1. The XIIth BPW European congress Project idea: Women for president Stockholm city Conference Centre, Norra Latin June, 9-11, 2006 Submitted by: ADA BAGNATO PR. COMMITTEE.

2. GENERAL AIMS To understand the reason why there are so few women in top positions in the political, social and economic fields.

3. Specific aims  To collect useful information to undertstand why so few women are found in top positions.  To collect personal experiences from members of BPW.  To identify why top women were prepared to make difficult sacrifices in their careers.  To put this information on the Internet so that it is available to all.  To comunicate the results of the project in order to contribute to the creation of a female culture of Leadership.

4. Steps of the project 1. The preparation of a questionnaire which will be sent to all Affilates. The questionnaire will attempt to discover the biggest obstacles women have encountered in their careers and on their way to top positions. 2. The anaIysis of the results. 3. The pubblication of the results on the BPW website. 4. The setting up of a permanent FORUM ON-LINE. 5. The pubblication of the results.

5. Step 1: The collection of information Each Federation that agrees to participate in the project must:  provide official statistics regarding the number of working women;  provide studies and projects carried out on the theme of Leadership;  collect the rules and regulations regarding equal opportunities. In Italy…..

6. In Italy……  Statistics  References  legislation

7. Statistics Source: ISTAT 2003  In work… 42,7 % of women have jobs (2003) 17,3 % of working women work part-time as opposed to 3,2% of working men In jobs requiring flexibility (holidays, unusual time-table, etc) the number of working women increases by 56 % There are more women than men with white collar jobs (45 % as opposed to 24,9 %) but fewer with blue collar jobs (27,4 % as opposed to 36,7%)  In Politics… 7,81 % of the Senate are women. 12 % of the Chamber deputies are women

8. References  Projects Pari opportunità e servizi per l’impiego PON misura II.1.A attività di consulenza e informazione e azioni di scambio in materia di pari opportunità Progetto Equal…  Papers Rivista “il raggio” …….

9. References  L. 23/1948: diritto di voto alle donne  L. 66/1963: ammissione delle donne ai pubblici uffici  L. 903/1977: pari opportunità tra lavoratori e lavoratrici  L.70/1980: istituzione della consulta femminile regionale  L. 125/1991 e L. 215/1992: incentivi per la imprenditorialità femminile  L. 43/1995: legge elettorale (“quote rosa”)  L. n.25/1999:  D. Lgs. 114/2003*: commissioni pari opportunità  L.90/2004: legge elettorale per le europee *sostituisce la L. 164/1990

10. Step 2: The questionnarie Doing a survey aiming at identify how the BPW associates feels the problem of the leadership at work  general information  evaluative information  proposals for improvement The questionnaire will be divided in three parts:

11. Step 3: Sharing experiences  The results will be published on a website were a forum on line will be activated.  Workshops will be organize to discuss the theme at a local level