1 "Female part-time existing possibilities at executive levels and existence of certification systems regarding gender policies in enterprises and public administrations" T RANSNATIONAL C HOICES P ROJECT C ONSORTIUM Trento, Italy October 2005

2 “Female part-time existing possibilities at executive levels: a comparison between Italy and Trentino” T RANSNATIONAL C HOICES P ROJECT C ONSORTIUM Trento, Italy October 2005

3 The process of growing flexibility: is crucial for the current development of female labour market participation in Europe (part-time jobs, temporary jobs, subcontracting works, etc.) Overrepresentation of women in “atypical” contracts Flexibility on the labour market and differentiation of lifestyles still mainly concern women and contribute to their “patchwork biographies”

4 Part-time is the type of contract where the share of women is much higher than the share of men in all countries of Europe Part-time: the best form of conciliation? Part-time work may provide an opportunity for flexible hours of work, and for combining wage work with family commitments it might as well be considered as a form of underemployment, paying lower wages, and with fewer opportunities for advancement than full-time work but

5 There is no a priori reason why part-time work should be predominantly female: it should be facilitate the reconciliation of paid work and family life Integration or Segregation? Part-time work has facilitated women’s entry into paid work but in a way that leaves the gender division of labour within the parental roles or family structures largely unchanged

6 Part-time employment: “enabling” or “restrictive” strategies A part-time contract for women: often reinforce the prevailing domestic division of labour and financial dependency on a partner or the state (in conflict with the equal opportunities policies of the EU) in many cases do not reflect the wishes of the employees: they couldn’t find full-time work (Klammer, 2000; Censis, 2000)

7 significant increase in part-time jobs (up to 7% for men and to 31.3% for women) with significant differences between countries (2.6% in Slovakia, 45.8% in the Netherlands) significant increase in female employment rate - from 55.1% (fourth quarter 2003) to 56.1% The latest EU labour market survey (fourth quarter 2004 data) published in June 2005

8 Part-time employment as share of total employment by countries and sex Women and menWomenMen EU %16.9%31.3%30.4%7.0%6.5% EU %18.5%35.0%34.0%7.2%6.7% Denmark22.1%22%33.2%33.8%12.4%11.8% Finland14.4%13.4%19.7%18.0%9.4%9.2% Italy12.8%8.5%25.5%17.5%4.8%3.1% Spain8.7%8.4%17.7%17.3%2.9%2.7% Source: Eurostat, LFS 2005

9 Part-time employment in Trento by sex and level Source: Osservatorio del Mercato del Lavoro di Trento (2003)

10 Part-time employment in Trento by sex, level and sector* Public Administration * percentage on total occupation Source: Osservatorio del Mercato del Lavoro di Trento (2003) Private Sector

11 Female part-time existing possibilities at executive levels at executive levels Over 80% of part-time contracts are imputable to the female component The most part of female part-time concerns the sector of cleaning services and the public administration (horizontal segregation) The data of 2003 confirm the hypothesis of part-time as barrier to the vertical advancement (the phenomenon of the “glass ceilings") In the private sector there isn't any case of part-time at executive level; less than 30 cases in the public administration

12 “Certification Systems regarding Gender Policies in Enterprises and Public Administration” T RANSNATIONAL C HOICES P ROJECT C ONSORTIUM Trento, Italy October 2005

13 Certification Systems What they are: a set of references that manufactoring and other types of organizations adapt to in order to converse without misunderstandigs and waste of time and resources

14 ISO 9000 Quality management systems — Fundamentals and vocabulary ISO 9001 Quality management systems – Requirements ISO 9004 Quality management systems — Guidelines for performance improvements Certification Systems: ISO standard

15 EU Policies A central strategy for quality Gender Mainstreaming means: Public Administration: providing better quality services Enterprise: adopting a culture that takes into account and enhances differences

16 Quality and Equality Certification Systems from Gender Perspectives If quality is the result of a prevention- oriented work style, it is clear that it should also be a gender discrimination prevention- oriented work style If quality can be measured according to the non-conformity cost, it becomes clear that it is necessary to prevent the non-equality cost

17 - top management involvement in equality politics and strategies - staff statistical data disaggregated by gender - analysis of horizontal segregation - analysis of vertical segregation - analysis of career plans - participation in training - participation in information flows - participation men-women in meetings, commissions, missions - attending and chairing meetings - selection criteria, methods and gender awareness - enterprise work/life balance plans - both implicit and explicit enterprise culture - work assessment method Not-Equality Costs The Key-factors

18 Implementing Equal Opportunities be retained over time involve the organization (enterprise or PA) as a whole concern all the gender-sensitive processes, practices and procedures

19 Lower staff turnover Reduction of stress Greater motivation, better performance, less absenteeism Greater staff flexibility Better possibility of recruiting Better choice of staff (diversity management) Better company willingness/culture towards client Better external image Reducing Non-Equality Cost Advantages of Reconciliation