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In 6 out of 10 companies in Italy, only 10% of board members are women.
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Female entrepreneurs are more sustainability-conscious, outperforming their male colleagues by 8%.
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Women-run businesses are small, lower risk and consist predominantly of sole traders and partnerships. The main sectors are related to personal care.
According to a study carried out by CRIBIS on all Italian enterprises, there are about 1 million companies with a majority of women on the board, still far too few compared to the almost 5 million active companies in the country. The numbers are clear: in 6 out of 10 companies, only 10% of board members are women. This is confirmed by the Global Gender Gap 2022 report– which measures the gender gap in 146 countries in terms of economic and political participation, health and education level – where Italy maintained its 2021 ranking (63rd out of 146), significantly lagging behind other countries in continental Europe (Spain, France, and Germany for example).
WOMEN-RUN BUSINESSES ARE SMALL, MORE RECENTLY ESTABLISHED, LOWER RISK AND MORE SUSTAINABLE
The study provides us with an in-depth profile of the characteristics of women-run businesses (i.e., those companies with more than 51% women on the board). More specifically, the sectors where women are more commonly leaders continue to be those related to personal care (hairdressers, beauticians) and catering (bars and restaurants). However, those sectors contributing the most to the country’s GDP, namely high productivity sectors, still see a minority presence of women in decision-making roles.
Some figures that go against the national trend suggest that women-run businesses have some special characteristics. First of all, women-run businesses are often recently established: more than 54% of the total are less than 15 years old (compared with 48% of all Italian companies). This gives us hope for the future development of female entrepreneurship and a changing cultural fabric as regards entry barriers.
Moreover, women-run businesses teach us, more than others, that it is possible to be mindful of commercial and financial soundness. Indeed, the distribution of commercial risk indicates that these companies have lower risk than the average Italian business: more than half (52%) have a minimal or lower-than-average risk of bankruptcy. This is an interesting figure that is 4 percentage points greater than that for all Italian companies (48% with minimal or lower-than-average risk).
An important new fact emerging from this survey is the focus on sustainability, an aspect where women-run businesses perform better than those run by men. This is what has emerged from an analysis of a representative sample of Italian companies using the exclusive CRIF ESG Score. The study shows that highly sustainable female-led businesses – with scores of 1 and 2 on a scale of 1 to 5 – outperform male-run businesses by as much as 8%. In particular, women-run companies show better performance in relation to the environmental component (E): in fact, 44% of female-led businesses fall into score classes 1 and 2, compared with 41% of male-led businesses.
