Share of women in Italian Parliament 1948-2022

The share of women in sitting in the Italian Parliament on total number of the members (MPs) has slowly but continuously grown from 1972 to 2022. On the contrary, during the 1950s and the 1960s, the women's quota remained below five percent. Overall, the Chamber of Deputies has always had a higher female representation compared to the Senate, in which in 1953, remarkably, only 0.37 of senators were women. In the lower house, instead, the historical minimum was reached in 1968, when females constituted only 2.88 percent of deputies. However, the quota has progressively increased. In 2018 and in 2022, female members represented around one third of the MPs in both houses. Since the foundation of the Republic in 1946, three women have been elected President of the Chamber, in 1979, 1994, and 2013, while only one President of the Senate, in 2018. In 2022, Giorgia Meloni became the first woman to be appointed Prime Minister.