Companies, the most educated women, but in science and technology, there is a huge gender gap

Lappini (Duna Higher Conference): “The starting conditions are fair to all.” Only 17% have a degree in science majors (Stem) compared to 37% of men

Rome – Women’s companies, nearly 1,400,000 in Italy, suffered a 12.1% drop in enrollment in 2021, which is anyway less bad than -21% the previous year. This business They are more fragile than males, they have little productive diversity, low internationalization and are not very innovative, even if it gives young people hope. These are some of the topics that arise fromSurvey of women’s businesses by Terziario Donna ConfcommercioIn cooperation with the Center for the Study of Chambers of Commerce “Guglielmo Tagliacarne”.

Women are generally more educated than men

In 2020, 65% of women have high school or college degrees compared to 60.5% of men, but the female employment rate is much lower than that of men, 53.9% versus 73.3%. Among the graduates, 24.9%, 25-34 years old, have a degree in scientific and technological fields, so-called STEM degrees: of these 36.8% are men, 17.0% are women with a gender gap with Very relevant. However, for the female component, the incidence of stem specialties in our country is higher than that recorded in the EU22 average and in other large European countries.

The Thus, the gender gap in the choice of technical and scientific disciplines is less pronounced in Italy compared to the rest of Europe. Awareness of the importance of bridging the gap in these disciplines appears in the answers of Tertiary Woman interviewees: the share of those who consider it very important to invest in Stems for female entrepreneurs is actually 48.5%, 10 points more than it is for female entrepreneurs (38.1% ).

Investing in digital issues

regarding exercise in general as well 7 out of 10 entrepreneurs interviewed intend to invest above all in digital issues and management skills and business management. 14.7% aim to increase knowledge in credit and finance and 14.1% on green and sustainability issues and skills. In the case of staff training, the issue of specific professional technical skills is even more prominent for women than for men (66.3% vs. 60.2%). The issue of digital skills comes again (22.3% for females, 22.8% for men) and then new training for specialized workers (8.2% vs. 11.4%).

The share related to environmental transformation is much lower, and more sense is trained entrepreneurs (they are likely to get into issues better), rather than employees (3.2% for women’s companies, 5.7% for men). The issue of generational handover is an issue that appears to concern female higher education firms less than male firms: The share of those who don’t consider it in the forecast is actually 66.4% versus 55.3% for companies run mostly by men.

Strengthening the propagation of stem material

“there Spreading stem themes among women Training in general constitutes one of the Five pillars to be strengthened, along with identity, credit, innovation and sustainability, identified by Terziario Donna to allow women entrepreneurs to contribute to the economy of our country’s rebirth. Anna Labini, President of the Confcommercio Woman Tertiary commented, “Only if just starting conditions are created and each individual, regardless of gender, is provided with the tools to realize their potential, will a healthier and more equitable society and economy be created.”