Compared to the past the number of women in power has increased. This is good news despite the fact that the quantitative increase is not accompanied by as many improvements from a qualitative point of view. What does it mean? That the hotter the seats are, the more important they are, the fewer women find themselves occupying them.
To testify it is the “Find the intruder” dossier created by the Openpolis civic observatory who analyzed the female presence within the institutions trying to outline a complete picture.
On the basis of the analysis carried out, it turns out that, in percentage terms, women holding seats in the Italian and European Parliaments account for 30% of the total. A percentage that is increasing in the governing bodies of local administrations.
Furthermore, in 2016, for the first time in history, women also conquered an important space in the world of economics and finance, where they reached 30% of positions on the boards of directors of companies listed on the Italian stock exchange.
From a numerical point of view, therefore, there is an improvement and it seems to be rather constant. However, the problem comes when we analyze the type of position held by women. It is at this point in fact that, based on the Openpolis study, we observe what analysts have called a double track: "on the one hand, women are increasing, on the other the higher you look, the more the tasks conferred on women tend to become rare.”
And it is an all-round phenomenon that concerns politics, institutions and finance. Any examples? Female MEPs represent 37% of the assembly to be precise, but if one looks at the other institutions of the Union, those that take the fundamental decisions on the political and economic lines of the old continent, the percentage collapses: in the European council, women are only 4 out of 28: 14,29%, in Ecofin, the Economy and Finance Council, where women are 3 out of 28 (10,71%) while the lowest point is reached in the Council of Foreign Affairs where it even falls to 1 woman out of 28 members: 3,57% of the total.
(Source: Openpolis)
But the problem does not only concern the European institutions and their bodies, but also finance and above all listed companies where women have come to occupy 687 seats on boards of directors and supervisory bodies from 170 in 2008. In percentage terms, we are increased from 5,9 to 30,3% of the total. "Only a few years ago the situation was bleak - notes the observatory - but the improvement is due to the obligation introduced by law 120/2011 to progressively increase the number of female appointments in the administrative and control bodies of listed companies". Women are slowly starting to carve out fundamental spaces for themselves in a closed world like that of finance. Nevertheless the summit still seems to be precluded: there are 17 managing directors, just 2,5% of female figures, while women presidents or honorary presidents reach 3%.
“ In fact, non-executive roles, i.e. those of control over management, are growing – Openpolis points out –. In 68,56% of cases they are independent directors: figures not linked to executive managers or shareholders, called to supervise in the sole interest of the company".
(Source: Openpolis)
