The first general election in Republican Italy was held on 18 April 1948. In Parliament there were only 49 women, equal to five percent. Almost 30 years and seven parliaments went by before Italy had more than 50 women in Parliament. It happened in 1976. It then took another 30 years to top the threshold of 150 women MPs, in 2006. In The 17th Parliament, for the first time, women elected in the Chamber of Deputies and in Senate reached a total of 30.1%. The 18th Parliament is experiencing a new record: 35%, over one third of women MPs.

At the upper echelons of the Republic, the path to parity has been just as long: only 83 women were appointed ministers thus far, out of 1,500 appointments. No woman has ever been appointed President of the Council of Ministers. The Senate had to wait the 2018 elections to see a woman as its first President . Only two of Italy's regions have a female governor and just 13 out of 100 mayors are women.