(Rome, 11 (June) — A younger, more educated, and increasingly female local administrative class. This is the picture painted by Simona Mulè, Coordinator of the Women Administrators“ Council of ANCI Lazio and Equal Opportunities Counsellor for the Province of Latina, speaking at FORUM PA Pop in the ”Innovation Networks" segment hosted by Sonia Montegiove.
The starting point is the ANCI Dossier “Donne in Comune” (Women in Municipalities). The numbers tell of a transition already underway: those who administer municipalities are now on average younger – 49 years old compared to 52 for their male counterparts – and more often university graduates. Above all, Mulè stressed, in Lazio female administrators now hold portfolios with a strong economic and infrastructural impact, from Public Works to Urban Planning to the Ecological Transition. A change that, he observed, «is a structural necessity for the quality of public action,» even before it is a matter of representation.
The most striking figure, however, concerns the administrative apparatus as a whole. In local authorities, women account for 58% of permanent staff and over 56% of municipal secretaries: a presence which, in effect, underpins their day-to-day operations. «If the backbone of the public administration is already female,» she stated, ‘the role of the Equality Councillor must evolve: no longer merely one of legal protection, but a driver of organisational development.’ Hence the call to address the remaining imbalances, starting with the use of part-time work, which affects women far more than men.
Finally, let's take a look at the new generations. With the “Equality in Action!” competition, which recognised students and institutions like “Alfieri” and “Ambassadors of Equality”, Mulè asserted the centrality of the educational factor: «Equality is built first and foremost through culture and daily behaviours,» and schools remain «the privileged place where this awareness can be developed in the citizens of tomorrow». This is because, he concluded, getting young people used to dialogue with institutions is the condition for having local authorities ready for the challenges of the digital transition.