By Anna Carmassi – “STEAMiamoci” Project Leader, Assolombarda 

Assolombarda proposes to act as an aggregator and synthesis for dedicated initiatives, with the determination to bring together all those who play a leading role in the public, entrepreneurial, institutional, and political sphere. Assolombarda intends to become an accelerating factor of effective cultural change in Italy.

Our Project

The Assolombarda “STEAMiamoci” project – as read in Italian – recalls the concept of self-confidence and self-esteem.

It is based on the awareness that gender diversity is crucial to social growth and a cornerstone of corporate productivity, competitiveness, and innovation.

Far more, strategies concerning diversity are crucial to company development and its capacity to retain the best human resources in a global competitive world.

Our Goals

We aim to

• Encourage the presence of girls in the STEAM areas
• Counter the gender code and break down the walls of prejudice
• Support families and schools to stimulate and foster awareness and autonomous choices in girls
• Promote a culture of mutual respect, involving the male part of our society
• Institute a permanent observatory that, starting from the status quo, aims to both define actions and monitor progress

 The Scenario

• The tech industry has always been male-dominated. In the world, the percentage of females covering STEM roles is about 24%, while this percentage drops to 19% when managers are considered (Linkedin survey).
• In Italy, in the ICT field, women employed are 15% of the total, and the number drops to 13% when technical direction, R&D, and production roles are
• The number of those with a degree in STEMs is not enough to cover the growing demand for specialized And Italy – which is still at 1,3% – is the European country with the lowest percentage of degrees in STEM disciplines. In Europe, women rank far worse : only 1,1% have a degree in STEM subjects.
• It is actually in the STEM areas that seven million new jobs will be searched by 2025, according to There are numerous emerging jobs and professions: from data protection to cyber security, from big data to the Internet of things.
• Girls mainly attend university courses in humanistic But how much are these choices really motivated by a natural, individual drive and how much is a gender code, instead?

To pursue its goals, Assolombarda has:

• instituted an Advisory Board and a permanent Team to define and coordinate the actions needed to pursue the project The members are women acting as entrepreneurs, professionals, and public institution representatives
• started the collection of information and data available by the Research and Analysis Department of Assolombarda, in collaboration with public and private institutions
• promoted research aimed at providing an accurate description of the present-day scenario and providing useful elements to guide organisations in their choices
• organized targeted study-steering days, following the example of “Assolombarda Orienta Giovani”.

The next steps 

• An event will be held in autumn to present the outcomes of researches and surveys
• An official portal will be created in the Assolombarda’s website, to deliver data, information, and news regarding projects and A special section will be dedicated to companies’ best practices, where companies will share their actions and initiatives taken. The site will also host short videos of women – whether entrepreneurs or managers – telling their successful stories.