The Norwegian Embassy has organized on Tuesday May 25th an event on the role of women as an opportunity and resource for the economy, providing a benchmark between Italy and Norway.

Click here to view the agenda of the event and here if you wish to know more about all the initiative related to Norweek.

The event is free of charge and you don’t need to pre-register, however if you want to make sure you have a reserved seat, please send a confirmation email to milan@innovationnorway.no

by Monique Svazlian, Mentoring Program Coordinator

By now it is likely you have heard about the upcoming PWA Mentoring Program, scheduled to launch in the spring. As we continue planning the program, we are already hearing from many of our members interested in participating. Considering this is a first-time program for the Milan network, we would like to clearly communicate the steps on how to apply and what to expect from the process in order to make it as straightforward as possible. You can download the program brochure here PWA Mentoring Program Brochure

Step 1) Fill out the PWA Mentoring Program Application Form – Mid-March to Mid-April
The application forms will be available on the PWA website beginning mid-March, and the application period will last until mid-April. Keep an eye out for more communication from us informing you when the forms become available on-line. This is the only way to apply for the program – you will be asked to fill out a Mentor or Mentee Profile, depending on the role you are applying for, which will help us find you the right match.

Step 2) Attend the workshop “Identify Your Mentoring Expertise” – April 7th
Whether you believe you could be a Mentor or not, this optional workshop will help you identify the expertise you have to be a Mentor. We all have useful experience, backgrounds and training that can be potentially helpful for others. Through this mini-workshop, which will take place at the April Networking Aperitivo, you’ll identify your “Inner Mentor” which will gear us all up to participate fully in the program. It is open to all members and guests, and is not a prerequisite for becoming a Mentor.

Step 3) Receive email notification: Match successfully identified – Early May
At the close of the application period (mid-April), we will evaluate all applications received. Pairs will be matched based on the level of relevance between objectives stated by the Mentee and available Mentor experience and skills. If we are able to identify an appropriate match, you will be notified via email by the beginning of May.
Note about Participation: As this is a first-time program and we would like to ensure a high-quality service to members, we are limiting the Mentor/Mentee pairs to 10-12 in total. Given the level of interest expressed in the program so far, we anticipate the possibility of receiving more applications than we can fulfill in this first round. Applicants who are not successfully matched will be notified by email that they have been placed on a waiting list for the next edition of the Mentoring program, planned for early 2011.

Step 4) Attend the PWA Mentoring Program Launch Event – May 19th
The official Mentoring Program Launch event will be open to all program participants, PWA members, and guests. The event will be the first time you officially meet your Mentor/Mentee partner, as well as hear from a panel of speakers and testimonials from our Honorary Mentors.

Step 5) Attend the Mentoring Program Skills Training Workshop – Late May
This half-day workshop, an essential component of the program, will be geared towards developing skills to ensure your success as a Mentor or Mentee. We will cover active listening and other communication skills, do’s and don’ts of good mentoring, topics to bring to the mentoring sessions and how to get the most out of your Mentoring relationship.

Step 6) First Mentoring Program period – June-November
The actual Mentoring sessions will begin in June and last for six months. Mentoring pairs will meet for one hour or more per month, in person, via phone or video-conference.

Step 7) Check-in’s and satisfaction survey – June-November
We will be checking-in with each Mentoring pair throughout the program to ensure the Mentoring relationships are running smoothly. Coaching on the mentoring process will be available to those interested. Further, a survey will be carried out at the end of the first period to gauge participant satisfaction and gather ideas for future improvements.

Post-program publication – December
Finally, we will be collecting participant feedback at the end of the program to include their takeaways, experiences, and recommendations to others in an official PWA Mentoring post-program publication.

If you have further questions about the application process or about the program itself, please don’t hesitate to contact us at professional@pwa-milan.org
• Valerie Ryder, Mentoring Program Leader and Professional Development Director
• Monique Svazlian, Mentoring Program Coordinator

As a means of ensuring diversity within all their MBA programs, SDA Bocconi is pleased to reiterate its dedication
to the recruitment of female MBA candidates through their current scholarship scheme for female candidates.

