Groundbreakers

Diletta Tega and Tania Groppi

Chapter 21 in Elgar Companion to Female Chief Justices in Comparative Perspective, 2026, pp 442-472 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The history of the Italian Constitutional Court reflects a significant gender disparity, with the absence of women justices until 1996, 40 years after its establishment. Despite subsequent appointments, women remain a minority on the Court: only nine out of 125 justices are women, with just two being elected as presidents. This underrepresentation poses challenges for research, compounded by the Court's secrecy regarding deliberations and the scarcity of historical and political studies on female justices. To address this gap, we propose an empirical methodology based on interviews with the female justices. In fact, due to the Court's collegial nature, relying solely on case law analysis provides only a partial picture, as individual opinions are not discernible. By shedding light on the experiences of women justices and the dynamics of gender representation, it is hoped that this study will pave the way for future inquiries into gender equality in legal institutions.

Keywords: Italian judicial order; Italian Constitutional Court; Women justices; Gender underrepresentation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035308637
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035308644.00029 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:22158_21

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().