Multi Actor Group from Finland made a Study Visit to Venice, Italy
The Finnish Multi Actor Group (MAG) from South Ostrobothnia Region made a Study Visit to the Province of Venice, Italy between 10 and 13 October. During the intensive two-day Study Visit programme the Italian partners and their gender experts presented and informed the Finnish MAG about several gender equality projects considered as WINNET8 good practises. The opportunity to meet many different actors and learn about different projects combined with the inspiring historical surrounding and atmosphere of the City of Venice made the Study Visit a very motivating and eye-opening experience for the Finns.
The Finnish MAG found it very interesting to learn about the Italian good practises and case studies. According to the process coach of South Ostrobothnian MAG, Ms Terhi Välisalo who works as the Executive Manager of South Ostrobothnian Rural Women’s Advisory Centre, ‘the gender equality projects related to time planning in private companies and urban planning at municipality level were of great interest of the South Ostrobothnian MAG and we sincerely hope to implement something similar in our region and country too’.
In addition to the interesting good practises the gender actors of Venice and Veneto stressed that more awareness rising is still needed in Italy before the attitudes and mentality among women and men (and employees and employers) allow a better status for women in labour market. Many of them admired the situation of women in labour market in the Nordic Countries and wished that Italian women would soon have similar status in labour market as the women in Finland have.
The South Ostrobothnia MAG members agreed with their Italian partners that the situation in Finland is different to Italy, but also reminded that there are still many things that need to be improved in Finland too, before reaching real gender equality on labour market. Therefore, as was also pointed out by many of the Italian guest speakers and experts, it is very important to have EU projects like WINNET8 to be able to exchange experiences, learn from each other and work together towards the common targets within the EU.
The Study Visit to Venice in general fulfilled the expectations of the Finnish MAG. By observing how the Italian partners work towards gender equality in their country the Finnish MAG learned also a lot about the gender equality structures, mentality and obstacles in Finland, too.
The Finnish MAG wants to thank the Italian partners and their experts for organising a very intensive and thorough sight into their situation on gender equality. - Grazie!