• The municipality of Novo Mesto (Slovenia) hosted the fourth working meeting.
• The WomenEquity project seeks to actively involve individuals and entities to promote gender equality and provide practical tools to improve the situation of women in the workplace.
• With a budget of 137,435 euros, the project is led by Benaguasil Town Council together with a consortium of six other entities from Italy, Portugal, Greece, Romania, Slovenia and Belgium.
On 7 and 8 February, the Slovenian municipality of Novo Mesto was the venue for the fourth meeting of the European project WomenEquity, focused on improving women’s access to the labour market from a European perspective. This meeting brought together local actors from different European countries that are members of the project consortium, with the aim of exchanging European values and cultural traditions, as well as strengthening the ties between the territories of the European Union.
Under the title “Women Equity Project: Gender Mainstreaming in the European Union”, the day was opened by Klavdija Kotar, a poetry writer who is part of the Forgotten half project, a project focused on remembering women who worked in the late 19th and early 20th century in the municipality of Novo Mesto. Kotar stressed the importance of raising awareness of the difficulties women face in accessing the labour market.
Jana Bolta, Director of Municipal Administration of Novo Mesto, shared Slovenia’s successful practices in gender equality, highlighting the significant percentage of female employment in the municipality’s public institutions. Bolta shared her personal experience as a lawyer and director, emphasising that she has never felt gender discrimination and has always maintained her self-confidence.
The Slovenian representative in the European Parliament, Irena Jovena, highlighted the Parliament’s efforts to improve gender equality, including pay transparency measures and policies to achieve gender equality.
During the day, good practices were presented by the Association for the Development of Volunteering Novo Mesto (DRPD Novo Mesto), where Maja Zunic Fabian, an expert in social protection, culture and youth, highlighted the majority participation of women in various sectors.
The event included the presentation of the Women Equity project consortium members and highlighted the key involvement of the Finnova Foundation, whose European dimension is essential for the success of the project.
The day concluded with an open debate on the current role of women, highlighting the importance of open-mindedness and the need for progressive time to generate significant change.
Promoting gender equality
Developed in collaboration with seven European organisations from Belgium, Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia, the WomenEquity project aims to actively engage individuals and organisations to promote gender equality and provide practical tools to improve the situation of women in the workplace.
This meeting in Slovenia, which marks the fourth meeting after the ones held in Benaguasil, Lourinha and Guardistallo, is part of the seven events scheduled throughout the 18-month duration of the project. The main objective is to produce audiovisual materials that reflect the reality of women in the workplace and a guide of good practices, compiling local initiatives that can serve as a communication tool for citizens and as an inspiration for other municipalities.
Final event in Brussels
Finnova, a key partner in this project, has once again played a key role in providing its essential European dimension. The Foundation is now preparing the final event in Brussels of this public-private partnership project that aims to raise awareness, reduce barriers and find solutions.
About the Finnova Foundation
Finnova is the Spanish-Belgian non-profit foundation based in Brussels and Spain, working for the promotion and development of innovation and entrepreneurship in the EU. Finnova’s experience in leading communication and dissemination activities of European projects is combined with a proven track record in business creation and entrepreneurship support programmes, such as accelerators, incubators and events, as well as its commitment to training and employability of young people.
About WomenEquity
With a budget of 137,435 euros, the project is led by Benaguasil Town Council together with a consortium of six other entities from Italy, Portugal, Greece, Romania, Slovenia and Belgium.
WOMENEQUITY is part of the Networks of Cities call of the Citizenship, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV), and seeks to address women’s access to the labour market from a European perspective, thanks to the collaboration between municipalities such as Benaguasil, Botosani, Lourinha, Guardistallo and Novo Mesto in collaboration with private entities such as Finnova or Fifty-Fifty. Through this public-private partnership, the aim is to raise awareness and seek solutions to reduce these barriers and improve their conditions. The project also aims to raise awareness and involve all citizens in this reality, as well as public and private entities, offering work tools based on equality to achieve greater inclusion of women in the labour market.
