50 female students from Bocconi attended the “Female Networking Breakfast” in Milan: Anna Tavano talks about her working experience

“Always be yourself and never give up on your dreams, be brave even in the hardest times of your working life“: this is the advice shared by Anna Tavano, Head of Global Banking for HSBC in Italy. Together with some colleagues based in London, she set up the Milan date for the “Female Networking Breakfast”, which took place at HSBC headquarters in Milan. The meeting saw the participation of fifty most promising female students from Bocconi University, who had the chance to meet professionals in the financial sector and to listen and draw inspiration from speeches about their professional achievements.
Anna Tavano recalled her professional history, from graduation to the first job in London, from the institutional tasks to her current position in HSBC: “The bank deeply cares about inclusion and gender equality and it has developed a program aimed at reaching a rate of 30% of women in managing positions within 2020“. As she explained, this change in favour of female employment is based on three focal points: “The adoption of inclusion and equality criteria starting from the selection of personnel, internal promotion and organization of events about these topics, and a strong commitment by the managing directors of the bank in this sense“.
A general outlook still highlights a clear unbalance: although in terms of employment the situation seems to be in favour of women (52% vs. 48%), in reality only 28% of managing positions are held by women. To overcome this trend and act in consideration of gender equity, meetings like the “Female Networking Breakfast” gain even more importance to sensitize the financial sector and providing further instruments to new promises.