They are offering three tuition waivers for female candidates entering the 2010-2011 Full-Time MBA. The Full-Time MBA is a
12-month program running from October 2010 to October 2011 and includes more than 110 students from more than 30
countries. The program includes a period of practical placement (June – August) and the option to take a term of
study on exchange at one of 30 partner business schools in 12 countries. A total of 20 merit-based tuition waivers will
be made available for this year’s program and full information can be found here. The deadline for these tuition waivers is April 30, 2010.

In addition, they are offering one partial scholarship to a female candidate applying for entry to the Evening Executive
MBA Program commencing in October 2010. The Evening EMBA is a two-year program that includes class activities three
evenings per week (Monday-Wednesday from 19:00 to 21:00) as well as 10 full class days each year. The program, taught in
Italian, is designed to provide experienced managers with multi-dimensional skills and strategic thinking that
will be applicable to their current positions as well as helping managers hone their analytical and problem solving
skills. The deadline for this scholarship is April 20, 2010 and more information can be found here:

“Cambiare si può – Economia, etica, equilibrio sociale: nuovi paradigmi per la società post-crisi” is how this year’s edition has been entitled. Two days of forums, round tables, panels and workshops.

PWA Milan sponsors the Conference and partnered with Gammadonna in the organization of the round table “Donne leader, destinazione CdA”, that will be held on January 28th at 14.30, and will present the Ready-for-board Women Initiative.

If you want to read the full program of the conference, click here; if you want to know more go to www.gammadonna.it and if you wish to register please click here.

The deadline for applications for the 3rd “Award for creative and innovative entrepreneurs” launched by Gammadonna has been postponed to December 23rd.

If you want to know more, please go to the following link: http://www.gammadonna.it/ita/premio_gammadonna.php

The Award is aimed at evidencing the entrepreneurial capabilities of women with specific focus on creativity and innovation, both in the process of setting up a new business and in introducing original and significant innovation in an existing one.A jury of experts will award the prize to 5 women on the basis of the following criteria:
- Creativity of the business idea and soundness of the innovation introduced
- Effectiveness of organization management style
- Economic results obtained
- Methodologies implemented for reconciling roles with work schedules
- Quality of relationship with the local Community and attention to sustainability
- Valorization of R&D (partnerships with Universities, research institutes, etc)

The 5 winners – guests of honor of the Creativity Showcase – will have the opportunity to illustrate their success stories in a dedicated panel during the GammaDonna Forum and will be awarded in a specific event held at the prestigious Conservatorio of Torino on Thursday night, January 28, 2010.

Rules for applying available at http://www.gammadonna.it/ita/premio_gammadonna.php

Segreteria Premio GammaDonna/10 e Lode:
Valentina Communication, corso Brianza 30, 10153 Torino.
E-mail: premio10elode@gammadonna.it

SAVE THE DATE

Milan, 9^th November 2009

Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia “Leonardo da Vinci”

Via San Vittore 21 – Milano

“2015 Generation”, “The cross-disciplinary quality of technologies”, “Not just technologies but people”: the main themes of the 2009 edition of Women&Technologies®, which will be held in Milan on 9^th November at the National Museum of Science and Technology. The conference will also host the awarding of the “Women&Technology Award”, the acknowledgement designed for women who are able to “invent the future” by creating technologies; to women whose work has integrated creativity, innovation and quality of life. Participation in the event is free, but online registration is required.

For more info: www.womentech.info

Osservatorio Diversity Management – Diversity Forum

SAVE THE DATE – 28 Ottobre 2009

Aula N01- Velodromo, Università Bocconi, Piazza Sraffa, 11 – Milano

MATERNITA’, MA QUANTO CI COSTI?

