#WOMENMATTER FROM THE FIRST WOMAN GRADUATE IN 1908 TO THE FIRST FEMALE PROFESSOR IN 1920: HOW THE FEMALE POPULATION OF THE UNIVERSITY HAS GROWN AND WHY GENDER EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN GENERAL IS NOW THE MISSION OF A NEW RECTORAL POST

Women in industry, the domestic system of manufacturing, and the working conditions of children: no one would be surprised if these were research topics currently underway at Bocconi. Instead, they were the thesis subjects of the first women who graduated from Bocconi: Giuditta Catelli (1908), Elvira Dettoni (1909) and Matilde Branchini (1910).
 
Since the early years, (the University was founded in 1902), the presence of women among Bocconi's students and graduates has irreversibly grown: if there was one woman graduate in 1908, in 2020 there were 2,061 women graduates, equal to 43% of the total. Over 41% of the student population is currently female. The feminist revolution has therefore made inroads in business and economic studies that have long been considered as a male preserve.
 
In terms of faculty, the first women who taught at Bocconi were Lily Marshal, who in 1920-1921 held the course on English civil, political and literary history (in English), and Eloisa Sadun, who after graduating in 1932 under the supervision of Ugo Caprara with a thesis on the leather trade, became assistant to Giorgio Mortara, Professor of Statistics, from 1935 to 1937 (she then lost her job due to fascism's racial laws in 1938). 1961 was the year that Bocconi appointed the first woman as a full professor. It was Emy Rosenfeld, born in 1904, an expert on German studies in the then existing Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature. Not until 2000 was another woman named Full Professor, this time in the Faculty of Business and Economics: Francesca Golfetto. Today the proportion of women in the core faculty is 31.2%, in line with the international average for the social sciences. Over the last five years in particular, the university has strongly invested in the project of increasing the number of women that are faculty members and especially full professors, where women currently account for 15% (more than doubling their proportion with respect to 2015).
 
"The issue of gender equality and in general of diversity and inclusion is a central theme of contemporary society, so much so as to define its profile," comments Rector Gianmario Verona. "Bocconi has shown its commitment in this direction thanks to projects such as CarDev, POB, the Equal Opportunities Committee, and targeted scholarships: all initiatives aimed at increasing the presence of women in our community and removing obstacles to their career development. To give further impetus and support to our commitment in this area, starting with this academic year we have created the role of Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, appointing Professor Catherine De Vries to the new position."
 
"The integration of different backgrounds and points of view is vital because it is the energy of diversity that fuels the engine of innovation," says Prof De Vries. "To foster excellence, our campus and our community must rely on innovation and inclusiveness, starting with gender parity. The celebration of International Women's Day serves to recall society's achievements in advancing women's rights, and to recognize Bocconi’s progress as well. On that date, March 8, we are all reminded of the importance of working together to ensure diversity."