Work inclusion and gender equality: on 14 December the results of the ‘CapacitAzione e AspirAzioni’ project are presented
On Saturday 14 December, at 10:30 a.m., at the Fondazione Marco Biagi in Modena, a meeting will be held to share the results of the project ‘CapacitAzione e AspirAzioni. Networking for the effective freedom of women'. The project, financed by the Emilia-Romagna Region, was realised by the Marco Biagi Foundation together with the Department of Economics ‘Marco Biagi’ of Unimore, the Association Casa delle Donne Contro la Violenza ODV of Modena and VivereDonna APS of Carpi. The aim of the project was to address gender inequalities in the labour market, with a particular focus on women in situations of intersectional vulnerability.
The Italian context has long shown a complex picture with regard to female employment. ISTAT data show an employment rate of women at 55%, far from the 74.7% of men. Moreover, many women find themselves trapped in involuntary part-time positions or forced out of the labour market, especially as a result of maternity. This phenomenon affects around 18% of women aged between 18 and 49, mostly due to difficulties in reconciling family life and work or to the lack of stable contracts. In a landscape already marked by these difficulties, we add the problem of violence and harassment at work, which affect more than 1.4 million women in Italy.
The driving force behind the project was the adoption of the capability approach, theorised by Amartya Sen, which focuses on positive freedom as the possibility of realising valuable personal goals. This concept was translated into an integrated territorial model, aimed at creating pathways that favour access to work and the improvement of living conditions, also for women in particularly fragile situations.
The initiative was developed through a partnership network involving numerous players in the area, including AIMAG, Cirfood, FinPro, the Municipality of Modena, the Prefecture, Legacoop Estense and the CGIL and CISL Emilia Centrale trade unions. The collaboration between these realities made it possible to address the issues from different perspectives in order to integrate skills and resources to achieve concrete results.
One of the main activities of the project was to organise awareness-raising workshops, aimed at the employees of partner companies, to promote awareness on the signs of gender-based violence and how to counter it. AIMAG hosted three meetings involving 85 participants, while Cirfood organised one with 30 people. In parallel, a training course on diversity, equity and inclusion involved 23 organisations, including companies, universities and public administrations. The course consisted of 34 hours of theoretical and practical activities and offered useful tools for integrating inclusion policies in work contexts.
Another central aspect was the training traineeships for women accepted by the promoting associations. Two internships were activated at AIMAG and FinPro, with the aim of facilitating entry into the world of work. These courses included a phase of analysis and reflection, during which women, company tutors and organisations worked together to identify limits and opportunities. This experience generated a toolkit, developed in a participation process, which provides practical guidelines to replicate good practices of labour inclusion in other realities.
Completing the framework of activities was the awareness-raising campaign ‘ Women and Work. What a business! ’, curated by cartoonist and activist Anarkikka, who will be present at the final event. Through cartoons and posters, crucial issues such as rights, racism, harassment, power imbalances and time balancing difficulties were addressed. The illustrations, which will be exhibited during the meeting on 14 December, aimed to stimulate a choral reflection and to amplify the project's message to a wider audience.
During the meeting, the promoting associations and partner companies will share the results achieved and discuss future challenges. The training courses and internships implemented will be illustrated, along with the work done to create the toolkit. To encourage the participation of families, an educational workshop for children, run by qualified personnel, has been planned.
Categorie: International - english, Notizie_eng
Articolo pubblicato da: Ufficio Stampa Unimore - ufficiostampa@unimore.it