The final conference and results presentation of the Programme was held on 17 October at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Lisbon. It was attended by almost 600 people from 9 different countries both in person and online via Zoom.
The interactive catalogue, a list of existing good practices, programmes and legislation on gender equality in the 27 countries of the EU with an AI system to facilitate the search for the different resources, was presented and throughout the day the situation of women’s leadership in different fields was also discussed.
WOMEN LEDADERSHIP IN PUBLIC ORGANISATIONS
Public authorities in Cascais (Portugal), Katowice (Poland) and Santiago de Compostela (Spain) emphasised that most middle management positions are occupied by women, although 70% of senior management positions are occupied by men, so that the main decisions continue to be taken by men. They proposed some solutions:
- Showing the data to make the situation of inequality more visible.
- Educating for leadership.
- Giving visibility to role models (women mayors, councillors, etc.).
- Offer mentoring and emotional support to women in or about to take on leadership roles.
The last 10 years have seen major changes in this area, although they are very slow.
WOMEN LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS
This round table focused on the situation of women’s leadership in the business world, with the participation of managers and heads of different organisations from Italy, Portugal, Spain and Latvia.
They pointed out that the business culture is still predominantly male and that certain types of decisions take place in informal settings that are more difficult for women to access.
Some of the proposed solutions included:
- Introduce and enforce equality plans in companies.
- Strengthen the networking of women in leadership positions.
- Facilitate reconciliation and work-family balance.
- Provide information on the situation of inequality to raise awareness in society.
WOMEN LEADERSHIP AND YOUNG PEOPLE
The participants in this roundtable, young people from Portugal, Spain and Italy, identified 3 main barriers to accessing leadership positions, common to all under-represented groups:
- Cultural
- Socio-economic
- Lack of representativeness.
Participants consider it very important that young people and women are given opportunities to lead.
Gender equality is still a hotly debated topic in many countries, so it is necessary to inform objectively about this inequality, to educate on gender equality and to offer opportunities and role models in order to move forward.
