Gucci announces new gender equality commitments

Luxury fashion house Gucci will be introducing a gender budget to its operations in Italy, as part of its ongoing commitment to fight gender inequalities.

In a presentation at the Festival l’Eredità delle Donne, dedicated to the ‘Next Generation of Women’, Gucci’s EVP general counsel, corporate affairs and sustainability, Antonella Centra, brought forward the pledge during the conference’s ‘Money’ panel.

“The pandemic has accentuated pre-existing inequality problems. This is why we believe it is important to all work together towards a common direction,” explained Centra during the panel discussion.

She continued: “With the full support of our CEO and president, Marco Bizzarri, we have decided to undertake an in-depth analysis of our corporate population in Italy by drawing up our first gender balance sheet.

“As done for the fight against climate change, we believe it is essential to act but we must be aware of the situation in which we find ourselves in order to generate real change.”

Supported by Italy’s Minister for Equal Opportunities, the introduction of a gender budget sees companies prepare and analyse budgets from a gender perspective. It will incorporate women into the budgetary process and reveal the different impacts of revenue decisions on each gender.

The Florence-based event, now in its fourth year of partnership with Gucci, hopes to encourage the entry of women into the political agenda. Over the weekend, guests were treated to talks, presentations and panels addressing gender inequality from an array of perspectives and subject matters.