The gender dimension of business elites

Italian women directors since 1934

Bibliographic Data

ID12547813
AuthorsMichela Gamba (Organisation de Coopération et de Développement Economiques, corresponding author), Andrea Goldstein (Organisation de Coopération et de Développement Economiques)
Year2009
Volume14
Issue2
Pages199-225
Publication date2009-05-06
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Modern Italian Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1354-571X • E-ISSN: 1469-9583
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13545710902826469
OpenAlexW2076097964
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited13

Gender is an important, albeit understudied, dimension in the analysis of business elites. In this paper we analyze the importance of women in the board of directors of listed Italian companies since 1934. We show that women are less represented in boards in Italy than in other comparable OECD countries, but also that listed companies are less open to women than other centres of powers, such as the public administration and liberal professions. In addition, in a country where board interlocking is a key device to ensure separation between ownership and control, very few women hold multiple directorships. We then present the results of a prosopographical study on women directors in seven benchmark years: 1962, 1970, 1978, 1986, 1994, 2002, and 2007. We conclude with a discussion of various policy options to enhance gender diversification on the boards of Italian listed companies

Business · Corporate governance · Demographic economics · Dimension (graph theory · Diversification (marketing strategy · Economics · Political science · Shareholder · Corporate Finance and Governance · Family Business Performance and Succession · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Accounting · Finance · Marketing