Filling the gender gap in STEM fields: effectiveness and ambiguity of an empowerment policy

Initiatives tackling the persistent underrepresentation of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) increasingly associate measures to upgrade women’s technological skills with techniques designed to boost their self-confidence and motivation, inspired by empowerment theory. Drawing upon a technofeminist approach, the paper offers the results of a qualitative research on the Pink Cloud initiative, launched by Microsoft Italy with the support of other institutions. The initiative offers, to high school and university girls, intensive training courses designed to enhance both their ICT skills and professional aspirations within fields still manned by men. therefore represents a good case to explore the effectiveness of empowerment measures aimed at women’s inclusion in STEM fields. Through a qualitative research based on focus group analysis, the paper identifies the initiative’s main strengths and weaknesses, to conclude that women’s empowerment is best understood as a social, rather than an individual process

Boosting gender equality through music production. A case study on two Italian female brass bands

Arts and culture are increasingly recognised as fundamental assets for the development of territories. Their contribution, usually considered with reference to the revitalisation of places within a competitive global economy, is more rarely assessed in terms of enhancement of a more inclusive and egalitarian social fabric. The article focusses on the latter dimension, considering the case of two Italian female brass bands active in different territorial contexts, both contributing to challenge the gendered biases, prescriptions and practices still hampering women’s full participation to music worlds and society

Regionalisation via EU multilevel governance and territorial cohesion: Path dependency and institutional change in the western-Mediterranean islands of Corsica and Sardinia.

This thesis looks at the definition and diffusion within the EU of a new model of policy-making and implementation based on regions acting within a multilevel system of governance. The focus of the empirical research is on INTERREG, an experimental Community Initiative that has promoted interregional cooperation across national borders. This thesis argues that INTERREG represents a particularly coherent case of the EU's approach to regional planning and territorial development: in fact, it extends multilevel governance to interregional partnerships defined beyond national borders and adds a territorial dimension to the goal of socio-economic cohesion. Since 1990, when INTERREG was first launched, territorial cooperation has become increasingly relevant to EU Regional Policy (and in the accession of new Member States) until when, in 2007, it was mainstreamed as one of the three new priority objectives of the policy. Drawing evidence from the implementation of INTERREG in the 'islands' programme between the regions of Corsica (FR) and Sardinia (I) from 1990 until 2005, this thesis shows how the process of administrative capacity and institution building promoted by the European Commission at the subnational level has gradually empowered regional actors to take responsibility for the planning and management of strategies for sustainable development of their territories. Although lacking the traditions of interregional cooperation and sharing a past of dependency on their respective central governments in development planning, regional actors have gradually adopted and learned to incorporate the cooperative logic of the EU model proposed by the programme and extended it to other policy domains. However, the potential of interregional cross-border cooperation in terms of enhancing territorial cohesion appears to be limited by the persistent peripherality of the islands and their wider territorial setting (the Western-Mediterranean), prompting the need for a wide-ranging spatial strategy capable of coordinating EU policies

Come cambia la governance in Europa. Lo sviluppo territoriale attraverso reti cooperative

Sebbene alla base delle ricerche che negli ultimi decenni hanno affrontato il problema di come disegnare interventi socioeconomici ‘radicati’ in un contesto vi siano motivazioni diverse (da considerazioni di sviluppo ed efficienza a questioni democraticonormative), tutte evidenziano la necessità di ricercare un nuovo rapporto tra politica, mercato e società. Il presente contributo si inserisce all’interno degli ultimi sviluppi di questi dibattiti, e si articola in tre parti: nella prima viene sinteticamente riportato in che modo diverse correnti teoriche abbiano affrontato la questione, con la finalità di evidenziare come le loro posizioni siano più lontane nella teoria che non nella pratica4. Nella seconda parte le categorie ed i concetti presi in esame vengono collegati al dibattito intorno al processo di istituzionalizzazione dell’Unione Europea (UE). Nella terza parte vengono presentate, sulla base dell’analisi di due casi empirici della Politica Regionale dell’UE, alcune considerazioni conclusive sul funzionamento di network cooperativi orizzontali e verticali che indirettamente rispondano al quesito di partenza, ossia come disegnare interventi di sviluppo che stimolino gli attori sociali alla cooperazione

