What Are the Benefits of Having More Female Leaders? Evidence from the Use of Part-Time Work in Italy

Using three waves of a representative survey of Italian private firms, the study examines whether female managers' relatively more altruistic values, as suggested by prior literature, manifest in firms' working-time arrangements.

To assess the impact of female managers on a firm's use of part-time work, testing whether increasing female business leadership could mitigate underemployment among involuntary part-time workers and support employees' work-life balance.

The analysis controls for several time-varying firm-level characteristics and unobserved firm fixed effects across the three survey waves.

Female managers were significantly more likely to limit the employment of involuntary part-time workers and make greater use of full-time employees; they were also more likely to grant part-time arrangements to employees who request them.

Increasing the number of female business leaders may mitigate underemployment among involuntary part-time workers and contribute to work-life balance for employees with childcare or eldercare responsibilities.