Gender gap in the port sector. Italian ports undersign a new equal opportunity agreement

Article by Tiziana Murgia, Communication Director of Assoporti. Women in Transport – the challenge for Italian Ports Tiziana Murgia, Communication Director of Assoporti. During a period in which international news remind us that basic Women’s rights are in jeopardy in some regions, it is important to discuss about the situation of female labour conditions even in developed and industrialized countries. Indeed, one of the main issues in relation to human capital and value of the person referred to ports and surrounding areas regards the role of Women in Transport. A key issue that has been brought to the EU level in diverse occasions and with diverse results. One thing is still certain, the number of women working in this field is still very low over the EU and, in particular, in the South of Europe. If, on the one hand, an important initiative on the EU level, named Women in Transport was put into place in 2017, on the other hand the real situation in the transport field is that women have not yet reached their potential and do not have significant roles both in terms of numbers and in terms of actual functions. As one of the first official communications sent to the Italian Ports Association, the new Minister for Infrastructure and sustainable transport specifically requested that new initiatives to overcome the gender gap be put into place. For this reason, the Italian Ports Association launched a working group composed of a representative from each Port Network Authority so as to activate useful actions aimed at reducing the gender gap. The…