Fighting against sexism

As sponsor of the fight against everyday sexism at Generali France, I am proud of what we have already done and what we will continue to do.

At Generali France, promoting a respectful working environment for women and men is a key priority. That's why we have joined the #StOpE initiative - Stop Ordinary Sexism in the Workplace - and we are rolling out a vast action plan to make it happen.

 

Everyday sexism: What is at stake?

Everyday sexism is all the attitudes, language and behaviour rooted in gender-related stereotypes directly or indirectly targeting a person or group on account of their gender.

It intentionally or incidentally, consciously or unconsciously, underhandedly or even well-meaningly discredits and belittles people or groups and alters their physical or mental health.
These attitudes aren’t just squandering energy, stifling potential, and spoiling quality of life at work in our organizations: they are also causing suffering among the people who work with us.

 

What is the #StOpE initiative?

The commitment launched in France by Accor Hotels, EY and L'Oréal, now brings together 200 companies that have decided to combat sexism in the workplace.

As part of this initiative, the 200 signatories must undertake to act on one or more of the 8 priorities.

At Generali France we have decided to prioritize 4 of them:

N°1 - Display and apply the zero-tolerance principle

N°2 - Raise awareness of sexist behaviours (acts, words, attitudes) and their impacts

N°3 - Provide targeted training on obligations and best practices related to fighting everyday sexism

N°8 - Measure and introduce indicators to monitor progress and adapt the policy to fight against everyday sexism

 

Our main initiatives

N°1 - Display and apply the zero-tolerance principle:
Jean-Laurent posted a powerful video to forcefully assert this principle

N°2 - Raise awareness of sexist behaviours (acts, words, attitudes) and their impacts:
2 conferences open to all were organized:

• the 1^st one to answer the question: How can we prevent sexism and sexual harassment in the workplace?


• the 2^nd one to present our results of the Barometer on the state of sexism in France along with the 1^st milestones of our action plan.

N°3 - Provide targeted training on obligations and best practices related to fighting everyday sexism:
Last October we launched a mandatory e-learning module completed by 1500 colleagues in one and a half months. At the same time, we continue to roll out our MAP DEI training programme aimed at all our people managers. By the end of the year, almost 500 managers will have been trained.
We will soon set up a dedicated training course for our sexual harassment and sexist abuse referents.

N°8 - Measure and introduce indicators to monitor progress and adapt the policy to fight against everyday sexism:
As we cannot progress without measuring, we took part in the #StOpE barometer involving 15 companies and around 87.000 respondents.
The results showed that 8 out of 10 women report that sexist decisions and attitudes are a regular occurrence at work. At the same time 43% of women and 47% of men state that they pay more attention to sexist comments and behaviour. More than 7 out of 10 colleagues consider that Generali France is actively involved in the fight against ordinary sexism.

Finally, to the question: "In your opinion, what are the priority actions to be taken to combat sexism in your company?” the 3 most popular actions are the following:

• A strong message from the top management condemning sexist remarks and behaviours


• Training employees on stereotypes and the manifestations of sexism


• Training managers on stereotypes and the manifestations of sexism

We are encouraged by our colleagues' answers, which validate our initiatives.