At first glance, Italy looks like a feminist success story. The country boasts its first female leader, the right winger Giorgia Meloni, and more women are forging successful careers, especially in law. According to figures from the Cassa Forennse, the Italian state social protection body for law professionals, Italy had 117,559 female lawyers admitted to the Bar Association in 2020, the highest total number of any European country. In comparison, the UK and Wales recorded the next highest number with 77,531.

Italy has a long history of women in the legal profession. The first woman to earn a law degree in Italy was Lidia Poët, and she achieved that goal – remarkably – in 1881, just seven years after women were first accepted into Italian universities.

It would seem then, that Italian women are making progress. But in reality, a concerning amount of women are trapped in the lower echelons of the professions, while their male colleagues ascend the ranks around them. The reality is that, despite its new female leader, Italy remains a feminist blackspot.