Emma Marcegaglia's election as the head of the national employers' association Confindustria is a major first in Italy's male-dominated business world.
"It's proof that the world of Italian business is not so macho!" said Ivan Lo Bello, president of the Sicily employers association. "Everyone is looking at this novelty with great interest."
Marcegaglia, 42, who will succeed Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, was elected with 95 percent of a vote by captains of industry on Tuesday and will be installed next Thursday.
PHOTO: AFP
"It's the biggest show of support ever recorded in the history of elections for the Confindustria presidency," the association said.
It took a century for a woman to achieve the feat.
Women make up hardly more than five percent of the board members of Italy's listed companies and only nine percent of high-level management positions, according to a study by Milan's Bocconi University.
"The feminine presidency is a very positive sign for the country," Lo Bello said. "She should encourage a major presence of women in leadership roles in businesses."
At the University of Milan, labor law professor Pietro Ichino said: "It's an important development, a message to businesses and to the entire country. Not only because Emma Marcegaglia is a woman but because with her personality she can play a decisive role in paving the way for reforming the conservative system of Italian employment."
Bocconi University professor Cristina Bombelli said: "The number of women in leadership positions in Italy is among the lowest in Europe. The problem is that in our country, merit has no importance. Also, the professional ambiance is often aggressive and causes women to flee the business world."
But it takes more than that to scare away Marcegaglia, a pretty woman with long chestnut hair known as the "Steel Lady" -- both for her tenacity and because she is the managing director of her family's steel processing company, Gruppo Marcegaglia.
Married with a young daughter, Marcegaglia hails from Mantua in northern Italy.
She earned an MBA at New York University and went to work aged 23 for Gruppo Marcegaglia, where she is now in charge of administration and finances alongside her brother Antonio.
The company, which had a turnover of 4.2 billion euros (US$6.4 billion) last year, is Italy's 10th-largest industrial group.
Known for her polite manner, Marcegaglia is a familiar face at Confindustria.
She became the first woman to head the federation's Young Businesspeople section in 1996 and is currently vice president for energy and political, industrial and environmental coordination.
"She is very determined and has a great analytical capacity while knowing how to remain modest and attentive to others," her secretary of 17 years Patrizia Longhini said. "And she never lets up. For her, giving her utmost is essential."
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