 Un’analisi estensiva sul costo di gestione della maternità nelle imprese italiane

Il lavoro di ricerca che viene presentato vuole fornire a tutti gli interlocutori interessati, donne, imprese ed istituzioni, argomentazioni razionali per affrontare un problema organizzativo e sociale ancora oggi percepito come ingombrante. Solo percepito, appunto. Dopo aver definito sia le dimensioni oggettive sia quelle percettive del costo della maternità, si individueranno le modalità di gestione e le principali problematiche affrontate dalle aziende durante il periodo di astensione della lavoratrice per poter proporre un cambiamento che tenga conto delle esigenze e degli interessi sia della madre sia dell’impresa.

PROGRAMMA

9:00 Registrazione dei partecipanti
9:30 Apertura dei lavori, Gian Francesco Imperiali, Vicepresidente Assolombarda per le Relazioni Industriali e Affari Sociali
9:40 Introduzione alla ricerca, Simona Cuomo, coordinatrice dell’Osservatorio sul Diversity Management
10:00-10:45 Il quadro macroeconomico e il fattore D. Alessandra Casarico, Paola Profeta, Università Bocconi
10:45-11:30 Il quadro aziendale, presentazione dei risultati della ricerca, Barbara Imperatori, Chiara Paolino, SDA Bocconi
11:30-12:00 Coffee Break
12.00-13:00 Tavola rotonda coordinata da Cinzia Sasso, La Repubblica.

Presentano i loro piani sulla maternità: Nestlè Italia, Shell Italia e Regione Veneto.  

In collaborazione con  Assolombarda 

La partecipazione al convegno è gratuita fino ad esaurimento posti, previa registrazione su:
www.sdabocconi.it/eventomaternita

Ulteriori informazioni sull’Osservatorio su: www.sdabocconi/diversity_forum

by  Kristina Tool

PWA hosted a special event on Wednesday, July 1st, which gave the audience a sneak preview of the annual WIN Conference to be held this year in Prague, Czech Republic on October 8-10. This was the second event for PWA held in the Grand Hotel et de Milan on Via Manzoni, and one of the events where we welcomed male guests.  

Kristin Engvig, former PWA president, and WIN (Women’s International Networking) Founder and CEO introduced the WIN Mobilizing Women Tour panel for Milan: Lorella Zanardo, who has worked in marketing for Unilever in Milan and Paris, as marketing director for Gruppo Mondadori and now heads her own consulting group, Sportgate, Sarah Brady,  Director of Product Communications and Consumer Design for Whirlpool and Nancy Fina, professional fashion photographer.

WIN’s mission is to inspire women worldwide and Kristin noted that WIN is fortunate to be able to do so through working and listening to local women’s networks around the world and share the information through meetings and conferences.  She presented facts and figures on how both women and the global economy benefit from placing more focus on women and the way women work.  While the panelists came from different countries and different professions, common themes in their presentations included, adapting to new ways of thinking, generosity, and the viewing of women only as physical objects.

Lorella Zanardo shared her work as writer and director of the documentary Il Corpo Delle Donne. The documentary has received worldwide media coverage due to its revealing examination of how Italian television views women’s bodies. The documentary has struck a chord with many who view it and Lorella credits the success of this project due to having a passion for it, time invested and the web.  As Lorella started to place a critical eye on Italian television, she was shocked by what she saw but it motivated her to dedicate a tremendous amount of time to creating her documentary . Despite family and professional obligations she was able to devote the hours needed to develop the documentary. Between word of mouth and the ease of sharing information on the internet Il Corpo Delle Donne has been able to reach an international audience. In addition, Lorella believes that giving generously comes back to you; part of the success of the documentary can be attributed to those who expressed their appreciation, through emails, and offers of ways to help get the message out to others.

Sarah Brady continued the evening’s presentation by describing her move to Italy from England 18 years ago to work with Olivetti and the progress of her career with different companies. Like many expats, she discovered that things were not always easy living as a foreigner, but as an outsider she could view many situations more objectively.  In facing new and unexpected challenges Sarah noted that she required depending on others and in turn has felt a strong desire to pass on this generosity. Helping other women professionally is one way in which Sarah has been able share the benefits of her experience. Her position at Whirlpool has enabled her to create female initiatives within the corporation.

