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

Authors: Roberta Provasi; Patrizia Riva

Addresses: Department of Economics Science and Law, University of Milan-Bicocca, Via R. Bicocca degli Arcimboldi 8, 20126 Milan, Italy ' Department of Economics and Business Studies, University of Eastern Piedmont, Via Perrone 18, 28100 Novara, Italy

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.

Keywords: law 120/2011 Golfo-Mosca; boardroom gender quotas; women directors; female directors; board of directors; statutory board composition; glass ceiling; inequality; state-owned companies; listed companies; lean in; Italy; board membership; embedded tradition.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEBR.2015.068550

International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 2015 Vol.9 No.3, pp.274 - 291

Received: 19 Feb 2014
Accepted: 04 Jul 2014
Published online: 05 Apr 2015 *

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