Torn Between Neoliberal and Postmodern Trends, Corporatist Defence and Creative Age Prospects: The Ongoing Reshaping of the Classical Music Profession in Italy

In modern industrial societies, strongly associating work to tangible productivity and professions to formal regulation and protection of membership, the music occupation has represented a conundrum for theoretical analysis. In post-industrial societies, however, musicians are being recognised a pivotal role in capitalist economies, as part of a creative class sharing working conditions already defining artistic labour markets, but within a significantly changed regulative framework. Drawing on the literature and her field research, the author adopts a neo-institutional perspective to consider the reshaping of the classical music profession in Italy, exploring how collective and individual actors are responding to neo-liberal trends extending market logic to a music world crossed by processes of cultural declassification. Conclusions reflect over the ambiguities created by creative age prospects, in applying principles of economic hierarchisation within the field of musical production, and over the transient nature of professionalisation processes

Disuguaglianze di genere nella transizione al lavoro dei laureati

Il contributo si propone di verificare, a partire da una selezione di dati raccolti dalle indagini AlmaLaurea, l’entità delle disparità di genere esistenti tra i laureati italiani nella loro transizione al mercato del lavoro, con particolare attenzione alle dinamiche degli ultimi anni. La prima parte dell’articolo è dedicata ad un’analisi descrittiva delle differenze di genere tra laureati “post-riforma” (di primo e secondo livello) relativamente a tre aspetti cruciali della loro condizione occupazionale, ad uno o più anni dal conseguimento della laurea: le maggiori o minori difficoltà incontrate nella ricerca di un lavoro, il livello di stabilità dell’occupazione trovata e i guadagni derivanti da questa. La seconda parte prende in esame le differenze di genere nella condizione occupazionale dei laureati “pre-riforma”, facendo seguire all’analisi descrittiva dei tre aspetti sopra citati un’analisi di tipo inferenziale, volta ad approfondire le relazioni intercorrenti tra alcune caratteristiche della condizione formativa e occupazionale di laureati e laureate al momento del conseguimento del titolo e i rispettivi guadagni derivanti dall’occupazione trovata a cinque anni dalla laurea. In tal modo, si intende identificare quali siano i fattori che influiscono in maniera più significativa nella determinazione del guadagno dei laureati e, in ultima analisi, nella definizione della desiderabilità sociale della loro occupazione

To be assertive or not to be assertive: that is the question! Students' reactions to sexual harassment in academia

Introduction: In the literature, no integrated definition of sexual harassment (SH) occurs but there is clear unanimity about SH being offensive, humiliating, and intimidating behavior. Within academic settings, SH has severe negative effects on students' physical or emotional wellbeing as well as on their ability to succeed academically. Methods: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between sex, gender roles, and the ways to manage SH (assertive and nonassertive reactions) in university students. It was hypothesized that female students would report more nonassertive reactions compared to male students. In addition, following the Bem theory on gender roles and using the self-report tool by the same author, it is hypothesized that female and male students, who are classified as feminine, will report more nonassertive responses, whereas male and female students, who are classified as masculine, will report more assertive responses. Our hypothesis was tested with a sample of 1,415 university students (593 men, 41.9%, and 822 women, 58.1%) who completed a questionnaire approved by the local ethical review board for research from the end of January 2019 to the first half of February 2019. Results: Contrary to our hypothesis, results showed that women react more than men in both assertive and nonassertive modalities. In addition, our results confirmed the main effect of both sex and gender roles on students' assertive and nonassertive reactions to SH in academia. Conclusion: Educational programs about SH may prove useful in preventing its occurrence. Gender equality plans in academia can improve a nonsexist and safe environment for students. It is urgent to improve transparency and accountability of policies on the management of SH: academic institutions need to formulate a procedure to facilitate SH reporting, considering the sensitive balance of confidentiality and transparency issues. Support for the victims (social services, healthcare, legal representation, and advice concerning career/professional development) must be included