Chapter Holds Event to Discuss Women's Roles in STEM

The October event represented an opportunity to analyze the initiatives for increasing women's roles in STEM and to support this cultural change, as well as to introduce the chapter's Women in AFCEA subcommittee. Gen. B. L. Carpineto, chief, Italian Army Transmission Command, welcomed all participants, underlining the growing presence of women in the armed forces. The opening remarks were given by Lt. Gen. Antonio Tangorra, ITAF (Ret.), chapter president, and he illustrated how AFCEA is paying more attention to the themes in which education plays a crucial role. Fiorella Lamberti, coordinator, communications team, IEEE Women in Engineering Affinity Group, introduced the chapter's Women in AFCEA, describing the group's main objectives and the activities in coordination with AFCEA International. Tina Jordan, vice president, AFCEA International, sent a video message with her greetings. Monica Parrella, coordinator, Office for Equality and Equal Opportunity Action at the Italian Prime Minister's Office, Department of Equal Opportunities, provided a video speech which emphasized that attention should be given to education, since many girls leave STEM studies around the age of fifteen. Maria Elena Pontecorvo, ISTAT, in her speech, Female Work: Gaps and New Opportunities, illustrated some recent statistics about the female workforce in Italy [48.9%] as opposed to the European average (62.4%)The Role of Women in the Armed Forces: An Important Conquest on Gender Stereotypes by Lt. Col. Rosa Vinciguerra, SMD, dealt with the entrance of women in the defense sector, a role previously considered reserved for men up until 20 years ago. Raffaella Luglini, chief stakeholder officer, Leonardo S.p.a., presented Leonardo's Commitment for Changing, which illustrated the new initiatives the company is deploying for attracting and retaining more talented female STEM professionals. To follow, ICT roles in Public Administration by Maria Daniela Intravaia, AGID, highlighted the functions and roles necessary to pursue the maximum level of digital technologies utilization. Sandra Mori, president, Valore D, presented The Value of Diversity, underscoring how female professionals and their skills are wasted. With her speech on the Value of Skills, Giuseppina de Cicco, Federmanager, presented the Federmanager Association, and in particular the Minerva Initiative, an award given to women playing a key role in the business community. Dajana Cassioli, chair, IEEE Women in Engineering, began with, "I change the world. I am an engineer. The WIE AG IEEE Italy Section." She introduced IEEE, the largest STEM association worldwide, from which the Italian Affinity Group of the IEEE Women in Engineering derives, founded in 2017. Anna Maria Nassisi, Women in Aerospace, gave the last speech, Women in Aerospace Europe To Support Women's Presence in STEM and in Leadership Positions. Her main objective is to increase the visibility of women in Aerospace.

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