In order to ensure greater participation of women in the labour market and reduce the gender pay gap, in march 2022 the Government launched a national system of gender equality certification, which will have to improve the working conditions of women also in terms of quality, remuneration and role and promote transparency in work processes in companies. To obtain it, companies (both large and small) have to develop a whole series of actions that are well explained in the reference practice (UNI/PdR 125:2022) created by the Italian standardisation body (UNI).

Once obtained, companies can have a series of benefits and incentives (for example, certified companies will be able to access PNRR-Italian National Plan for Recovery and Resilience resources and obtain rewards in public procurement).

The certification will be voluntary and will be provided exclusively by accredited certification bodies.

The Italian Diversity Charter has therefore decided to focus more on gender equality in recent months, in order to help companies develop the actions needed to obtain certification.

On 12 July the Italian Diversity Charter, in collaboration with Fondazione Libellula, organized a webinar on inclusive language and stereotypes.

The webinar entitled “And what have I got to do with it? Little big daily violence against women” was intended as a training session on gender discrimination, to raise awareness of the phenomenon and thus contribute to build an increasingly inclusive culture.

Being aware of the stereotypes and prejudices that we reproduce through words and everyday behaviour is the first step to combat violence and gender discrimination in the workplace.

Putting a lens on discriminatory behaviour will allow us to be fully aware of how violence affects us very closely and how we can act to counter it in different contexts.

In the webinar:

• we found out what the little big everyday violences against women are and how they act in many contexts
• we have analysed how violence and discrimination occur in personal and professional relationships and how they can also be unknowingly perpetrated by us
• we explored what every person, man and woman, and every organisation can do to be an active participant against violence and promote respectful behaviour in society and at work.

Annalisa Valsasina, Scientific Director of Libellula Foundation, has been the speaker of the training session.

Fondazione Libellula is a network of companies united in combating violence against women, which aims to promote culture against gender discrimination.