Gender Politics, Environmental Behaviours, and Local territories: Evidence from Italian Municipalities

Lodi C., Sacchi A., Vidoli F., 2025 – The Annals of Regional Science 

In recent years, Italy has seen a growing interest in environmental and sustainability issues, affecting both public debate and the political agenda. In particular, local institutions play a strategic role as key actors in the implementation of environmental policies and the promotion of sustainable practices. Within this context, the potential contribution of female representation – and, specifically, the ways in which it may influence, directly or indirectly, the promotion of environmentally responsible behaviours among citizens – remains relatively underexplored in the economic literature.

A recent study by Chiara Lodi, Agnese Sacchi, and Francesco Vidoli, “Gender politics, environmental behaviours, and local territories: evidence from Italian municipalities”, published in The Annals of Regional Science, highlights how women’s participation in local politics is not merely a desirable circumstance for achieving genuine gender equality, but also a potentially decisive factor for the ecological transition of the country. By applying a staggered Difference-in-Differences (DID) model on a sample of 6,000 Italian municipalities over the period 2010–2019, the analysis focuses on waste management. Specifically, it investigates the share of sorted waste collection as indicator of civic duty and environmental responsibility, aligning with the literature on ‘civic environmentalism’.

The results show that the appointment of a female mayor alone is not enough to generate significant positive effects; rather, the presence of a female majority in municipal councils is associated with an average increase of about three percentage points in the share of sorted waste collection (Figure 1). This impact grows during the first years of the term, consolidates in the medium term, and then gradually fades. The evidence clearly highlights that the change is driven by the collective and equal participation of women in decision-making processes rather than a single leader. The female “critical mass” fosters a more collaborative, open, and community-oriented political climate, key elements in building effective environmental policies. Women, with their greater inclination toward cooperation and mediation, appear to contribute to this type of governance, strengthening the bond between administrators and citizens.

The research also confirms the existence of marked territorial differences within Italy. In particular, in northern areas – where social capital and collective trust are already higher – the impact of female representation on environmental issues proves stable but limited. Conversely, in southern regions, such as Calabria and Sicily, the presence of women in municipal councils appears more disruptive and almost “transformative”: female entry into institutions helps break traditional patterns and reinvigorate deeply rooted contexts, promoting a new civic culture that translates into concrete virtuous behaviours. These territories are precisely where women can drive social innovation, steering communities towards greater environmental awareness.

The findings offer valuable policy insights for institutions at both local and national levels. The first and most evident indication concerns the need to actively promote gender equality within municipal councils, not only as a principle of democracy, but also as a lever for efficiency and sustainability. Strengthening gender quotas is already foreseen in Italian electoral law, even though female mayors remain a minority – about 15% of the total – and often operate in small municipalities, where cultural change progresses more slowly. This strengthening could be supported by measures that encourage women’s training and political participation (for instance, through regional mentoring programs, scholarships, or incentives for female candidacies in small municipalities).

Secondly, there emerges a need to integrate a gender perspective into environmental policies, starting from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) and extending to the national Green Deal. In this regard, public policies should adopt a more explicitly gender-sensitive approach, taking into account gender differences in the design and evaluation of environmental policies, while also valorizing female administrators as agents of change.

Regions and municipalities could, for example, include in their Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAPs) indicators measuring female participation in environmental decision-making processes.

Furthermore, the positive results observed in municipalities with a female majority suggest the importance of creating networks among administrations led or strongly represented by women, to share experiences and best management practices. A practical example could be the establishment of ‘green networks of local female administrators’ coordinated by ANCI or by regional governments, aimed at exchanging effective initiatives in the field of environmental policy, from waste management to sustainable mobility and urban planning.

Finally, the study suggests that women’s political participation is a crucial component of a broader cultural transformation already observable in the most virtuous municipalities, showing that public policies work best when accompanied by educational and awareness-building initiatives. In other words, investing (prioritizing) in civic and environmental education while fostering the growth of a generation more sensitive to environmental issues, also provides a foundation for the genuine institutional legitimacy of female leadership.”

Ultimately, promoting women’s participation in local politics is not only a matter of rights and fairness but also a strategy for sustainable development. In a country like Italy – still marked by territorial and cultural heterogeneities – this perspective offers a tangible way to combine gender equality with ecological transition, thereby making public policies more effective and forward-looking.