Good practice:

Donne in quota

The Female entrepreneurship Committee of the Chamber of Commerce of Siena organized
several editions of courses called "Donne in quota" to support the presence of women in the
administration boards of public and private companies in respect o the Golfo Mosca law. The
aim of the course is to develop technical and managerial competences useful to have the
necessary competences to take part to an administration board.
To reach this goal the Chamber of Commerce collaborates with the University of Siena
through a Protocol of agreement.
The course is composed of various parts, the legal and accountant part, the technical part
and the psychological one. It combines theoretical aspects with the analysis of practical
cases. As for the theoretical aspects the course proposes a specific training on the role of the
councilor with the focus on obligations, responsibilities and operation of the administration
board, on the other side there are the managerial aspects to better understand strength and
weaknesses of the accounting documents, to read properly the trend of the corporate
wellness.
The course of each edition has been continually improved in order to develop experiential training courses, team building and self-awareness, to help participants gain confidence and strong leadership skills. During the course, meetings and networking events were organized with other testimonials to compare experiences and professional paths, collect suggestions and advice.

The course is financed by the Chamber of Commerce and IFE (The Female entrepreneurship Committee of the Chamber of Commerce of Siena/Arezzo) with the resource allocated to Committee of the female entrepreneurship of the Chamber of Commerce in order to cover the cost of teachers.

The main evidence of success is that the course is now at its 5th edition. About 110 women have been trained. The first edition was on 2013, 130 applications were sent for only 20 places available. Then the Committee decided to propose again this course on 2015, 2016 and finally on 2018 with the engagement of the University of Siena to give more value to the course.
About general results after legislative measure, the presence of women in board in 10 years has passed from 6% to 33.1%

The problem to solve is the consciously participation of women in a board of directors. With "Donne in quota" the aim is to introduce positive actions to generate cultural changes, promoting participation in boards not only for compliance with the law but with the possibility of making decision.

As one of the main barrier found during the work with the other partners was the difficulty for women to reach high positions in an enterprise, this good practice seems to answer the question. The Master, giving the possibility to women to improve their knowledge about how an administration board works, is a great opportunity for them to have a seat on them and not because there has to be a certain percentage of women on the administration board but because they have the competences to be there.