Gender equality: when company choices make the difference

Vpraise women. Promote female leadership. Spread certification for gender equality. Closing gaps in technology and wages. Involve fathers with longer leaves. Train management on rights, inclusion, prejudices. Support the physical and mental health and well-being of employees. There are many good practices in support of gender equality. More and more. As told by those who live in the company and are on the front line to achieve Objective 5 of the United Nations 2023 Agenda for sustainable development: achieving equality and emancipating all women and girls in the world.

Stefania Radoccia

Managing Partner Tax & Law of EY Italia

«It’s called “Female leadership in the world of work” and it is a research by EY with Swg whose results lead to profound reflections. The data reveal that if on the one hand the perception that female leadership allows them to better achieve company objectives is growing among male and female managers, on the other hand there is an increasing feeling among female workers that a balance will never be achieved in management roles of gender. We are convinced that enhancing female talent is a key lever for making companies grow, the economy, society. In 2023, we brought on board almost three thousand new people, of which 52 percent are women, and 51 percent of promotions and 52 percent of career progressions were women.

At EY, several projects aim to make women at the top count more: for example, with YouMovement we want to guarantee equal opportunities for talent development up to top roles and we allocate sponsorship programs to high-potential women, involving the entire company leadership. In 2023 EY achieved the Certification for equal opportunities (ISO 30415) and the Certification for gender equality (PdR 125), which attest to its commitment to gender equity at every stage of the professional path.

EY is also committed to erasing the gender gap in technology, through programs such as Women in Tech, which encourage female students to approach STEM subjects, or 99 e Lode, in collaboration with iODonna, aimed at training the best recent graduates on tech topics. In the EY – Swg research it also emerged that the major barriers to leadership are linked to the difficulty of reconciling work and family (for 86 percent of those interviewed). EY, which promotes a culture of parental participation in the care of the family, grants new fathers 10 days in addition to the 10 days of leave required by law, reimburses expenses in the child’s first 36 months for nursery or babysitting and provides the figure of ” buddy”, for the reintegration of mothers into work after maternity leave”.

Sarah Gay

Head of Group Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at UniCredit

At UniCredit, diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) are strategic assets for growth, innovation and performance and an integral part of the corporate culture. Present in 13 European countries, the Group has a staff of 125 nationalities, of which 58 percent are women: specifically, they represent 46 percent of the Executive Committee and 35 percent of the Leadership Team. For the third consecutive year, the bank is in Equileap’s Top 100 Globally for Gender Equality: 2nd place in Italy – the only bank – and 18th in the global financial sector. UniCredit is also the first pan-European bank to achieve Edge certification for gender equity and inclusion.

We work to ensure a positive and inclusive working environment for all our people. We take a holistic view of well-being at a group level, with a 360-degree approach that includes aspects of physical and mental health, social and financial well-being, and career aspirations. We have allocated €100 million to close the pay gap in the period 2022-2024 and we want to support our people in their real lives, addressing issues such as women’s empowerment, personal finance literacy, menopause, pregnancy, neurocognitive diseases, resilience at work and stress. DE&I is a long-term commitment for us, a business lever and an integrated factor in all the decisions we make, which allows us to achieve sustainable growth and best serve everyone, from our people to our customers, communities and shareholders. The bank can count on self-organised employee networks that promote initiatives on gender, disability, LGBTQIA+ communities, ethnicity, generational integration and caregiving. Furthermore, it is the third edition of WeFly International CrossCompany Mentoring in collaboration with Valore D, which brings together mentors and mentees from companies from multiple countries to promote leadership and intergenerational and cross-sectoral contamination.”

Maura Latini

President of Coop Italia

«In 2019, after a long process of reflection, we started our campaign for gender inclusion. We knew it was a long-term path, but it was clear to us that it was necessary and that, in addition to us, it had to involve stakeholders, members, customers and civil society. Today, at a time when women make up 71.5 percent of our employees, 34.8 percent of management roles, 40.9 percent of the directors elected on the boards of directors of cooperatives and 58.1 percent of the total of the members, we have chosen to take a step further. First in large-scale retail trade, Coop obtained the Certification of gender equality according to Uni PdR 125, a voluntary instrument which involves the monitoring of a series of indicators in areas such as growth and inclusion opportunities, remuneration equity, protection of parenting.

This is a path that our cooperatives are also following, with Coop Liguria having already obtained the same recognition, demonstrating that our commitment produces a virtuous dynamic. The training process for branded product suppliers, 800 of them including small, medium, large businesses and cooperatives, is based on this wavelength: with the collaboration of Oxfam and the expertise of the Coop School, we have developed an e-learning model on gender inclusion which aims precisely to train management. Not only. Since being a woman is a fascinating dimension of life, but biology cannot be penalizing, in 2021 we supported the petition of the Onde Rosa association, which contested the 22 percent VAT on sanitary pads, managing to win the battle: in fact, in January 2023 VAT had dropped to 5 percent, like other basic goods. However, now that the budget has brought the tax back to 10 percent, we are once again involved in the petition for a reduction to 5 percent. Meanwhile, since January we have neutralized VAT on our branded sanitary pads.”

Alicia Lubrani

Chief Marketing Officer & Corporate Communication Director of Axpo Italia and Pulsee Luce e Gas

«As a group we are convinced that diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) are increasingly important values for people and which increasingly influence their satisfaction and motivation. Our sensitivity on the topic in a sector, that of energy, with a strong male majority, has always been very high, to the point that in December Axpo Italia obtained the Certification for gender equality (Uni/PdR 125). Our brand for domestic users Pulsee Luce e Gas, launched in 2019 and designed to be digital, innovative and tailored to people’s needs, has seen us protagonists of a series of DE&I actions that reflect the system of values ​​to which all the company is inspired by: from the genderless site to the activities in support of the LGBTQIA+ community, from the support to young talents thanks to the Play for Future program and to the events up to the promotion of music as an element of union and expressive exaltation, thanks to the Power to Music contest .

For us, inclusiveness and attention to diversity and rights also means putting communication initiatives at the service of value campaigns: in December, we were the first to allow two teams in the Serie A football championship to take the field with the same shirt . Genoa and Monza, through a series of words printed on the entrance T-shirts, celebrated World Human Rights Day in the Fields for Rights operation which saw Pulsee propose a new way of addressing social sustainability. Rights, inclusion and well-being of people they also go through the commitment in favor of the company population: this year Axpo Italia has decided to double paternity leave, introduce paid leave in the case of pre- or newborn medical visits and leave for caregivers of needy family members. I believe that DE&I training is also fundamental: we are planning training meetings on issues related to motherhood and balance with work, as well as the gender prejudices of which we are often victims without realizing it.”

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