From the Festival stage The legacy of womenwhich Gucci has been supporting for five years as a founding partner, Antonella CentraAntonella Centra, executive vice president general counsel, corporate affairs & sustainability at Gucci, talked about the Maison’s commitment in the area in support of emancipation and women victims of violence.
In the body of violence
Panel guest In the body of violencewhich saw the participation of personalities such as Alessandra Kustermann, Chiara Lalli, Edoardo Albinati, Elena Baragli, Giulia Minoli e Lella Palladino with the moderation of the journalist Tiziana FerrarioCentra recounted the path taken by Gucci to promote initiatives aimed at making a concrete contribution to the independence and empowerment of women.
In particular, the Festival was an opportunity, as stated by Centra, to “bring our testimony to a panel dedicated to issues of gender-based violence”.
Through the collaboration with some of the main Italian associations, including theArtemisia association, Gucci carries out programs that focus on welcoming women who have suffered violence but, above all, Centra points out, “our greatest commitment is to support them in resuming a path of autonomy. In fact, every action that we undertake to support follows a very specific direction: to restore dignity and autonomy to women victims of violence through training courses and work placements where companies act as a connector “.
Inclusion for Gucci in fact, it means creating and guaranteeing a sense of belonging, both inside and outside the company, towards the wider community.
Internally, the Maison is committed to ensuring full gender representation and wage equity at all levels, including through constant monitoring both globally and in Italy, where Gucci was among the first companies to adopt the Gender Report – an innovative tool that allows for the identification and implementation of actions aimed at promoting an inclusive and supporting the change in favor of gender equality in the company.
On the outside, the path promoted by Gucci is realized through collaborations such as the one, now multi-year, with the Festival dell ‘Legacy of Womenwhich follows some new projects launched by the Maison through CHIME FOR CHANGEGucci’s global campaign that unites people around the world in the fight against equality and gender expression.
Retracing the collaborations, Centra deepened Gucci’s commitment in Florence, where he remembers that “through CHIME FOR CHANGE, we have launched several projects – in addition to BEAWARE NOW – we are alongside the Artemisia association, which is the city reference point for support for victims of gender-based violence. With the project Support Freedom we support the activation of paths and personalized measures to support women “.
The panel on Sunday 23 October
The panel was also an opportunity to present the pilot project launched by the Maison in collaboration with the Associazione Pelle Recuperata Italiana, ASPRI and which involves the Artemisia association of Florence. The project, as he recalled Antonella Centra was born from the goal of “creating new synergies between our social commitment and our circular economy initiative Gucci-Upour initiative dedicated to recovery and creative reuse of waste materials to contribute to the protection of natural resources “.
The Gucci-Up initiative
It is about an initiative that will take place in Florence, in Scandicci, and which will offer some women victims of violence, selected by the Artemisia association, a professional training course in the field of leather goods. “The support we give is in the raw material – which we give them from our production and which becomes a new resource thanks to their contribution – but also in the support for professional training courses”, concludes Centra. A path in which women will be able to reintegrate into the socio-working contextactively participating in a circularity project which, after an initial training period in the laboratory, will continue with internship opportunities.