Wives of the world leaders due to attend next month’s G8 summit in Italy should boycott the meeting because of Silvio Berlusconi’s “sexist” and “offensive” attitude to women, a group of Italian female academics has said.

A number of wives, including Sarah Brown and Michelle Obama, are to join their husbands at the summit, although the wife of the Italian Prime Minister will not be hosting as she is seeking a divorce.

Veronica Lario announced the end of her marriage at the end of April after Mr Berlusconi attended the 18th birthday party of an aspiring model.Since then, a series of allegations about his personal life has emerged.

Prosecutors in Bari, southern Italy, are investigating “inducement to prostitution” by a local businessman after an escort girl claimed women were paid to attend Mr Berlusconi’s parties in Sardinia and Rome.

In the first sign of a public reaction against the stories of scores of young models attending parties thrown by the Prime Minister, 72, three social sciences academics have written an “Appeal to the First Ladies” and claim to have garnered “hundreds of signatures” in support of the letter.

“We are profoundly indignant, as women employed in the world of universities and culture, at the way in which the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi treats women both in public and in private,” the letter reads.

It said they were referring not only to Mr Berlusconi’s personal relations with women, which had “transcended the personal sphere and assumed public significance”, but also to his recruitment of women from the world of showbusiness for politics.

This was a reference to his attempt to put up actresses, showgirls and a Big Brother contestant as candidates in the European elections. He dropped the idea after objections both from Ms Lario and a think-tank founded by Gianfranco Fini, co-leader of Mr Berlusconi’s People of Liberty party.

The campaigners said they were also referring to his “sexist speeches”, which “systematically undermine the female presence on the social and instititutional scene”, while his behaviour “gravely undermines the dignity of women on a moral, civil and cultural level”.

Furthermore, Mr Berlusconi’s control of the media “flouts any democratic rule and heavily limits the possibility of expressing dissent and criticism”.

This made it difficult for Italian women who “do not recognise themselves in the image transmitted by the Prime Minister and those around him” to make their disapproval heard. The letter ends: “As citizens of Italy, Europe and the world, we appeal to the First Ladies of those countries taking part in the forthcoming G8 at L’Aquila to boycott the event and to state forcefully that the delegitimisation of women in one country offends and strikes at women of all countries.”

The letter was signed by Chiara Volpato, lecturer in social psychology at Bicocca University, Milan; Angelica Mucchi Faina, lecturer in social psychology at Perugia Unversity; and Anne Maass, associate professor of social psychology at Padua University.

Professor Bianca Beccalli, head of the Study Centre for Women and Gender Differences at Milan University, said: “We have hundreds of signatures and are trying to get more. It is not a question of quantity but quality — we want to get Italy’s most prominent and distinguished women on board.”

Prosecutors in Bari expressed alarm over the “lack of security” at Mr Berlusconi’s homes, with women allowed in with no identity checks and able to make audio and video recordings. Luigi Zanda, a senator for the opposition Democratic Party, called on him to tell parliament if he was “blackmailable”. Mr Berlusconi, who is not under investigation, has accused the media, especially La Repubblica and foreign newspapers, of a smear campaign.

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