Unfathomable patriarchy still dominates large sections of public life in the country
Italy’s first female prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, is proof that a talented, fiercely determined woman can rise to the top in a society known for its traditional machismo.
But the recent battle for a new board for Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, the state-owned lender and strategic investor, also demonstrates how the occasional unconscious patriarchy still dominates much of Italian public life.
Preparing to appoint a new board for the powerful financial institution, whose tentacles stretch across the Italian economy, Meloni’s government has presented a list of candidates made up almost entirely of men – despite the CdP’s internal requirement that 40 percent of the board women.
But the government had a solution to this: it wanted CdP’s shareholders – namely the finance ministry, which owns 82.7 percent of CdP’s equity – to amend its statutes to reduce the quota for women.
This did not sit well with other stakeholders – Italy’s powerful banking institutions – and several shareholder meetings ended in deadlock.
Once leaked to the media, the impasse sparked an outcry from opposition politicians and professional women’s networks, furious at what they see as an attempt to turn back the clock on women’s progress.
“A female prime minister is not enough if power remains in the hands of men,” senator Raffaella Paita of the small, centrist Italia Viva party wrote in a post on X, bemoaning the government’s “medieval choices.”
In an open letter, 80 Italian women with board experience called the government’s plan “a negative message about equal opportunities and the protection of the underrepresented sex.”
The signatories added that “the reason behind the reduction of gender quotas is not and cannot be a lack of potential female candidates”.
In fact, Italy has made significant strides in diversifying the boards of its largest companies, spurred by a 2011 law that required listed companies and state-owned enterprises to gradually increase female representation on boards.
The so-called “pink quota”, as it is known in Italy, was initially set at 20 percent and then at 33 percent. In 2020, the law was amended to extend what were initially considered temporary quotas for another nine years, while increasing the quota to 40%.
According to headhunter Egon Zehnder’s latest biannual global diversity tracker, Italy is now one of only four countries in the world – along with Norway, France and New Zealand – where women make up more than 40 percent hundred of the board members of the country’s largest companies. That’s up from a paltry 7 percent when the law was passed.
However, in areas where women’s inclusion is not legally mandated, Italian public life remains deeply male-dominated. Female CEOs—or even CFOs—in large Italian companies are few and far between. None of Italy’s most influential newspapers has ever had a female editor-in-chief.
Prestigious awards are still presented by all-male committees or by committees with one or two representative women. All-male panels are still common at conferences, though often moderated by beautiful female TV personalities.
In this environment, the effort to reduce the presence of women on the CdP board – through which the government wields influence over Italy’s biggest companies – sparked fears that Meloni’s government was returning to Italy’s traditional patriarchal ways.
“We have made progress, but this can never be taken for granted – there is always the risk of going backwards,” said Paola Profeta, dean for diversity, inclusion and sustainability at Milan’s Bocconi University.
“We had the idea that you put quotas, people get used to us and no one will try to go back to the previous balance,” Profeta added. “But that’s not the case.”
Eventually, a compromise was found. The CdP board was expanded from nine to 11 members, which allowed the right-wing coalition to give its favored male candidates seats on the board while respecting the 40 percent of women.
But the episode left a bitter residue – proof to many that quotas are still needed for c
