Gender Parity and Quotas in Italy: A Convoluted Reform Process

In 1995, two years after the adoption of gender quota laws, the Italian Constitutional Court declared these laws to be unconstitutional. The Constitution was subsequently reformed in order to make way for new quota legislation. Such reforms came in late and in a contradictory way. The Constitution was first modified in 2001 to allow regions to adopt quota measures to enhance women’s political representation at the regional level and then in 2003 to allow similar measures to enhance women’s political representation at the national and European levels. Thus far, quotas have been introduced only in some regions and for European elections. Consequently, the 2001 and 2003 constitutional reforms have had a limited impact on legislative implementation measures and thus on the percentage of women in elected assemblies