Article 3
Work, Private Life, and Parenthood: A Paradigm Shift is Urgently Needed
Beyond the formal declarations of companies and the gradual spread of more agile models, the problems related to the conflict between work and private life remain numerous. Just as numerous changes are necessary to address the issue adequately. While some changes concern companies (reduction of workload, increase in workforce, adoption of flexible space-time solutions), others concern individuals and society. Above all, there is a need to no longer perceive women solely as mothers or solely responsible for all caregiving activities for others. Kramer vs. Kramer, a film from 1979 based on the ...
Short Workweek and Smart Work: Let's Listen to Workers
In the current debate on the short workweek, some crucial aspects for its effective implementation are not being addressed, except in a residual way. The main risk is that of a lack of integration with smart work, resulting in a return to a traditional model where space and time - and not results - are the reference units of measurement. To choose which model to adopt (short workweek in its different variants, smart work or a mix of the two), it will be necessary to listen to workers on a case-by-case basis, in order to build a project that meets their actual needs in a specific company. There ...
Short Workweek: Work Less and in More Inclusive Contexts
The first experiments with the four-day work week have yielded positive results in terms of productivity, revenue, and satisfaction. However, beyond the difficulties of implementing this proposal on a larger scale, there are still some factors to consider. It will be important to address the issue as a whole to truly allow people to recover time for themselves and achieve a better balance between work and private life, while also creating open and inclusive work environments. In recent months, there has been a debate on the topic of the "short work week," which involves working four days a ...
Political Orientation and Regional Differences: Expanding the Viewpoint, Dialoging with the Context
Two recent episodes remind us that the causes of discrimination are not limited to the categories we concentrate the most on in today’s debate. The approach to diversity management, therefore, must be communicative and “elastic.” Some reflections on this theme. In this contribution I would like to report on two episodes recently reported to me and their implications for an approach to diversity management in a continuously evolving social context. Episode 1. In a well-known multinational corporation, during a meeting, it is pointed out to an employee that her Southern Italian accent ...
LGBTQI+ Diversity: When the Going Gets Tough, What Do Businesses Do?
After the initial months of the actions of the new right-wing government and parliamentary majority, the road seems clear: the organizational environment taking hold will be increasingly hostile to issues of diversity and inclusion. Once again, it is striking that businesses are absent in the debate. And we must ask where the social responsibility trumpeted during LGBTQI+ pride month or other occasions for visibility has gone. The political and legal context represents two important dimensions of the organizational environment, i.e. the framework in which organizations act. Italy saw an important ...
Women and power: what the recent “illustrious resignations” teach us
Headlines were recently captured by the decision by the First Minister of Scotland and the Prime Minister of New Zealand, as well as the CEO of YouTube, to submit their resignations without there being any reasons of a political or economic nature – at least in their public statements. Their stories help us to adopt a new perspective in interpreting the grammar of power that has prevalently shaped leadership until recent times, reminding us that it is not limited to the role, but extends above all to the person who plays it. In these first months of 2023, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda ...
The Stigma of the Menstrual Cycle between Culture and Work /2
The social construction of gender stereotypes is perhaps the main tool of “naturalization” of many of the discriminatory practices that have affected women, and still affect them today, in civil society and the world of work, contributing to constructing and perpetuating a social order characterized by deep asymmetries of power. One of the most historicized stereotypes and taboos is that regarding women’s menstrual cycle. For centuries, superstitions and legends, and even scientific studies, have described menstruation as an invalidating phenomenon for a woman’s life, since it makes her ...
Coexisting with Diversity, between Conflict and Balance
There is a common stereotype that views diversity management as associated with the ideal of an “urban” business, in which there are many types of diversity, but represented in a way that tends to be monolithic by different people. Yet it is good to recall that everyone embodies multiple diversities at the same time, and their management must not be limited to the mere compilation of a checklist. Public and media discourse relating to diversity and its management tends to favor an urban context populated by large-scale enterprises that operate in “fashionable” sectors such as technological ...
The Stigma of the Menstrual Cycle between Culture and Work/1
The social construction of gender stereotypes is perhaps the main tool of “naturalization” of many of the discriminatory practices that have affected women, and still affect them today, in civil society and the world of work, contributing to constructing and perpetuating a social order characterized by deep asymmetries of power. One of the most historicized stereotypes and taboos is that regarding women’s menstrual cycle. For centuries, superstitions and legends, and even scientific studies, have described menstruation as an invalidating phenomenon for a woman’s life, since it makes her ...
Reduced to Silence: LGBTQI+ Issues in Qatar
The latest, controversial edition of the Football World Cup has once again raised questions linked to the issue of rights, inclusion, and the fight against discrimination. By complying with the requests (and impositions) of Qatar, FIFA failed to use the championship as an opportunity to defend and promote those rights that some countries do not intend to recognize, although they are careful not to lose a business opportunity such as the World Cup. On Sunday, December 18, 2022, the twenty-second edition of the FIFA World Cup, held in Qatar, came to a close. It was a very controversial edition, ...