As an American fashion photographer living and working in Italy, Nancy Fina, has a great deal of experience on how men view women. With assignments that had her working with the top models and agencies in the world, she shared stories about how men had certain ideas on the picture, often with strong objectification of the female and  her opposing point of view on how to do the shot. Noting that in Italy the men hold most of  the power she has worked to express her subjects from a female’s point of view.  Nancy finished up by encouraging the group to attend the WIN conference for it’s ability to inspire. “It’s not like going to a beauty farm for your body, its like going to a beauty farm for you soul.”

The audience had an opportunity at the end of the evening to make new connections with each other. Kristin provided some tips on objectives for the mini networking session in which the audience broke up into up into smaller groups. People were able to introduce themselves and get to know others better in the spirit of making new and beneficial connections.

The Real Situation and What Can Be Done About It

by Valerie Ryder

Working women around the world are aware of the chronic issue of the gender pay gap – i.e. the difference in salary between men and women. Scientific research has been carried out recently in Italy in order to shed more light on the actual figures and to analyze the possible causes.

On June 24, SDA Bocconi’s Osservatorio sul Diversity Management, in collaboration with Hay Group, presented the findings of their research on the Italian gender pay gap.

The study analyzed a sample of 97 mainly large and medium-sized companies (one-third of which are Italian-owned) over the period 2005-2008, which included 32,000 individual salary data observations. Women represented 30% of the sample in the figures from 2008. The study took into account not only the traditional indicators of age and industry sector, but also a score based on the complexity of the position measured by the level of know-how, problem-solving skills and individual accountability required.

In Italy women earn, on average, between 23% and 25% less than men (comparison of gross annual base salary and gross annual salary including variable compensation, respectively). However, when salaries are compared for the same level of complexity, responsibilities and seniority, the difference is reduced to 2%.

Taking a closer look at the levels and roles held by gender, women represent 12% of all upper management (dirigenti), 23% of middle management and professionals (quadri), and 37% of clerical positions (impiegati). Women hold 33% of all sales-type roles (which are also the highest paid), 20% of line functions, and 39% of staff positions.

Keeping in mind that women make up 30% of the work force in this study, 70% of them hold impiegate positions, 25% are at the quadri level, and the remaining 5% attain the dirigente level. Bottom line: it’s an issue of vertical and horizontal segregation. Women occupy positions which are paid less. Yes, the ceiling may be made of glass, but the floor can also be quite sticky. The real issue of discrimination does not lie in the compensation policies of individual companies, but rather in social, cultural and other factors.

So, if the real salary difference is only 2% at positions with the same degree of complexity and responsibility (and knowing that the companies participating in the research are particularly sensitive to the issue of salary equality), how can more women reach higher levels? A push and pull strategy would be particularly effective.

From an organizational standpoint, companies need to push, by putting in place policies to support women’s careers, such as flex-policies which – for example – would allow meetings to be held only between 9:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Further, they need to evaluate both performance and potential, with potential being rated not by the traditional 50-ish male boss, but by a separate, more objective source such as the Human Resources function, using assessments of potential and other proven instruments.

Succession plans need to be drawn up, to specifically include more women. Companies must then take the necessary steps to ensure that they are properly prepared for their new functions, through a personalized training, coaching and development plan. Many women lament the lack of role models and mentors – the implementation of formal mentoring programs would respond, at least in part, to this need.

On an individual level, women need to pull, by continuing to take their professional future into their own hands. Women need to go out on a limb with confidence and dare: to blow their own horn; to ask, for example, for training, a raise, a promotion, or more flexibility with their schedules; and to negotiate. Developing their own relational network and identifying mentors within or outside of their place of employment are time-tried, successful strategies.

News flash: PWA Milan, in addition to providing networking opportunities, will be implementing a mentoring program over the next several months. Check our website regularly to learn more about the project; more details will follow soon.

For more information:

SDA Bocconi’s Osservatorio sul Diversity Management

21 June 2009 article in Il Corriere della Sera.it by Rita Querzè: “Stipendi, è parità tra uomini e donne”

Contact the author: vryder@ryderassociates.com – www.ryderassociates.com