment guarantees a decent standard of living, and further, to eliminate any and all obstacles impeding the full equality of men and women in the different sectors of activity, to which end it shall implement positive actions.

Article 19 ( the Regional Council )

The electoral system is established by the regional Law passed by a 2/3 majority vote, in keeping with the fundamental principles set forth under national law. Electoral law further calls for equal access of men and women to the position of regional minister.

LOMBARDIA (draft of Statute)

Title II Fundamental principles, rights and

obligations Article 6

1. The Region promotes and guarantees full equality of men and women, and will pass laws or implement the measures required to eliminate any obstacle in social, labour, cultural or economic fields that serve to impede such equality. 2. Regional laws promote equal access of men and women to elected office and to representation in public institutions. 3. A regional law shall determine the specific make up, functions and competencies of the regional Equality Committee, whose duty it is to strive to effectively prevent and identify any specific violations of the principles set forth in this article.

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MARCHE Article 3

( Equality ) 1. The Region, within the scope of its

competencies, will move forward as many initiatives as possible to guarantee the full self-realization of the individual and equal rights of all citizens, with particular attention to young people and to the region’s disadvantaged population.

2. The Region values gender differences in all fields and activities, and will act to guarantee the true and effective equality of men and women. The regional laws guarantee equal access by men and women to elected office in all entities, institutions and bodies and to all posts assigned by appointment of the Council and the Regional Government.

MOLISES Article 2 …………. c) The full realization of equal opportunity

PIEMONTE Decree 17 - 1473 - of March 1991 of the Republic designated the CPO as “ a deputy body charged with defining and proposing measures for the purpose of to creating real and effective conditions of equal opportunity and with submitting periodical reports on the status of female workers ”.

PUGLIA Article 6 The Region guarantees the principle of equality of the sexes in all fields of activity: political, social, family, school, professional and labour, with consultation of the equality and equal opportunity bodies instituted under regional Law, as set forth in Articles 3 and 51 of Italy’s Constitution.

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TOSCANA Article 4

( principle objectives ) 1. The Region manages its own constitutional autonomy and commits itself, through its governing actions to guarantee proper conditions for individuals to freely exercise the right to work, and further guarantees the right to education, to on going training, to knowledge, to health, to health and safety in the workplace, to the protection of minors, other-disabled persons and older persons through interventions designed to guarantee their active participation as citizens. 2. The Region values gender differences in all fields of life and of work, and will act to create the conditions required to guarantee the true and effective equality of men and women.

Article 6 ( elections )

……. …. Point 2: guarantees a balanced representation of both sexes on election ballots and will take action to guarantee real representation of the two genders in the Region’s political bodies.

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UMBRIA Article 7 1 The Region will take action to apply equal treatment to men and women in regional social, cultural, economic and political life, and also through the adoption of positive actions. It specifically defends and promotes, through the proper measures, equal access to elected office.

CHAPTER IV EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

Article 62 ( Equal Opportunity Center ) 1. The Region institutes the Center for equal opportunity as a regional body for equality. That, along with the regional Ministries, the regional government and its President, will fight to eliminate gender discrimination and to promote gender equality policies. 2. The Center expresses its opinion and formulates proposals on actions within the areas of competence of the Regional Council and of the Regional Government that involve gender policy issues. 3. The make up and functioning of the Center shall be governed by regional law.

VENETO (VENECIA) Article 5

General Objectives The Region…… ……………….. d) help to eliminate any obstacle that impedes the equal social, cultural and economic treatment of men and women, promote gender equal access to elected office.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ajello A.M. E Meghnagi S., Conocimiento y Diferencia, Ediesse, Roma, 1993 Avallone F., Mujer y Trabajo, Franco Angeli, Milano, 1989 Balbo L, La Doble Presencia, ‘Encuesta’ 32, 1978 Bortolucci R. - Mantini Satta M., Líneas Guía sobre la Conciliación en la Provincia de Parma (2003) Bortolucci – Mantini Satta, “Visión 2000 - Gender Certification” (2004) Brinchi M. G., Diferencia de Género y Igualdad Salarial: ¿Que es lo que Falta?- 2003 Cevoli M., Mujeres y Organización del Trabajo, Ediesse, Roma, 1993 Deal Mujeres Europeas en el Trabajo, Manager Será Usted, Franco Angeli, Milano, 1990 Fiorella Farinelli, Formar la Igualdad, Formación y Orientación para la Igualdad de Oportunidades, Ediesse, Roma, 1993 Luciano A., Tornei. Mujeres y Hombres en la Carrera Etaslibri, 1993 Cole J.R., Singer B., “A theory of limited differences: Explaining the productivity puzzle in science”, in Zuckerman H., Cole J.R., Bruer J.T. (Eds), The Outer Circle: Women in the Scientific Community, New York, 1991 Wenneras C., Wold A., “Nepotism and sexism in peer-review”, in Nature, 387. 1997; Fox M.F., “Gender, environmental milieu, and productivity in Science”, in Zuckerman H., Cole J.R., Bruer J.T. (Eds), The Outer Circle: Women in the Scientific Community, New York, 1991 Gibbons A., “Gaining standing by standing out”, in Science, 260, 19932002; Equal Opportunity Commission, Evidence to the House of Commons Science anEd Technology Group Inquiry, London, 2002 Keller E.F., Secrets of Life, Secrets of Death:Essays on Language, Gender, and Science, New York, 1991; Wajcam J., “Feminist Theories of Technology”, in Jasanoff y otros (por), Handbook of Science and Technology Studies, Thousand Oaks, Sage, 1995 European Commission, Science Policies and the European Union: Promoting excellence through mainstreaming gende equality, Luxembourg, 2000

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