Today Il Corriere della Sera published an interesting article on the impact of the current economic downturn on women. Our initiative “Ready-for-board Women” is presented in the same page.
To read both articles, click here
by Kristina Tool
On June 24 PWA Milan in collaboration with Korn Ferry International presented the first in a series of “Women In” events. Bringing together top level executives in their respective fields, the objective of these events is to raise a discussion on how women have achieved their success and what can be done to increase the presence of women at the highest professional levels.
PWA hosted the event for the first time at the Grand Hotel et de Milan on Via Manzoni. The standing room only crowd included more than 150 professional women who came to listen to four panel members discuss women working in the male dominated field of finance.
Moderated by PWA president Monica Pesce, the panel was comprised of Giulia Belloni -Senior Client Partner, Korn Ferry International, Alessandra Perrazzelli – Head of international affairs, Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo, Monica Poggio – Head of Corporate Culture, Unicredit Group and representing the male point of view, Fabio L. Sattin – Chairman and Founding Partner, Private Equity Partners Spa. From the audience, Patrizia Micucci – Senior Partner, BI Invest and Mara Caverni – Partner, PWC, provided their point of view on investment banking and consulting.
The evening began with defining the current situation. Giulia Belloni shared statistics on the greatly disproportionate representation of female executives in the world of finance. Present at the top levels in only single digit percentages, women have a long distance to go before parity is achieved. Continued discussion reinforced that women in the upper levels of finance are few and far between and Italy ranks lower than many nations in the percentages of women who have achieved upper level positions.
Panelists presented thoughtful and frank responses based on their experiences of working both inside and outside of Italy. They gap between male and female workers is seen not only in the numbers of women present but in the lower compensation women receive. It was acknowledged that education and skill levels are not the problem; women who have risen to the top are clearly capable of meeting the high demands which a career in finance places on them, so what reasons remain to explain the situation?
Alessandra Perrazzelli noted a lack of female role models in the upper echelons of corporate executives, in addition to the lack of infrastructure provided to women with families. As the burden of family care still falls on the shoulders of women, (even those employed fulltime) those with families must rely on outside resources which allow them to be able to focus on work. Italy is especially lacking in providing this support.
Additional reasons could have more to do with self promotion skills. Monico Poggio commented on women needing to be better at first recognizing the value they bring and then doing more in expressing this value through self promotion. Fabio Sattin added that women are often less aggressive than men.
Discussion also focused on the Italian culture of viewing women in limited roles. Battling the stereotypes of being viewed only as mothers or the predominance the veline in the media and being judged on physical beauty alone, has made it even more challenging for those who aim towards the highest levels.
Monica Pesce continued to probe the panel on what can be done to bring more women to upper levels. Responses took an optimistic tone with the reminder that women have some power in influencing change. Women can demand more from their employers in terms of support, pay and promotions. They can do more to share their achievements and make their accomplishments known so that their true value is understood. Women can also support and encourage each other.
It was noted that the environment was showing signs of change and that companies have started to recognize the benefits of having more females present in decision making roles. The values of mentors was seen as a strong positive from the panelists view point and also from the perspective of many of the businesses, many of which have started to put programs into place to support and cultivate female leaders.
While there appeared to be a consensus towards most of the responses, audience members were quick to object to Fabio Sattin’s comment that women were more likely than men to need a structured framework in which to work and perhaps this was a difference between male and female success. Citing the multi-tasking skills which many females exhibit, the idea of a needing a framework was dismissed as a reason for the lack of women seen at the top.
With time running out, the audience was still able to share some ideas on bringing about equality, including PWA Vice president, Malin Carlberg putting forth a provocative question on Italy’s policy of parental leave for fathers.
Wrapping up at about 10PM, the event provided an opportunity for those in attendance to listen to first hand experiences from and about accomplished women in the financial workplace. Although the focus was on women in finance, many of the ideas shared could be applied to a variety of professions.
While the venue was crowded, we received much positive feedback on the presentation and we are looking forward to continuing the series on the fall of 2009 with the Women In Technology and Women In Fashion presentations.
Il Sole 24ore anticipates the key data Giulia Belloni from Korn Ferry International will present during the PWA Milan event “Women in finance” and interviews her on the topic.
Read the article (in Italian)
This event is a collaboration between PWA and Korn Ferry International
A look at who occupies management positions in financial companies around the world shows a heavy bias towards men, and an even more dramatic disparity in numbers between male and female executives can be found in Italy. Why is this the case? What can be done to increase women in leadership positions? For those who have managed to reach the upper levels, how did they get there? What should companies and individuals be doing to bring more women into corporate leadership roles?
PWA President Monica Pesce, will moderate a discussion designed to help us understand how women have achieved success so far, what we can be doing to increase opportunities and what benefits female leadership will bring to the financial sector and world economy as a whole.
The panel will share their experiences and perspectives gained from working at different companies internationally to help us to find ways to increase opportunities for women seeking leadership roles.
About the panel
Giulia Belloni, Senior Client Partner, Korn Ferry International Milan has more than two decades of corporate finance experience. Prior to joining Korn/Ferry in 1999, she worked for JP Morgan in Milan, where she established a fixed income sales team covering both Italian clients in the domestic and international markets as well as foreign investors in the Italian market, and Chase Manhattan Bank. Ms. Belloni is a graduate of economics from Bocconi University in Milan.
Alessandra Perrazzelli is the Head of International Affairs at Intesa Sanpaolo, one of the largest Italian and European banking groups. Based in Brussels for the last 16 years, Ms Perrazzelli works with the European Institutions on the application of EU banking and financial services law to the internal market. She was appointed to oversee the Gemma project which promotes capitalizing on internal female talent. She holds law degrees in Italy and in New York. She has been mentioned among the top 100 women lawyers in competition law by the Global Competition Review in 2004 and won the 2007 “Premio Bellisario” in the Communication Sector, for her activity promoting Italian interests at EU and International level.
Monica Poggio is head of Corporate Culture for Unicredit Group. Her career in Human Resources spans various multinationals, primarily in the pharmaceutical and mechanical engineering industries, and included managing projects specialized in developing female leadership programs and launching women’s networks. Since 2007 she has directed the “Women and Leadership” track for Unicredit Group.
Fabio L. Sattin is Chairman and Founding Partner of Private Equity Partners Spa, a primary independent financial company, that provides investments in equity capital in unlisted companies. He is currently professor of Business Strategy and Policy at the University Cà Foscari in Venice, and professor of Private Equity and Venture Capital at Bocconi University. He is co-author of “Private Equity and Venture Capital”, widely used as a text in many university courses and MBA programs in Italy.
Cocktails 7-8 p.m. / Presentation 8-9.30 p.m.
Grand Hotel et de Milan. Via Manzoni 29, (MM Montenapoleone)
Free for members, €20 for guests, payable by cash at the event
Members, please register your participation at www.EuropeanPWN.net
For guest reservations, or additional information, please contact speakers@pwa-milan.org
PWA gratefully acknowledges the contributions of:
Accenture, ATKearney, Bain & Co, Banca d’ Italia, Borsa Italiana, BNP, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Citigroup, Crédit Suisse, Deloitte & Touche, Deutsche Bank, General Electric, Gruppo Allianz, Gruppo Banco Popolare, Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo, Gruppo Unicredit, Mediobanca, Natixis, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Sace, Tesoro, UBS Italia
