Next generation women leaders: an empirical analysis of gender inequalities in the labour market, entrepreneurial intentions and the role of financial literacy

Is gender equality a challenge that the next generation of women leaders will still have to face? The paper offers a current international, European and Italian overview on gender differences in the labour market and entrepreneurship, focusing on the importance of financial literacy for the empowerment of women and the development of new female businesses. The work was carried out in two stages: a review of the available academic literature and the collection of data from official databases such as the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and reports by Bloomberg, European Women On Boards, World Economic Forum, Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum, and an empirical analysis aimed at collecting further data. The literature review offers a current overview of gender discrimination phenomena in the female labour market, analysing female unemployment rates, the glass ceiling phenomenon and the gender pay gap. Subsequently, focusing on female entrepreneurship, a quantitative analysis at European and Italian level illustrates the start-up rates of new enterprises, sectors of activity, size, access to finance and survival and growth rates, but also issues such as innovation and social/environmental impact. Finally, the role of financial literacy for women and businesses and the link between entrepreneurship and financial knowledge are explored. The empirical analysis consists of the administration of two surveys via Google Forms to a sample of 250 people. The first survey collects women's perceptions and experiences of the labour market, opinions regarding leadership roles, challenges women face in the workplace, obstacles to professional advancement and possible solutions to promote gender equality. The sample consists of educated girls, who tend to be eager to pursue a professional career in leadership positions and have participated in McKinsey & Company's Next Generations Women Leaders EMEA programme. The objective is to identify areas of improvement for corporate and government policies related to gender equality and the labour market. The second survey addresses the issue of entrepreneurial interest. The sample consists of Italian young students preparing to start their professional career. Its objective is to draw a complete picture of the motivations and challenges young people face in this choice, in order to assess possible gender differences. Particular attention is paid to the level of financial literacy, assessed through three financial literacy questions by Lusardi and Mitchell. Once the data had been collected, multivariate component analysis was performed, using the R programming language. In particular, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) and Correspondence Analysis (CA) were carried out to identify any correlations between the variables considered. This two-pronged approach aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the factors influencing women's participation in the labour market and entrepreneurship, thus helping to identify effective strategies to promote gender equality and women's empowerment.