Gender equality as a factor in the competitiveness of industry is the objective of the Debuting project, co-financed by Interreg Europe, which in the first half of its implementation is carrying out study visits to the project partner regions to share good practices.
On this occasion, the region of Lapland has been the host of this visit, a region with a low population index that has a large forest mass and that, in addition to wood, bases its economy on metal industry and mining. This is a sector in which women do not predominate. In its new strategy, the region is firmly committed to the circular economy.
Gender inequality is compounded by the region’s difficulty in attracting talent in general. Therefore, the region has several programmes to help companies to be more attractive and attract job seekers, programmes to support entrepreneurship, and the attraction of women to the mining sector.
On the other hand, during the visit, the partners had the opportunity to discuss and define the next steps of the project, which includes a measurement of the labour climate in terms of equality in order to know the reality of the companies in each region.
A series of workshops have also been defined around 6 axes that will be held for all the regions and their stakeholders. The first of these, on 30 August, will focus on attracting talent.
The ultimate goal of Debuting is to develop or improve public instruments to promote gender equality in the industry.
