Gender equality at stake: women’s strategies, symbolic violence and resistance in Italian boards of directors

Abstract

ABSTRACT Italy promulgated the ‘Golfo-Mosca Law’ obliging companies to introduce gender quotas on boards of directors. The goal was to analyse whether or to what extent women bring gender equality to boards’ debates as well as men’s reactions following the introduction of quotas. The authors interviewed 100 women directors and 34 men CEOs/Presidents between June 2020 and February 2021, referring to the concepts of ‘critical mass’, ‘symbolic violence’ and ‘post-feminist sensibility’ in order to interpret the data. The analysis shows that gender quotas are considered necessary for modifying boards’ routines. However, the introduction of the gender equality topic in the debate is difficult, also in a critical mass situation, depending on the experience of women within boards. In relation to this, the authors identify strategies adopted by women (‘avoiding’, ‘neutral’ and ‘empowering’) and forms of resistance they encountered within the boards (‘denial’, ‘second class citizenship’, ‘microaggressions’, ‘backlash and gender fatigue’), showing that the potential transformative role of women as board members is variable and limited. Men appear as the guardians of the gendered symbolic order, considering gender equality as a means to enhance companies’ reputations.