Consob report, women on boards reach 43%. But only 2% are at the top

There is good news and bad news. The good news is that women on the boards of Italian companies continue to increase. The bad news however is that still very few manage to break through the so-called glass roof. The numbers come from the Consob Report on the corporate governance of Italian listed companies. At the end of 2022 “the growing gender diversity emerges, with the share of directorships in listed companies held by a woman at 43%, as a result of the application of the gender quota of two-fifths of the body established by law” . In 2011, only 7% of directors were female. But there are still very few at the top: in 2% of cases managing director and in 4% president.

The numbers of the Report: “Women hold more than one office more frequently”

«In line with the trends observed in previous years, at the end of 2022, women hold the role of CEO in 17 small-sized companies (representing 2.1% of the market capitalization) and preside over the administrative body of 32 broadcasters of larger dimensions (representative of 27.4% of the total capitalization)» reads the Report. The data also confirm that women hold more than one administrative position more frequently than men: this situation concerns 28.6% of women, compared to 21% of the entire population of directors.

However, the figure for the so-called female interlocking shows a continuous decline in recent years, after the maximum of 34.9% reached in 2019. In general, directors have an average age of 57 and are rarely foreigners (on average 5. 6% of the board, which rises to 11% for Ftse Mib companies and 26% for companies controlled by financial institutions), almost always graduates and with a managerial profile in two thirds of cases. Family directors (controlling shareholders or connected to them by family ties) represent on average 15.5% of the offices, which reaches 26% in family-controlled companies.