The diversity management approach: New implications for gender policies in Italy

Purpose – The paper, starting from research conducted on the implementations of gender policy in six Italian regions, aims to explore the limits of the actual strategies and ask some questions on the possibility to enter some principles of the diversity management (DM) approach in the Italian context. Design/methodology/approach – The qualitative research was conducted through a textual analysis of the Regional Operative Plain, and some interviews with the different stakeholders involved in the planning and implementations of the policies. Findings – Starting from the characteristics of the regional policies, the research provides some indication of levels of applicability of the DM in the Italian context in terms of both definition and execution of the interventions. Research limitations/implications – The paper presented has important implications for the field of equality and diversity in Mediterranean countries, but the research is based only on institutional policies and not on the organizational measures, so researchers are encouraged to deepen the organizational practices. Originality/value – This paper aims to reduce the gap in the current literature that often does not consider the necessity of studying the detailed rules of defining and implementing policies in close relation with the characteristics of enterprises and institutions. © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited