Gender Aspect

Democracy is a fundamental value of the European Union, Member States, EEA States and applicant countries. Its full realisation requires the participation of all citizens, women and men at the same level, to be present and be represented equally in the economy, in decision-making, and in social, cultural and civil life. The promotion of gender equality is therefore a must at all level in our society.

In particular, the European Council of Lisbon invited the Commission and the Member States to further all aspects of equal opportunities in employment. Moreover, the Commission recognised that women’s participation in research must be encouraged since it is still lower than requested.

Centro Ricerche Plast-optica (CRP)

Answering to this requirements, Centro Ricerche Fiat is a good example of promotion of gender opportunities: its female workforce is now represented by 167 women, both in staff and research activities, with an average age of 36 years and a working experience of 11,3 years (that shows an increase of about 5% compared with ten year ago figures).

Among the women enrolled in our organisation, more than 88% have an university degree or a diploma and 59% are employed with high level status. In particular, 65,3% have a degree, that represents an increase of 36,3% in comparison with 1990 when those women were only 29%.

Following the EU statement that encourages a lifelong learning specifically dedicated to women, Centro Ricerche Fiat shows also a strong orientation to training: each year a female employee experiences an
average of 7,7 training days on specialised technical areas and foreign language skills.

Centro Ricerche Plast-optica (CRP) as a spin-off company belonging to CRF have followed these general guidelines. Its female workforce represents the 35% of the number of employees of the Centre and 60% of them have a University degree. The co-ordination will take care that gender equality will be respect during project lifetime by all partners.