Gender gap, women at the helm of Italian SMEs increase (but half give up children) - Corriere.it

Gender gap, women at the helm of Italian SMEs increase (but half give up children) - Corriere.it


The gender gap at work? It still exists, and in many cases in a clear way, but even in Italy something is beginning to move in the field of equality between men and women, especially in the assumption and assignment of corporate responsibilities. This is stated by a survey conducted by the Institute of Applied Economic Research (I-Aer) on a sample of 741 Italian SMEs, which reveals that after Covid there has been an acceleration in the attribution of entrepreneurial leadership to women. The tertiary sector is confirmed to be increasingly "pink", with almost 25% of female executives, compared to 15% in industry. In particular, the private tertiary sector records a significant presence of female managers in health and social assistance (50%), education (42%), rental, travel agencies, business support services (29%), and other service activities (27%). Analyzing the Italian regions, however, Sicily ranks first with the highest percentage of women in management positions (27%), followed by Lazio (26%), Calabria (25%), Molise (23%) and Lombardy (22%). At the provincial level, Milan prevails as the province with the highest number of female managers, followed by Rome and Turin.

Post-Covid change

This opening of top management to women took place mainly in the post-Covid period, which made family businesses understand how this step was necessary to survive in today's and future economy - says Fabio Papa, founder of I-Aer -. Another important aspect is that this opening took place above all in companies with a strong propensity towards international markets and a management sensitive to continuous training. The scenario, therefore, is more encouraging than a few years ago, but shadows are certainly not lacking. Sometimes the price to pay for women who earn managerial roles in companies, even family ones, is high. In fact, in the two years following maternity leave, the salary is 10 to 35 percent lower than it would have been if they hadn't had children. And above all, 57% of women who occupy positions of power have no children, while for men the figure stops at 25%. The positive news, therefore, is that the entrepreneurial family tries to give young women the opportunity to assert themselves, but the negative news is that the psychological stress of responsibility delays marriage, motherhood and compatibility between working and private life, comments Papa .

Maternity (and paternity)

Therefore, having a child still has the main repercussions on the mother and less on the father, appearing as a discriminating element for a woman's career. There are solutions for this, and one of these could be the managerialization of businesses, opening up to external figures who enter the company's management. This change could allow female entrepreneurs to delegate more powers, but it is often difficult – Pope explains -. 98% of Italian companies are SMEs, 83% family-run, therefore the first not to want to manage are the top management, especially for fear of losing control of the company. Others however cannot, for financial reasons. Even the State can and must do its part, creating boundary conditions for a mother's life that allow her to experience motherhood in a serene way: for example, more availability of structures such as nursery schools and kindergartens, and with more controlled prices , says the founder of I-Aer. Although there are still many steps to be taken, especially on balancing the work-life balance for women who hold managerial roles, the shift towards gender equality seems to have started in Italy as well. In the next decade there will be other improvements: the seeds of this pink revolution are there, the most important message is that we are increasingly looking at skills, regardless of gender, concludes Pope.



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