The place of women at the top of companies and the positive drive of female rectors in universities
“Women are finally staying in their place”, proclaims the slogan of a flashy advertising page, which appeared last week in some widely-circulated newspapers. An asterisk refers the reader to the explanation of the place we are talking about: “In boardrooms”.
The page, curated by ValoreD (an association that has long promoted the waging of a challenging cultural and economic battle against gender gaps), adds that in the ‘In The Boardroom of ValoreD’ network alone there are more than 500 talented female managers and professionals who can sit in the place they deserve. Today we have chosen to promote equity and gender equality, accelerating sustainable economic development and a culture of valorisation of diversity”.
The ValoreD initiative has been going on for several years. It came back into the spotlight again recently, when the top management renewal procedures of one of the largest public companies, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, were blocked because in government circles, it was impossible to reach an agreement that took proper account of the names of women to be elected to the board of directors (after moments of tension, an agreement was finally reached). But, contemporary news aside, the commitment continues because “progress has been made on gender equality but the road ahead is still long” and “in Piazza Affari (in companies listed on the stock exchange, that is) only one manager in 5 is a woman “, also because “the rebalancing of the genders must be accompanied by a generational turnover, which especially in European companies is much slower than in the USA and Asia” (la Repubblica – Affari&Finanza, 22 July).
Italy, it is true, for the number of women on company boards, is “among the most virtuous countries in Europe” (IlSole24Ore, 21 July), thanks also to the Gulf-Moscow law of 2011 which obliges two fifths of the boards of directors of listed companies to be composed of “the less represented gender”, namely women: today they stand at 43.1%.
But even more needs to be done for the top operational positions: only 4% of the CEOs of companies listed on Piazza Affari are women (Deloitte data for the “Women in boardroom 2024” research). Too few.
A further drive to overcome the gender gap can come from universities. Thanks also to the growing number of women at the helm of Italian universities. Now, female rectors are 19% of the total. And the president of the Crui (the Conference of Rectors) is a woman: Giovanna Iannantuoni, economist, rector of the Bicocca University of Milan since 2019.
This is a very important point: the solicitation that comes from Milan and a few other Lombard universities. A solicitation that is growing, and has done over the last two years. In addition to Iannantuoni, other women in top positions include the rector of the Polytechnic of Milan, Donatella Sciuto, electronic engineer, Marina Brambilla the rector of the Università Statale, full professor of German language and linguistics, the rector of the Catholic University Elena Beccalli, full professor of Economics of financial intermediaries and, freshly appointed rector, Maria Pierro, jurist, at the University of Insubria (Varese and Como) and Anna Gervasoni, economist, director of Aifi (the national association of financial intermediaries) at Liuc, the “Cattaneo” Free University of Castellanza (founded in 1991 on the initiative of the Varese Industrial Union).
History tells of a very close connection between the industrial and, more generally, manufacturing vocations of the Lombardy territories, starting from Milan, the resourcefulness of the world of services, starting with the banking and financial spheres linked to the “real economy ” and the cultural processes connected to a growing diffusion of the so-called “knowledge economy”. Productive cities. And cultured cities. High-income cities. And attractive cities, for talents coming from other Italian geographical areas and, over time, also international ones. Cities with an extraordinary ability to “do, and do well”. And therefore urban structures capable of holding together all the components of a true “polytechnic culture” which is expressed in the original syntheses between scientific/technological knowledge and humanistic knowledge, between the drive for innovation and awareness of the values of “beauty” (the diffusion of design is one example of this).
Milan, metropolis, is a paradigm of all this. Strengthened as it is by a transformative culture that has long been defined as “industrial humanism” which becomes “digital humanism” and in the attempts to recompose the twentieth-century antinomies between Kultur and Zivilization , “high culture” on the one hand and technologies and daily living skills on the other. It is a strong connotation, which acts as a lever for a real competitive advantage on global markets, which are increasingly demanding and selective and therefore particularly attentive to distinctive identities. And it is a characteristic that can accompany our companies in the difficult path of the so-called twin transition, both environmental and digital, with all the connections necessary to make the paths of environmental and social sustainability acceptable, socially and politically.
Universities have, precisely in this dimension, a fundamental role. And leadership in female hands adds an extra characteristic, in knowing how to combine different dimensions of intelligence and passion, in the interpretation and management of conflicts between different knowledge and attitudes, in valuing diversities as competitive advantages and positive social drivers. In short, in building a new and better dimension of “social capital” that is more sensitive not only to the production of economic value, but above all to the respect and revival of human values. In the transition, in other words, from the primacy of the GDP (the gross domestic product, the construction of wealth) to that of the BES (equitable and sustainable well-being), the index developed by Istat according to the values linked to well-being (health, education, quality of life, development, positive social dynamics) according to the UN, but still hardly considered in the measurement of economic phenomena and therefore in the construction of dominant social paradigms.
Complex challenges, indeed. Which require a particular intelligence of the heart to be addressed, as well as high-level technical skills and open, dynamic, inclusive knowledge. As Anna Gervasoni, the most recently appointed rector, remembers well when she indicates the three major issues that the university will have to face: the birth rate decline, the spread of artificial intelligence and the brain drain (IlSole24Ore, 17 July). Issues that have a profound impact on the social and civil structure, on production and consumption processes, on labour markets and on the dynamics of training. On the dynamics of power. And those of knowledge. There is still a lot to be learned. Understood. And done.
