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Key Highlights from GEM’s Gender Equality Plan (2024 data)

GEM’s Gender Equality Plan reflects ongoing efforts to promote fairness, inclusivity, and equal opportunities across the organisation. The highlights below present key achievements and areas of focus in 2024, including gender pay equity, workforce balance, leadership opportunities, and support for work-life balance.

Gender Pay Gap:

GEM is committed to ensuring equal pay for equal work. Regular reviews of staff salaries help identify and address gender-based discrepancies. Recent efforts have significantly reduced the gender pay gap, particularly among scientific staff, reflecting GEM’s dedication to fairness and equity in compensation.

• 0% gender pay gap among scientific staff.

• Overall gender pay gap reduced from 53% to just 2% in 2024, following the appointment of a female Secretary General.

Workforce Gender Balance:

GEM recognises the importance of gender balance across all levels of the organisation. While there is near parity among scientific staff, challenges remain in achieving gender balance in leadership and technical roles. GEM continues to work towards greater diversity, including in senior and decision-making positions.

• Near gender parity among scientific staff (non-management roles).

• Management team remains predominantly male, but leadership progress includes appointment of GEM’s first female Secretary General in August 2023.

• GEM’s IT team remains all male, reflecting broader trends in the tech sector (only 16.1% of ICT workforce in Italy is female).

Career and Organizational Structure:

GEM is actively working to align job roles, responsibilities, and salary grades, ensuring a transparent and fair organisational structure. Regular evaluations aim to improve career development pathways and promote gender equality in leadership opportunities and professional growth across all areas of the organisation.

• Efforts ongoing to better align salary grades with actual roles and responsibilities.

• Commitment to gender balance in leadership and decision-making processes.

Work-Life Balance Measures:

Supporting a healthy work-life balance is a priority at GEM. Flexible working arrangements, such as smart-working agreements and parental leave, are available to all staff. Regular performance reviews help monitor workloads and ensure staff well-being, contributing to a supportive and inclusive work environment.

• Smart-working agreements in place for all staff, regardless of gender, age, or position, valid until the end of 2025.

• Parental and family leave offered to both men and women, though little used so far.

• Performance reviews twice a year to ensure workload balance and support staff well-being.

Project Management and Research:

GEM promotes equal opportunities in project leadership and research roles. Efforts to achieve gender balance in managing projects and research activities have resulted in both male and female staff leading initiatives, demonstrating GEM’s commitment to fairness and inclusivity in scientific work.

• Gender balance achieved in project leadership, with both male and female staff leading projects of roughly equal value over time.

Commitments and Actions

GEM’s Gender Equality Plan outlines clear actions to promote diversity and inclusion. These include regular monitoring of gender indicators, improving recruitment processes, offering gender equality training, and establishing safe reporting mechanisms for misconduct. GEM remains committed to continuous improvement and accountability in advancing gender equality.

• Continuous monitoring of gender equality indicators.

• Regular sharing of GEP with Governing Board for feedback and accountability.

• Review and improvement of hiring procedures to ensure gender parity and fairness.

• Establishment of a mechanism for anonymous reporting of gender-related misconduct or harassment.

• Promotion of gender equality training and awareness within GEM.