Le elezioni amministrative in provincia di Trento del maggio 2015: quali risultati per la rappresentanza politica femminile?

In Italy during the last decade women’s representation continued (albeit slowly) to increase at the local political level , and the municipal elections held in May 2015 has confirmed this trend also in the province of Trento. After the elections, women represented the 27,4% (+ 6% in comparison with the 2005 municipal elections) of the municipal councilors and the 12.1% (+ 3%) of the mayors elected. However, the women are still underrepresented in the local political bodies, especially in the more populated municipalities. Despite the regional electoral rules prescribe (weak) instruments for a more gender balanced composition of the municipal organs, the province of Trento registered limited progress . It might be instructive for the province of Trento drawing lessons from the experiences of other regions, where the female representation more quickly increased due to the adoption of multiple anti-discriminatory measures (candidate quota, rules concerning the rank order and the double gender preferences ). How to promote the gender balance in decision-making positions is an issue politically divisive in the ongoing local debate, and so far it appears quite unlikely the agreement of shared interpretations and solutions towards the achievement of full political equality between men and women.