GENDER REPRESENTATION IN THE BOARDS OF DIRECTORS OF ITALIAN PUBLIC UTILITIES

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Abstract

The claim that gender equality in the composition of corporate governance bodies is a driving factor for the economic growth and competiveness of enterprises has been the subject of discussion in the international scientific literature. The emphasis on the inclination towards social responsibility has effectively encouraged the main international institutions to promote equal opportunities for men and women. The Italian legislator intervened in 2011 by encouraging a pathway for including women within the top management bodies of companies. In this perspective, the legislation becomes not only a tool to ensure gender representation in corporate governance bodies in listed companies and companies under public control, but one to initiate a change which, if left to its own natural rhythms, would risk taking an unacceptable amount of time to implement. After a brief overview of the Italian legislative context applicable to listed companies and companies under public control, the aim of this study was to investigate whether the seventeen listed Italian companies and the seventy unlisted Public Utilities have conformed to the legislation on gender equality in the composition of their Boards of Directors or whether they have undertaken voluntary initiatives entailing the adoption of effectively shared “gender” values.

Keywords: Board of Directors, Gender, Public Utilities, Italy

How to cite this paper: Franzoni, S. (2015). Gender representation in the boards of directors of Italian public utilities. Corporate Ownership & Control, 13(1-11), 1304-1308. https://doi.org/10.22495/cocv13i1c11p3