• affirmative action
• anti-discrimination law
• feminism
• feminist leadership
• Finland
• Germany
• Italy
• leadership
• Marin
• Meloni
• Merkel
• political leadership
• positive action
• trasformative leadership

The research is a first attempt to a systematisation between Political science, Law, and Gender studies, in analysing the impact in terms of political participation and policies that a woman in a position of leadership can have on the legal system.
After recalling the different types of leadership identified by the doctrine, we reconstructed the evolution of European, Finnish, German and Italian anti-discrimination law, listing the positive action promoted in the electoral sphere.
We then analysed the policies of three contemporary female Prime Ministers: Sanna Marin, Angela Merkel and Giorgia Meloni – respectively from Northern, Central and Southern Europe, and also belonging to left, centre and right-wing parties – to assess whether gender-oriented measures were promoted under their mandates, thus trying to understand if there is a link between a woman in power and certain public policies aimed at improving the conditions of other women.
Finally, we have constructed indicators that serve as a first experiment for a future, more in-depth, identification of feminist leadership. The purpose is indeed to contribute to the academic debate on the political and legal categorisation of feminist leadership.