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The SPEED-FEM project

The SPEED-FEM, Sharing Practices for Equity and Empowerment in Diversity with a FEMale intersectional approach project is a joint endeavour of the partners Fondazione Sodalitas, Fondazione Soleterre and Fondazione Libellula for Italy, and KEAN and D&I for Greece. It aims to empower women in the workplace, taking the personal characteristics of each woman’s identity into account with an intersectional approach. The project therefore focuses on women who face multiple forms of discrimination in the world of work in Italy and Greece, the two countries that rank at the bottom in Europe when it comes to gender equity in employment. 

SPEED-FEM’s actions are aimed in particular at companies and their people, with a view to fostering the creation of more inclusive workplaces through mutual learning and awareness-raising activities. This is done by collecting stories and best practices already implemented by companies in order to share and promote them, thus prompting more and more companies to adopt non-discriminatory measures. 

The project’s specific objectives are to:  

  • Promote the creation of capacity-building and awareness-raising tools for companies on the issue of inclusion; 
  • Strengthen the Diversity Charters of the countries involved; 
  • Encourage exchange between companies, third-sector organisations, communities and people at risk of discrimination to help create inclusive work environments; 
  • Promote the importance of the socio-economic inclusion of women suffering multiple forms of discrimination. 

To meet these objectives, the project features a well-structured set of activities that will provide managers – both men and women – with the tools and know-how to implement appropriate diversity and inclusion (D&I) management strategies in their companies, as well as giving employees the chance to experience ways of overcoming the intersectional discrimination faced by women in the labour market: 

  • Capacity building for managers and executives through the collection of best practices, as mentioned above, coupled with an interactive tool to generate tips that are tailored to the company’s situation and objectives. 
  • Exchange and networking through local events and international webinars to promote mutual learning between the Italian and Greek Diversity Charter networks. 
  • First-hand experiences for employees, both men and women, such as the opportunity to act as a professional mentor for vulnerable women and to enter a D&I contest by submitting a concrete proposal for the inclusion of vulnerable women in the workplace. 

Why do we focus on “intersectionality”? 

Women are an extremely diverse group of people. As such, discrimination towards women can be compounded by intersecting factors, such as ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation and disability. 

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for women, and if we fail to recognise this, we risk putting up further barriers to true equality. It is therefore important to consider how gender intersects with other grounds of discrimination in order to build effective diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) strategies. 


Fill out the SPEED-FEM questionnaire


Take part in the CERV SURVEY
1. Enter the project code (101144576)
2. Select the activity type (Awareness Raising Activity)
3. Enter the activity title (SPEED-FEM Collection)

The project is funded by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values program (CERV) of the European Union. The European Commission support for the production of this material does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information.