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«I don’t like starting from obligations. We need to find methods to encourage equality and recognize the social value of motherhood, which still appears to be a private matter. A collective effort of imagination is needed to accelerate the sharing of parental responsibilities.” Eugenia Roccella, Minister for Family, Birth and Equal Opportunities – three delegations that she believes are intertwined in a strategic way – already has a possible path to follow in mind and spoke about it at the event promoted by the CNEL two days from 8 March : “Good work: equal opportunities, sharing, bargaining”.
Goodbye, we are studying the German path
«In Germany – said Roccella – they have increased the leaves by recognizing two additional “bonus” months if they are used by the other parent». A way to support mothers’ return to the job market and increase fathers’ participation in childcare in the first year of life, without penalizing family income. It is a hypothesis that the Government is looking at carefully, even if the feasibility in our system is yet to be verified. In any case, the minister was clear: “March 8, Women’s Day, is not a celebration if women are not able to work, and have a good job.”
Brunetta: «Gender equality is good for everyone»
An aspiration that is not at all obvious, as recalled by the president of the CNEL, Renato Brunetta. Because «precarious and part-time jobs are reserved for women, because 70% of domestic work falls on them, because 73% of resignations in the first year of a child’s life are done by women. A life cycle marked by imbalances, which are ultimately reflected in pensions, perpetuating inequity and inefficiency.” So what to do? «The real challenge – Brunetta also stated – is to transform the problem of equality from an individual to a collective one, changing the paradigms of welfare and public incentives. Avoid too many traps. Gender equality is beneficial to everyone, it produces more equity but also more growth. It’s a win-win approach. A winning model that we must focus on.”
Semenzato: «Crucial autonomy against violence»
The president of the commission of inquiry into femicide, Martina Semenzato, agrees: «A more inclusive culture, from families to organizations, means cultural and social progress, an engine for ethical economic growth. This is why we need a shared vision, a coordinated strategy and effective governance. With a co-responsibility pact that also involves politics.” And who keeps in mind the centrality of respect education and economic-financial education, also for the prevention of violence and to correct current distortions, enemies of independence: «62% of women who turn to anti-violence centers not working. And one in three women doesn’t have a bank account.”
Sabbadini: «The quality of women’s work has worsened»
A significant fresco of the last 15 years was drawn by Linda Laura Sabbadini, a pioneer of gender statistics in Italy: «In the face of a suffered quantitative increase in female work, the qualitative situation has worsened, in terms of conciliation, precariousness, involuntary time and irregular work. And, despite an increase in female workers over 50, the impact of the three crises has not yet been reabsorbed on the younger ones.” And if the picture is terrible in the South, in the North we cannot claim victory: «The Lisbon strategy envisaged a 2010 objective of a female employment rate of 60%. Lombardy and Veneto have now reached 62-63%, very far not only from the Nordic countries but also from 75% in Germany and 70% in France”.