The picture is clear and shocking: we are generally still biased against women as we were a decade ago, with no improvements and even some setbacks on previously granted rights. From underrepresentation in leadership positions to doubts about their business capabilities, from challenges in achieving economic empowerment to high pay gaps often due to the motherhood penalty, women still suffer from persisting stereotypes, prejudices, and all the consequent difficulties. A situation almost unchanged in the last ten years. At the end of May, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) launched its latest Gender Social Norm...

  Fifty million people were living in some form of forced labour in 2021, says ILO's newest report, 10 million more than five years ago. The "Global Estimates of Modern Slavery" was released this week. Almost simultaneously, it has been reported that the European Commission is expected to announce a ban on forced labour products - linked to allegations about this practice in the Chinese province of Xinjiang. Similarly, in June, the US enacted a blanket ban on all imports, especially from that area, because of the alleged widespread human rights violations, particularly against Muslim Uyghur and other minorities. The decline in human...

    18 September is the UN International Equal Pay Day. A day of awareness that matters since the gender pay gap is well alive. Undeniably in recent years, some timid changes have been recorded. Yet, as the discussion continues, the attention widens, and both companies and legislators try to intervene, we are far from reaching the target of equality. Earning the same salary if performing a similar activity, regardless of gender, is a right defined by laws and agreed values alike. It is one of the funding principles of the European Union (article 157 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU). In the US, it is protected by the Equal...

    Women-led SMEs are more reliable in repaying loans compared to those led by men. Businesses with higher female representation in leadership positions are considered to predict better long-term value creation. More diverse managerial teams generate better financial performances. Moreover, venture capitals that fund women's businesses are as likely as men-funded ones to succeed. Still, today women entrepreneurs face many more obstacles in expanding their companies than male ones. Additionally, men tend to invest in other men, in a spiral that makes the environment for female-led businesses even grimmer. No matter the advantages and...

  "Realizzare l'uguaglianza di genere e l'empowerment di tutte le donne e le ragazze". Recita così il quinto obiettivo dei Sustainable development goals (SDGs): gli obiettivi di sviluppo sostenibile che tutti i 193 stati membri delle Nazioni Unite dovrebbero raggiungere entro il 2030. Dovrebbero. Sì perché per molti di questi temi (fame e povertà, energia pulita, cambiamento climatico, accesso ai servizi sanitari e all'acqua potabile e molti altri che potete scoprire qui) il traguardo fissato dai SDGs è ancora molto lontano. È questo il caso della disuguaglianza di genere che, come si legge nel report 2017 pubblicato pochi...