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7. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS
As Com.It.Es., we are legislated under art 2.1 of Law 286/2003 to promote initiatives with a particular emphasis on equal opportunities. This research and the overall project are an expression of such a mandate. Our starting point was based on some anecdotal data, and that, of all Cavalieri, only 14% are women (Figure 1). This report goes further to map out a more complex situation.
Our preliminary findings highlight that across the Italian organisations that participated in the survey, the majority of the members were men. This trend remained the same for the executive boards. The most dominant roles undertaken by women were that of secretary, and, to a lesser extent, treasurer. Almost two thirds of women on executive boards were aged between 61 and 80 years old.
This report also considered that most of the organisations, which did not take part in the survey, are led by a man as president. Furthermore, to add to this reflection, we investigated the gender of those who nominated women for the inaugural ‘Progetto Donna’ Awards (Figure 14): a much greater proportion of nominators were women (63% signifying 20 out of a total of 32 nominators), rather than men (37%). These proportions are almost an inversion of the proportion of women who are members in, and who
Figure 14: Proportion of nominators that are women and men.
Men 12, 37%
Women 20, 63%
are executive board members of Italian organisations. This also highlights that women, rather than men, tend to support women in greater proportion in the Italian community.
When we intersect the full set of data presented in this report with the top priorities identified by organisations to promote the future of their organisation, we see that their second priority is to attract and retain younger members in general, and their fourth priority is to attract and retain women as members. We perhaps could recommend that associations, clubs, and radio stations may attract and retain more young women, by promoting and celebrating more their achievements and talents.
In conclusion, this study has offered insight into the role women play in the Italian community in South Australia with the aim of fostering a reflection and beginning a focused conversation on these issues.
There is a need for a more systemic approach to inclusivity and equal opportunities, and the current cultural and structural constraints are an impediment to achieve this. Equity in voice representation is a central requirement for a healthier society, as it promotes better governance in the whole community. We need to embrace all the talents and unique perspectives that diverse voices can offer.
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