Women and work: equality pays off for companies, but the goal is still far off
More and more global stock exchanges (114) are demanding transparency on gender data, making diversity an almost mandatory market standard. But despite progress, women still earn 20% less than men and occupy fewer top positions
Key points
The path towards gender equality is marked by a paradox: a steady but extremely slow progress. In Italia, although ISTAT records 75,000 new employed persons at the beginning of the year, the other side of the coin reveals a structural fragility, with the number of inactive persons growing by 129,000 in January compared to 2024. From the national to the global picture, the snapshot on gender equality shows a transformation that is struggling to become cultural and generational, moving in an equally heterogeneous global landscape. An issue that does not end with the end of the day on 8 March. As the premier herself recalled yesterday (marches and mobilisations in 60 cities). "There is still a long way to go, but the objective is clear: to remove obstacles, to guarantee equal opportunities, to allow every woman to fully express her value. This is, perhaps, the most authentic sense of 8 March,' Giorgia Meloni wrote in a post.
Beyond ethics, also an asset for competitiveness
In the world today, gender equality is no longer just an ethical issue, but also a competitiveness variable. According to data from the UN Global Compact Network Italia, in 2025 there were 114 world stock exchanges that joined the Ring the Bell for Gender Equality (the annual international campaign aimed at raising the awareness of companies and financial players on gender equality issues), a sign of finance being increasingly attentive to female leadership. According to the UN Global Compact network, transparency is now a market standard: two-thirds of stock market guidelines include gender parameters and 13% of global economies now have mandatory quotas on the boards of directors of listed companies.
"The issue within companies must not, however, be delegated exclusively to HR departments, but must become a strategic priority of administrations," explains Daniela Bernacchi, executive director of UN Global Compact Network Italia. "When leadership moves, the company moves. Evidence confirms that with at least 25% of women on executive boards profitability grows'. In fact, data from McKinsey and Morgan Stanley show that companies with greater internal diversity record 1.6% higher annual returns, while those in the highest quartile for gender diversity in executive roles are 21% more likely to exceed the industry average profitability.
But the gap remains and could widen
Despite encouraging signs, the day-to-day reality remains marked by profound inequalities. According to the World Bank, women globally hold only 64% of the legal rights granted to men and still earn on average 20% less (data from the International Labour Organisation). At the highest levels, progress is strenuous although cautiously increasing: the World Economic Forum estimates that the female share in top management will rise from 25.7 per cent in 2015 to 28.1 per cent in 2024. Complicating the picture today is the challenge of digital transformation, where the barriers to entry remain very high. In the field of artificial intelligence, women represent only 12% of the workforce, a share that drops dramatically to 6% among professional software developers according to Unesco data. At the same time, automation seems to hit asymmetrically: according to UN Women, 27.6 per cent of women's jobs are exposed to generative Ai, compared to 21.1 per cent of men's jobs, placing new obstacles along an already winding road.
Focus on Italia and future scenarios
Narrowing the field to Italia, the scenario appears in some ways even more complex. Formal average representation is contrasted by the employment dimension - where Italia occupies last place in Europe - and the economic dimension. The reason? "The gender gap in Italia remains a deeply cultural issue, fuelled by a critical mix between the absence of welfare services and the structural fragility of the country-system," adds Bernacchi. Despite rising to 12th place in Europe in the Gender Equality Index 2024, the data of the Communication on Progress 2025 (the annual report of UNGCN Italia members, which has reached 801, including about 14 large listed companies) show lights and shadows: while 35% of Italian SMEs have women in leadership positions (exceeding the European average of 31%), large companies stop at 25%. In terms of policies, the national business fabric is in line with the European one, with 96% of large enterprises and 75% of SMEs having adopted policies on women's rights and equality.
