07 September 2024
With the presentation of the 2024 Report at the 50th TEHA Forum in Cernobbio, the third edition of the Observatory on Women’s Empowerment has come to an end. This initiative is aimed at shedding light on women empowerment in the world, by providing a data-based analysis and estimates that may be helpful to decision-makers and related stakeholders.
The Observatory is based on two composite indexes: the Women's Empowerment Progress Index (WEPI) and the EU SheWorks Index, which combined offer a detailed evaluation of the progress made by EU countries and G20 countries, and the challenges that are still to be addressed.
- The Women's Empowerment Progress Index (WEPI) measures the degree of women's empowerment in key areas such as economic participation, political representation, access to education, health and quality of life. In 2024, the WEPI sees the UK as a top performer for the first time. This result is mainly due to a combination of two factors: firstly, an increase in the proportion of women in managerial positions (40.2% in 2023 compared to 36.5% in 2022), and secondly, a smaller deterioration compared to other countries on some indicators (e.g. female employment in ‘vulnerable’ conditions, time spent in unpaid work)
- The EU SheWorks Index focuses specifically on the inclusion of women in the labour market and in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) careers, key areas for the future of employment and innovation. The 2024 ranking confirms a strong polarisation between Northern and Southern Europe, with the ranking led by Sweden, nine countries improving slightly in the last two years and Italy in fourth to last position.
The 2024 edition of the Observatory also identified three priority areas of intervention in the field of women's empowerment, which can significantly benefit from effective collaboration between the public sector and the corporate world: Health, Safety and Wellbeing; Economic Empowerment; STEM and the Future of Work.
The Report explores these different dimensions in detail, on the one hand providing a concise but comprehensive snapshot of the main critical areas and points of attention, and on the other analysing the impacts of particularly incisive public and private policies. The areas analysed include, for example, female entrepreneurship as a valid opportunity for economic empowerment (provided that it does not replicate the same dynamics as salaried employment) and for which - in Italy - a national quota of ‘pink’ companies stands at 22% and is concentrated in sectors traditionally dominated by women. In terms of policy, an interesting case comes from neighbouring Germany, where the introduction in 2015 of the minimum wage has contributed to the reduction of the gender pay gap, especially among lower-paid positions and at regional level.
Based on the analysis and work conducted, two key priorities emerge with potential win-win effects, both for the inclusion and empowerment of women and for society at large:
- Increasing the employment rate of women, making labour market participation a key driver for individual economic and social empowerment, as well as a crucial element for sustainable and inclusive development
- Improving the quality of working conditions for women already in employment, starting with the type of contract, pay levels and greater flexibility geared towards a better work-life balance and the well-being of female workers.
The Observatory also developed 6 key proposals for 2024:
- Increase the availability and capacity of childcare services, making them more affordable, including through active price control
- Strengthen prevention and protection services against gender-based violence (including economic violence) through increased resources and the implementation of binding policies
- Making it mandatory for wages and social benefits to be credited to a bank account in the sole name of the beneficiary
- Prepare the workforce for future changes by ensuring equitable access to training and career development opportunities and supporting STEM careers through open dialogue between school and work
- Strengthen male alliance and support for gender equity (including in parenting) by investing in mandatory paternity leave and joint research activities
- Improve transparency in the public and private sectors to enable monitoring of progress and inform policy makers effectively.
Our thanks to the Partners that supported the third edition: ABB, BGY International Services - Gruppo SACBO, Edison, Generali Italia, Molitoria Umbra, Philip Morris Italia.