Women in the boardroom: the Italian experience of law vs. embedded tradition

Abstract

Italy's law 120/2011 established boardroom gender quotas. Since then, an important goal has been reached: listed and state–owned companies must fulfil a compulsory percentage of women in boards of directors and in statutory boards. European standards are even more favourable in that they predict that by 2020, women must constitute at least of 40% of board memberships. This paper illustrates effects and changes of the new law for Italian companies and analyses the cultural debate that has strongly enhanced the Italian scene. Various approaches, both traditional and ground–breaking, are analysed. The paper also describes the presence of women in the boardrooms in other European countries to support a comparative analysis.