Mario Draghi has chosen the day of 8 March and the conference on a National Strategy on Gender Equality for his first public speech since he has been Prime Minister.
He made the implementation of the strategy set by Minister Elena Bonetti as a commitment of the government and indicated some priorities that are simple to state even if complex to achieve. He spoke of parental leave and, above all, of the “number of places in nursery schools, which sees us below the European targets, and their territorial distribution which must be made much more equitable”.
Applying the principle he had enunciated in the first part of his speech dedicated to the pandemic to the theme of equality as well, saying “I do not want to promise anything that is not truly achievable”, he did not indicate female numbers or miraculous changes. He recalled that a lot also depends on individual behavior, on civil maturity, together with political choices: “Targeted actions and profound reforms are necessary to fully involve women in the economic, social and institutional life of the country. But first of all we must change ourselves in the daily routine of family life ”.
Last but not least, he announced that “among the criteria that will be used to evaluate the projects of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan there will also be their contribution to gender equality”. Few specific commitments, which it will therefore be possible to verify, instead of amazing but generic promises: in this there is Draghi’s style that is not only of sobriety but, above all, of reliability. In a field, like that of the fight against discrimination, sown with a great mass of good intentions, this is what is needed: few commitments linked to what a government at the end of the term can really do, but on which the necessary will be done. And it will be enough.