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Italy: Few women make it to top of voluntary sector
There are 2 million women volunteers in Italy but less than 30% of non profit managers are women and only 15% of MPs, says a survey published by Auser this week
Women are hardly ever to be found at the top of voluntary organizations. This is the result of a survey carried out by Auser ( a voluntary association that works with the elderly) called Equal opportunities between genders and generations presented in Rome this week. According to the Istat (National Institute of Statistics), reveals the survey, there are around 2 million Italian women who are involved in voluntary activities, many more than men both in the south, the centre and the north of Italy.
Despite the fact that more women participate in the voluntary sector, says Auser, their participation is not represented at the management level. According to research carried out by Fivol (the Italian Foundation for Voluntary Services) of 5000 organizations that were studied, the President?s role is filled by a man in 70.3% of cases and by a woman in only 29.7% of the cases.
The scarcity of women at the top end of voluntary associations distinguishes Italy from the European context, where the situation is practically reversed. If data from the European Centre of Voluntary Services, that gathers voluntary representations of 26 different countries, is taken as a landmark, about 70% of managers are women and moreover that about the half of female managers are women who are not yet 45 years old.
But the question of women missing out on the management of organisations is not unique to the voluntary sector, points out the survey, as there is a generalised mis-representation of women in politics and industry as well.
The European context
The percentage of women in the Italian parliament is 15%, a lot lower than the European average but strikingly, even lower that the averages in many developing Countries; in Rwanda 48% of women are Members of Parliament. In the top 1,300 EU companies, only 3% of the boards of directors are made up of women and in Italian companies the percentage halves.
But what are the obstacles to women?s leadership? The survey highlights several challenges. Firstly, says the survey, women are not used to participating at high levels, as they have a different approach to power, are less aggressive, more cooperative and results oriented. Secondly, they lack role models, and thirdly the mechanisms that are used to nominate and elect leaders do not favour women.
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