Businesswomen

Based on data retrieved from the Business Register, by December 31 2022, there were 4,660 women entrepreneurs ⁵ in the audiovisual Film&TV sector, meaning 28.4% of the total; the same share of 2021 (the total economy reported a 0.1% decrease with an incidence value of 30.7%). Therefore, the balance of power between genders remains slightly unbalanced in the audiovisual sector in favor of men within all sectors: 2.5 businessmen for every businesswoman, whereas the average value is 2.3.

⁵ Entrepreneurs include owners, partners, and shareholders

Women entrepreneurs in the audiovisual industry vs. the overall industrial market
Year 2022 (percentage)

From the point of view of the sectors that make up the audiovisual core, the share of women entrepreneurs is highest for Exhibition activities (38.4%), followed by TV programming & broadcasting activities (32.2%) and Theatrical, video & TV distribution activities (30.8%). Woman count is lower than the audiovisual average in the case of Theatrical, video & TV production activities (26.5%) and even more so for the Theatrical, video and TV post-production (25, 2%) where, however, there has been an increase compared to the 2021 figure (23.9%).

Breakdown of women and men entrepreneurs within the audiovisual core by production sectors.
Year 2022 (absolute value / percentage) 

In the post-pandemic period, entrepreneurship in the audiovisual supply chain recorded a slight recovery (+0.8%) involving men to a greater extent (+0.9%) than women (+0.3%), who are always behind, both in a negative and positive recovery flow.

The growth data of entrepreneurs in the two sectors that had already recorded positive trends in the previous two years are confirmed: Theatrical, video and TV post-production (+17.9%) and television programming and broadcasting (+5.0%), and in this case, the better performance of women compared to men is confirmed (+25.4% against +15.6% in the first case, +7.5% against +3.8% in the second).

2021/2022 variation breakdown of women and men entrepreneurs within the audiovisual core by production sectors
(percentage variation)

Theatrical, video & TV production activities recorded a slight increase in the last year (+1.1%), similar for men and women entrepreneurs, while in the case of Theatrical, video and TV distribution, women were mostly affected (-13.7%) compared to the average reduction of -13.3%, and even more in the exhibition sector, where the average -4.7% worsened to -6.6% for female entrepreneurs.

In 2022, the share of businesswomen under 35 years old in the supply chain is stable compared to the previous year (9.7%), yet lower than businessmen (11.3%) and woman entrepreneurs within the overall economy (10.7%).

Breakdown of under-35 women and male entrepreneurs within the audiovisual core by activity sectors
Year 2022 (percentage)

The overall presence of young businesswomen is again higher in post-production activities (15.1%), an area in which the share has also grown compared to 2021 (when it was 14.6%).

The Theatrical, video & TV production activities follow in terms of the overall incidence of young entrepreneurs (11.4%), also in this case with a slight increase (the 2021 figure was 11.2%).

In the other sectors, there has been a decrease in young women/women, starting from TV programming & broadcasting activities, where the share has dropped from 12.1% to 9.3%, moving on to Theatrical, video & TV distribution activities (from 4 .6% to 3.8%) and to Exhibition (from 4.1% to 3.4%). In terms of regional distribution of the phenomenon, it is worth mentioning an increase in the number of regions where the presence of businesswomen in the audiovisual sector exceeds the national average (which is still, as mentioned, at the 2021 value, meaning 28.4%): Lazio leads (31.7%), followed by Liguria (30.1%), Sardinia (29.6%), Abruzzo (29.1%), Apulia (29.0%) and Umbria (28.7%).

Breakdown of woman entrepreneurs in the audiovisual core sector by Italian regions *
Year 2022 (percentage)

* The Valle d’Aosta Region figure is not reported as being out of scale due to the low number of audiovisual core businesses.