The Effects of So Few Women Board Directors in Italy - Building Gender Balanced Business

• Italy has among the lowest percentages of board seats held by women among the richest countries, a study by two OECD researchers confirms. Sure, it is well ahead of Japan and even leads Spain, but the share of board seats held by women is half that of the leader, the US.

• Board seats are even more crucial in Italy than in most other Western societies given the number of interlocking directorships there: The relatively few directors in Italy sit on more boards than is the case elsewhere. For instance, almost all leading Italian financial companies were connected by a web of interlocking directors nonstop from at least 1998 to 2006.

• As of 2007, 117 of 296 leading Italian companies had no women on their boards, while just under 14% had one woman, 6.6% had two, and 3.2% had three or more.

• Women on boards tend to be younger than their male counterparts, a difference that is growing gradually. Vastly more women under the age of 40 are appointed to boards, relative to the total.

• Family ties, once almost a given for female directorships, are less prevalent now that before, with only 28% of women directors being certifiably part of the founding or controlling family of a company.

• The authors of the study say that it is very unlikely natural change will give rise to more female directors, given the makeup of existing boards and the manner in which board candidates are selected.

• “We therefore think that a bolder approach, namely gender-based affirmative action, is needed,” they write.

An abstract and download link for the study