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Social media as a vehicle for promoting female entrepreneurship

In addition to the many negative aspects, the Covid-19 pandemic situation has also had a major positive impact, especially on female entrepreneurship. One aspect that has particularly characterised the push towards female entrepreneurship is the use of social media to promote one's business.

Indeed, social media has played a significant role in this wave of change.
Some statistics show that more than 200 million people visit a business profile on Instagram every day and there are more than 300 million monthly visitors to the Shops section.

This represents a big opportunity for many women to create their own business, especially during the lockdown. This phenomenon occurred globally, in fact the result was that:
40% of business accounts globally created since the start of the pandemic on Instagram and Facebook are women-owned.
In 2021, 59% of Facebook groups related to entrepreneurship were created by women.
On Instagram, since the start of the pandemic, there has been a 30.36% increase in women-owned businesses in Italy.
Also in Italy, in 2021, 56.98% of Facebook groups on entrepreneurship topics were created by women.

This data represents a new generation of female entrepreneurs, who have managed to make their way even in adverse times by exploiting the potential of social networks and who, through social networks, are able to influence other women, giving them the courage to take the same path.

Sources: https://www.corrierecomunicazioni.it/digital-economy/imprenditoria-femminile-incentivi-e-finanziamenti-ecco-come-fare/
https://www.elle.com/it/magazine/women-in-society/a39295605/imprenditoria-femminile-social/

Dark Side of social media

Mass media reaches audiences through communication platforms. It allows people to stay connected through many social platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and twitter.
However, there is also a dark side to social media. With unrealistic beauty standards causing many women to feel insecure.

Social media promotes influencers, models, celebrities with perfect body shapes. Women are portrayed with flat stomachs, plump breasts and plump lips. These women also document their eating habits and lifestyle routines as well as their workout routines. All of this to show that this contributes to the way that they look. However, it is all fake. These are unrealistic standards of beauty. The truth is that these false ideas of beauty influence many young women to think that it is all natural when it isn’t. The looks of women are due to plastic surgery, a lot of makeup and face tune. These women are used to promote merchandise and to sell products.

This false portrayal causes many women to feel insecure and have many phycological disorders as well as eating disorders.
Just recently some platforms and magazines depict a variety of different women that have different types of beauty. “Dove” for instance advertises women with different body shapes and different hair styles. This depiction is very different than the typical Victoria’s Secret Model. Nowadays, mass media is slowly shifting away from the stereotypical woman and is not limited to the traditional mother and wife role. Working women with other interests are getting depicted.

Sources: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272243002_Image_of_Women_in_Media
https://www.pulse.ng/lifestyle/beauty-health/the-dark-side-of-social-media-how-unrealistic-beauty-standards-are-causing-identity/hv4tffb

Gender Equality Plan: requisito di ammissibilità in Horizon Europe

La direttiva 2006/54 del Parlamento Europeo riguardante l’attuazione del principio delle pari opportunità in materia di occupazione e impiego, è sicuramente la base portante della creazione e attuazione del Gender Equality Plan.

Su questo principio si basa il riferimento normativo della strategia per la parità di genere 2020-2025 dell’Unione Europea. Si tratta della creazione delle linee guida per “identificare e implementare strategie innovative per favorire il cambiamento culturale e promuovere le pari opportunità negli enti pubblici, nelle Università e nei Centri di Ricerca” da parte dell’Istituto Europeo per la Gender Equality (EIGE, eige.europa.eu).

L'uguaglianza di genere, infatti, rappresenta un pilastro fondamentale nelle politiche della Commissione europea. Per questo motivo la Comunità Europea ha proposto di includere il GEP come nuovo criterio di ammissibilità, che deve essere correttamente implementato al momento della conclusione di una convenzione di sovvenzione per i Programmi Horizon a partire dalle call con scadenza nel 2022.

Con un budget totale di 95,5 miliardi, Horizon Europe è il nuovo programma quadro dell’Unione Europea per il periodo 2021-2027 che mira a implementare una ricerca mission-driver che si focalizzi su temi rilevanti per la società odierna.

I requisiti formali che ciascun GEP deve rispettare sono:
Pubblicazione formale (firmato dal top management e pubblicato sul sito web dell'istituzione)
Risorse dedicate all'implementazione (Equality Officers o Gender Equality Teams)
Raccolta di dati e monitoraggio con report periodici
Formazione e sensibilizzazione sull'uguaglianza di genere e sui pregiudizi di genere inconsci per il personale e i responsabili delle decisioni

La Comunità Europea ha inoltre definito un piano per il lancio di una rete di punti di contatto nazionali sul GEP, per favorire la conoscenza e il supporto attraverso orientamenti, formazioni online e workshop di apprendimento.

Fonti:
https://first.art-er.it/_aster_/viewNews/52507/horizon-europe-pubblicata-la-guida-ufficiale-sul-gender
https://horizoneurope.apre.it/ncp_wide-net-il-punto-sul-gender-equality-plan/ https://www.ncpwidenet.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Gender_Equality_Plans_in_Horizon_Europe_30_03_2021.pdf
https://www.crea.gov.it/documents/20126/0/GEP+del+22+novembre+-+Copia.pdf/94f6ac2b-6f75-e521-e800-1cef4e5c6600?t=1637769519088