The Italian fashion sector is a two-faced sector: many women at the base of the pyramid – they absorb just under 60% of the workforce and are mostly blue collar workers – and few in top positions, especially in large companies. A pattern that, despite the efforts, is also repeated in other key sectors of the Italian economy, but in the case of fashion companies it stands out in the negative especially in comparison with international competitors.
Italy loses the challenge with Europe and the USA
In Italy, in fact, only two out of ten women sit on the boards of fashion companies. In companies associated with the Italian National Chamber of Fashion, the presence of female directors is equal to 24.2% against 50% recorded in French companies and 38% in US ones. Attendance is also lower than the European average of 33 per cent.
The still unflattering photograph – but improving: in 2021 the percentage of female directors was 23% – was taken by the third edition of PwC Italia’s Women and Fashion Observatory presented in collaboration with Il Foglio della Moda. The survey showed that in 2022 the best performers for female presence on the boards were Tod’s SpA (6 women), Brunello Cucinelli SpA (5 women), Moncler SpA (5 women).
Key women in the workforce (but few managers)
If female figures are scarce in top positions, women represent an important portion of the workforce: in the Textile-Clothing sector around 57.8% (compared to 42.2% of men) of women are workers. The higher you go up in the hierarchy, however, the more the percentage decreases for the benefit of male colleagues: only 37.5% of middle managers are women, while among executives the percentage of women is even lower than that of women on the board ( 22.8% against 77.2% of men).
In SMEs, 6 CEOs out of 10 are women
By shifting the focus from large companies to small businesses – where we recall that governance and ownership are very often in the hands of families – the situation improves: according to what was found by the PwC Research Office in a survey to verify the share and role of women in production sectors of SMEs associated with CNA (National Confederation of Crafts) the share of female CEOs is 60% against 40% in 2022. The propensity to entrust women with important roles in governance is also growing: 39% (vs 19% in 2022) of the companies questioned expect an increase in female executives in the next year.