(photo Getty Images)
“Women are finally staying in their place”, proclaims the slogan of a flashy advertising page, which appeared last week in some widely-circulated newspapers. An asterisk refers the reader to the explanation of the place we are talking about: “In boardrooms”.
The page, curated by ValoreD (an association that has long promoted the waging of a challenging cultural and economic battle against gender gaps), adds that in the ‘In The Boardroom of ValoreD’ network alone there are more than 500 talented female managers and professionals who can sit in the place they deserve. Today we have chosen to promote equity and gender equality, accelerating sustainable economic development and a culture of valorisation of diversity”.
The ValoreD initiative has been going on for several years. It came back into the spotlight again recently, when the top management renewal procedures of one of the largest public companies, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, were blocked because in government circles, it was impossible to reach an agreement that took proper account of the names of women to be elected to the board of directors (after moments of tension, an agreement was finally reached). But, contemporary news aside, the commitment continues because “progress has been made on gender equality but the road ahead is still long” and “in Piazza Affari (in companies listed on the stock exchange, that is) only one manager in 5 is a woman “, also because “the rebalancing of the genders must be accompanied by a generational turnover, which especially in European companies is much slower than in the USA and Asia” (la Repubblica – Affari&Finanza, 22 July).
Italy, it is true, for the number of women on company boards, is “among the most virtuous countries in Europe” (IlSole24Ore, 21 July), thanks also to the Gulf-Moscow law of 2011 which obliges two fifths of the boards of directors of listed companies to be composed of “the less represented gender”, namely women: today they stand at 43.1%.
But even more needs to be done for the top operational positions: only 4% of the CEOs of companies listed on Piazza Affari are women (Deloitte data for the “Women in boardroom 2024” research). Too few.
A further drive to overcome the gender gap can come from universities. Thanks also to the growing number of women at the helm of Italian universities. Now, female rectors are 19% of the total. And the president of the Crui (the Conference of Rectors) is a woman: Giovanna Iannantuoni, economist, rector of the Bicocca University of Milan since 2019.
This is a very important point: the solicitation that comes from Milan and a few other Lombard universities. A solicitation that is growing, and has done over the last two years. In addition to Iannantuoni, other women in top positions include the rector of the Polytechnic of Milan, Donatella Sciuto, electronic engineer, Marina Brambilla the rector of the Università Statale, full professor of German language and linguistics, the rector of the Catholic University Elena Beccalli, full professor of Economics of financial intermediaries and, freshly appointed rector, Maria Pierro, jurist, at the University of Insubria (Varese and Como) and Anna Gervasoni, economist, director of Aifi (the national association of financial intermediaries) at Liuc, the “Cattaneo” Free University of Castellanza (founded in 1991 on the initiative of the Varese Industrial Union).
History tells of a very close connection between the industrial and, more generally, manufacturing vocations of the Lombardy territories, starting from Milan, the resourcefulness of the world of services, starting with the banking and financial spheres linked to the “real economy ” and the cultural processes connected to a growing diffusion of the so-called “knowledge economy”. Productive cities. And cultured cities. High-income cities. And attractive cities, for talents coming from other Italian geographical areas and, over time, also international ones. Cities with an extraordinary ability to “do, and do well”. And therefore urban structures capable of holding together all the components of a true “polytechnic culture” which is expressed in the original syntheses between scientific/technological knowledge and humanistic knowledge, between the drive for innovation and awareness of the values of “beauty” (the diffusion of design is one example of this).
Milan, metropolis, is a paradigm of all this. Strengthened as it is by a transformative culture that has long been defined as “industrial humanism” which becomes “digital humanism” and in the attempts to recompose the twentieth-century antinomies between Kultur and Zivilization , “high culture” on the one hand and technologies and daily living skills on the other. It is a strong connotation, which acts as a lever for a real competitive advantage on global markets, which are increasingly demanding and selective and therefore particularly attentive to distinctive identities. And it is a characteristic that can accompany our companies in the difficult path of the so-called twin transition, both environmental and digital, with all the connections necessary to make the paths of environmental and social sustainability acceptable, socially and politically.
Universities have, precisely in this dimension, a fundamental role. And leadership in female hands adds an extra characteristic, in knowing how to combine different dimensions of intelligence and passion, in the interpretation and management of conflicts between different knowledge and attitudes, in valuing diversities as competitive advantages and positive social drivers. In short, in building a new and better dimension of “social capital” that is more sensitive not only to the production of economic value, but above all to the respect and revival of human values. In the transition, in other words, from the primacy of the GDP (the gross domestic product, the construction of wealth) to that of the BES (equitable and sustainable well-being), the index developed by Istat according to the values linked to well-being (health, education, quality of life, development, positive social dynamics) according to the UN, but still hardly considered in the measurement of economic phenomena and therefore in the construction of dominant social paradigms.
Complex challenges, indeed. Which require a particular intelligence of the heart to be addressed, as well as high-level technical skills and open, dynamic, inclusive knowledge. As Anna Gervasoni, the most recently appointed rector, remembers well when she indicates the three major issues that the university will have to face: the birth rate decline, the spread of artificial intelligence and the brain drain (IlSole24Ore, 17 July). Issues that have a profound impact on the social and civil structure, on production and consumption processes, on labour markets and on the dynamics of training. On the dynamics of power. And those of knowledge. There is still a lot to be learned. Understood. And done.
(photo Getty Images)