Planning, Reporting, and Ignoring
Gender Accountability in Italian Central Government
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24229197 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Roberta Zonno (0009-0005-0018-1053, University of Bari Aldo Moro , Piazza Cesare Battisti 1 , Bari 70123) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-07-29 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Politics International Studies in Gender State & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1072-4745 • E-ISSN: 1468-2893 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/sp/jxag043 |
| OpenAlex | W7171614227 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 52 |
This article investigates how Italian central ministries articulate, implement, and monitor gender equality commitments through their planning and performance documents. Drawing on feminist institutional theory and organizational justice literature, the paper analyzes forty-eight documents from all sixteen ministries, using a qualitative approach that combines thematic coding, temporal layering, and coherence assessment. Findings reveal a pattern of symbolic compliance: gender equality is frequently acknowledged rhetorically but rarely supported by structured indicators, accountability mechanisms, or evaluative feedback loops. Ministries often replicate objectives across planning cycles without reflecting on past performance or refining their strategies. Key tools such as gender budgeting are mentioned inconsistently and lack methodological clarity. Equality bodies remain marginal, and staff involvement is minimal. These dynamics suggest that accountability is procedural rather than justice-oriented. The study contributes to the literature by showing how feminist-informed document analysis can expose the performative dimensions of gender mainstreaming in bureaucratic systems.
equality bodies · gender budgeting · Gender equality · gender equality policy · Gender mainstreaming · Ministry · Organizational justice · symbolic compliance · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Gender Politics and Representation · Public Policy and Administration Research
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The Audit Society
Organizational Justice and Human Resource Management
The Social Psychology of Procedural Justice
The Family Gap for Young Women in the United States and Britain
Transparency in Academic Recruitment
Accounting for the Gap
Analysing and Assessing Accountability
The Group Engagement Model
Sex Discrimination in Simulated Employment Contexts
The Tyranny of Transparency
Governing by numbers
Male-female differences
Negative consequence of benevolent sexism on efficacy and performance
The 2030 Agenda
Gender Mainstreaming
Framing Gender Equality in the European Union Political Discourse
Unsettling Universities' Incongruous, Gendered Bureaucratic Structures
Rethinking Recognition
Accountability and complexity of thought
The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory
Accountability and the Perseverance of First Impressions
New Institutionalism Through a Gender Lens
Accountability and judgment processes in a personality prediction task
Gender- and race-based standards of competence
The Effect of Children on Women's Wages
Can Gender Inequalities be Reduced
Understanding the 'Family Gap' in Pay for Women with Children
Rage against the Iron Cage
Bringing Managers Back In
Telling feminist stories
Hierarchies, Jobs, Bodies
Repositioning Documents in Social Research
Gender, Race, and Meritocracy in Organizational Careers
The Opportunity Structure for Discrimination
Men and Women at Work
The Hierarchy of Authority in Organizations
| Highly cited | No |
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