Gender Equality for the Santa Lucia Cooperative in Mantua

The Santa Lucia Social Cooperative of Mantua has obtained the UNI/PdR 125:2022 certification for Gender Equality from CSQA.

The Santa Lucia Cooperative is a social enterprise of more than 350 people that collaborates with companies creating the perfect fit between the work to be done and the most suitable people to do it.
From cleaning and sanitization services to catering, from land maintenance to logistics, from custody to administrative management , it specifically takes care of the professional training of work teams , with regard to those who manifest difficulties of any nature: psychological, physical or deriving from life experiences.

Gender Equality certification is voluntary and is obtained upon request by the company and after updating its gender equality management system in accordance with the requirements of the legislation. This is a three-year certification, subject to annual monitoring.

According to the Accredia database, the sole accreditation body for the Italian government, in the province of Mantua there are 7 entities, including Santa Lucia, including social cooperatives and consortia, that have currently been certified.

The main tool was the writing of the Gender Equality Policy , a guide that defines Saint Lucia's responsibility towards these issues, such as the valorization of diversity and female empowerment, that is, the achievement of self-awareness and of one's own choices, both on a personal and social level.

As stated in the Policy, Santa Lucia promotes "the inclusive growth of diversity related to the anagraphic dimension, culture, physical abilities, sexual orientation, and the multicultural dimension".

Among the commitments that Saint Lucia has undertaken, which also correspond to the objectives of the European Community for the five-year period 2020/2025 on gender equality, as well as the sustainable development objectives of the United Nations (SDG 5 and SDG 8), we mention just a few such as:

• ensure compliance with the constitutional principle of equality and parity, in daily activities and in the performance of all company processes;
• adopt behaviors and language that can guarantee a working environment in which all differences coexist, in particular gender diversity, collaborative, supportive, transparent and open to listening to all staff;
• enhance the experience of parenthood, protecting the relationship with the cooperative before, during and after maternity/paternity;

The principles relating to gender equality that guide Santa Lucia apply in particular to personnel selection and hiring policies ("we intercept and hire people with different backgrounds and skills, pursuing gender equality and valuing merit"), career management and remuneration policies, corporate welfare and the prevention of all forms of physical, verbal and digital abuse in the workplace.

A path that seemed natural in the cooperative, as stated by the President, Arianna Spazzini : "These principles have always been part of the values of Santa Lucia: the sense of community, because only if there is equality can we define ourselves in this way; sustainable growth because there is true progress only when it is not to the advantage of some and to the detriment of others; the responsibility to track down every possible form of violence, which lies for example in prejudice, and the courage to say no; and finally the welcome that means overcoming any form of discrimination, gender discrimination of course, but also all the others that we face every day.

Furthermore, we at Santa Lucia believe that an open and respectful environment encourages people to give their best and to collaborate with colleagues in harmony, a condition that fosters everyone's well-being and naturally leads to an increase in productivity.

Finally, what we hope is that having chosen this path will allow us to meet more and more realities that share our principles, with which to open new projects with amazing opportunities".