In terms of gender equality, Italy is still far from the international average: in fact, only two out of ten women sit on the boards of directors of fashion companies. A figure far from that of France, where the female share on the boards of the sector is equal to half, of Germany (29%) and of the USA (38 percent). At the European level, the average stands at 33 per cent.
This evidence emerged from the photograph taken of the event “Women and Fashion: the 2023 barometer“, promoted by PwC Italy in collaboration with The Fashion Sheetnewspaper insert The paper. The aim of the study was to investigate the presence of women throughout the Italian fashion chain, analyzing the type of tasks held by women in companies and their representation in top management roles, thanks to the study of data from the main sector associations: National Chamber of Italian Fashion (Cnmi) with 240 associated brands, Confindustria Fashionand in particular of Italian fashion system (Smi) e di Unic-Italian Tanneries with 61,400 member companies e Cna Federmoda with 22 thousand.
Specifically, the textile-clothing sector represents a significant example of the marginality of the female presence in the “button rooms” of the players in the sector: if the analysis is focused on the female segment alone (women out of all women), it can be seen that almost seven women out of ten (69.2%) are blue-collar workers, compared to 26.9% white-collar workers, 0.9% middle managers and 0.3% managers.
Looking at the international scene, in 2022 in the fashion sector three out of ten women entered the corporate bodies of the sector (31.4%), with an increase of 28.7% compared to 2021. Furthermore, in 17.4% of cases women replaced outgoing men against 10.1% of men replacing women. In 2022, according to the analysis conducted by the PwC Research Office on the sample of 109 companies associated with the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, in Italy women represent 28.2% of the members of the fashion corporate bodies (BoD, CS, Prosecutors) up 9.8% on 2021. In 2022 the best performers for female presence on boards were Tod’swith six women, Brunello Cucinelli e Moncler tied with five. Among the “virtuous cases”, honorable mention also a Furla e Missoni.
Despite the slight improvement, the number of positions held by women on boards remains decidedly lower than that of men in absolute terms (156 against 489). In 2022, female employment at all qualification levels in the textile industry reached 48.6% (49% in 2020) and in clothing 66.7% (66.7% in 2020). At qualification level, in the Textile and clothing sector, l’the highest female incidence is recorded in white-collar positions, where women represent 67.3% of the total white-collar workers and to follow in production roles: 57.8% of blue-collar workers are women as are 58.5% of apprentices. The higher you go up in the hierarchy, however, the more the percentage decreases: ‘management’ women represent 37.5% against 62.6% of men, and further decrease in management roles (22.8% women, against 77.2% of men).
In terms of age group, looking only at female textile-clothing workers (women out of all women), 9.7% are at most 29 years old, in the 30-39 range the percentage rises to 18.2%, 31 .7% among 40-49 year olds, 34% among 50-59 year olds. In the case of over-60s, the percentage is 6.4 per cent. In the tanning sector, women represent 20% of the workers, for an absolute value of 3,566 employees of which approximately 85% are employed on a fixed-term contract. Only 9.3% of female workers hold an executive or managerial role in the sector, 8.7% operational roles and the remainder is divided between administrative roles and research and development.
The situation in SMEs is encouraging, often family-run in Italy: according to what was found by the PwC Studies Office in a survey to verify the share and role of women in the production sectors of small and medium-sized enterprises associated with Cna, the share of female CEOs it is equal to 60% against 40% in 2022. The propensity to entrust women with important roles in governance is also growing: 39% (against 19% in 2022) of the companies questioned expect an increase in female executives in the next year.
“We are now in the third year of research for the Women and Fashion Observatory and, as an international network that supports companies and has the aim of creating trust in society to solve important problems, we believe the time has come to get down to field with a concrete project – he commented Erika Andreetta, Emea Luxury Community Leader PwC Italia, on the sidelines of the study -. We will call together the trade associations and the main companies in the sector to build an Academy that attracts the female population interested in holding positions of responsibility in the sector and, through our professionals, we will organize moments of targeted higher education”.