Michela Giordano holds a degree in Foreign Languages and Literatures (Magna cum Laude) from the University of Cagliari, Italy and an MA in Linguistics from California State University, Long Beach, USA. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities, Languages and Heritage at the University of Cagliari. She is Deputy Director at the Language Centre, and she is Member of the government board of the Department. She teaches in the Translation of Specific Texts Master’s course and Language and Communication Skills in the Faculty of Humanities, along with courses for pre-service and in-service teachers. Her research and publications focus on the language of politics, legal, corporate and institutional English, ESP, gender, translation, genre and discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, CLIL, eTwinning and teaching methodologies. She participates to many regional, national and international projects both for research and didactics.

Gendered Boards, Greener Companies? EU Regulation, Legal Language, and Corporate Sustainability

Abstract: The European Union’s regulatory urge for corporate sustainability is intertwined with demands for board gender diversity, culminating in the Women on Boards Directive (2022/2381), which mandates binding targets for gender representation on corporate boards by 2026. Recent research indicates that female board representation positively influences corporate sustainability practices and ESG transparency (García-Meca & López-Iturriaga, 2025), making gender diversity a strategic asset for companies aiming at the green transition. However, studies suggest that this positive effect may be attenuated under quota regimes, and that women in executive roles may face institutional barriers that limit their effectiveness (Dsouza et al., 2026). This paper proposes a critical analysis of Legal English in the emerging regulatory framework that links gender diversity to corporate sustainability. Focusing on key EU directives (e.g., CSRD, Women on Boards, Pay Transparency Directive) and their transposition into the Italian legal system, the study examines how the language of “board diversity”, “gender quotas”, and “sustainability governance” is constructed, translated, and applied. Drawing on insights from legal translation studies (Federici & Maci, 2021) and critical discourse analysis (Lombardi & Schimperna, 2025), the analysis employs a corpus-assisted discourse analysis of legal terminology and phraseology, using data from EUR-Lex and Italian legislative decrees. By examining both the source and target texts, preliminary findings identified some terminological conflicts and asymmetries that emerge when EU sustainability and gender equality goals are transposed into national legal frameworks.

Keywords: Board gender quotas, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), EU directives, Legal Translation, Corpus-assisted discourse analysis