Description of the project:

The main goal of the project is to sensitize Catalan companies about the economic and social benefits that exist when promoting a larger number of women in places of decision making in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In order to do this, data on the present situation of women in the labour market in Catalonia and the positive results that companies that carry out gender policies have will be analyzed.

This project directly replies to the strategic line "Equal opportunities in the labour market" detailed in the Project’s Call for Proposals and bases its planning in several European studies and statistics which demonstrate that – today – a larger number of senior graduates are women and that the most brilliant academic reports are mostly from women; therefore, this flow The proposal also constitutes an important step to favour cultural changes as the improvement of equality of opportunities in the labour market and the sensitization of companies about the potential value of hiring more women.

Main Activities:

• Study on the present situation of women in the labour market in Catalonia will be carried out on the first semester of 2009.
• Proposition of a series of measures to the Public Administration and the Private Sector in order to promote gender equality in companies.
• Dissemination of the study among 40 Business Organisations belonging to FEPIME-CATALUNYA, the Federation of Employers of the Small and Medium Enterprise of Catalonia. FEPIME-CATALUNYA, the partner entity, will support the realization of the project in all the Catalan provinces and will help to disseminate the information that was generated in all of its member organizations.
• Dissemination of the study at European level through the " European Commission’s Network of Women in Decision-Making in Politics and Economy