Women in Governance

«The courage to dream. The power to change.» This was the title of the 24th «Women, Economy & Power» seminar organized by Bellisario Foundation that was held in Rome last weekend. The objective? Discussing topical issues, from gender equality to the role of Europe, from global unrest to the educational poverty of the younger generations. 400 guests from the worlds of business, academia and politics, and 12 roundtables, including one coordinated by Marcolin on the topic of «Women and Governance;» starting this year, the company has been supporting the Foundation in continuing down its path of gender equality and social sustainability, a path it has been pursuing for years.

Fabrizio Curci and Sabrina Paulon, Marcolin CEO and Group HR Director, respectively, were the main speakers of the panel moderated by financial journalist Monica D’Ascenzo, together with Lorraine Berton, President of ANFAO and Confindustria Belluno Dolomiti; Maria Criscuolo, President and Founder of Triumph Group International; Stefania Lazzaroni, Director General of Fondazione Altagamma; Elisa Weltert, Maserati General Manager for Italy, Spain, Portugal and Israel; Nicolò Calabresi, Partner in Charge of Heidrick & Struggles Italy; Anna Puccio, Managing Director of B Lab Italia; and Roberta Pierantoni, Lead Independent Director of Mediolanum.

While the presence of women on the boards of listed companies has risen from 7% to 43% (Consob data 2023), 96% of CEOs are still men, and, according to Deloitte’s study, women managers account for less than 25%. This is why the World Economic Forum’s latest Global Gender Gap Report ranks Italy 71st globally for gender equality. But the figure that best explains the reasons for this lag is female employment, settled at around 51% (Istat data), compared with a European average of 64.9%. Given that the Italian business fabric can and should foster women’s empowerment and gender equality in terms of representation, leadership and pay equity, the roundtable members put forward some interesting proposals.

The most important conclusions were also reached thanks to Marcolin’s contribution and role model in terms of company policies, such as the proposal to require companies to implement training cycles on Diversity and Inclusion issues, as is already the case for occupational safety. But positive spillovers are also expected from the implementation of the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which has recently been implemented in our country. The Directive requires the majority of Italian companies, listed and unlisted, to enhance transparency regarding gender equality policies and specific targets for improvement. These are important conclusions that contribute greatly to the cultural change that our country must undertake.