UDINE. In Friuli Venezia Giulia, the only Italian region that records a positive change in the 2020/2019 comparison on the employment front, the specific figure of female work marks + 0.9% with an increase in absolute terms of almost 2 thousand units from a year to year (from 222.2 to 241.1 thousand). Not enough: the province of Trieste, with a rate of 67.2%, is in the lead at national level, ahead of Bologna and Milan, with Udine at 58.3%, Pordenone at 56.4% and Gorizia at 52.9. %.
Michelangelo Agrusti, president of Confindustria Alto Adriatico, is not surprised: “Female employment held up because it was part of an economic system that reacted to the pandemic health emergency better than elsewhere”.
Nor does Michela Cattaruzza, managing director of Ocean, companies in the maritime transport sector: «We live in a region where people want to work and our city in particular is home to independent and emancipated women. I believe that statistics photograph this type of situation ».
Carlos Corvino, head of the Regional Market and Labor Policies Observatory, recently at a conference in Trieste, explains the numbers of employment in the area.
“In my opinion, there are two reasons for the positive feedback on employment in the province of Trieste – details Corvino -. The first is that the structure of employment in the region and in the capital favors the female component, largely employed in services.
Not only in traditional professions such as those of commerce, catering, public businesses, but also in advanced services, such as business consultancy, finance, personal assistance ». The second reason, continues Corvino, is long-standing, dates back to the Habsburgs: «Trieste has always had a conciliation in favor of high-level women, which translates into a better opportunity for managing time between family and work.
The provision of kindergartens and recreation centers, for example, allows women to find satisfactory employment more easily than elsewhere. Finally, let’s not forget the urban context which inevitably provides opportunities that are not available in some areas of Friuli, for example ».
Citing some passages from a report presented to the Council in the role of President of the Regional Commission for Equal Opportunities, Dusolina Marcolin also recalls in the introduction how Italian women, “even before the pandemic were more responsible than the family of their partners, throughout 2020 they continued to devote more time to family work, both due to the closure of schools and the lack of help from grandparents in caring for their grandchildren, to avoid the risk of contagion ».
And, more generally: «The impact of the pandemic on employment, unemployment and inactivity rates has led to a more significant negative effect on women and in particular on mothers. Furthermore, the release of dismissals must be considered, which will aggravate the employment situation of women, with particular attention to be paid to “involuntary part-time” ».
Hence the request to the Region to “activate all suitable measures to combat unemployment and to trigger all the mechanisms to support women in reconciling life and work times, increasing and modernizing more and more the offer of services for work, with an eye to social policies to counter the serious demographic regression due to the decline in births ».
Finally, on the basis of INPS data on 2019 tax returns, the open question of the wage gap remains. The total income for personal income tax purposes declared by women was on average equal to almost 17,700 euros against over 27,200 for men (the gap exceeds 9,500 euros). In relative terms, women’s income is equal to 64.9% of that of men; at the national level, the difference is a little more contained (around 8,300 euros).
This large gap depends on the lower and more discontinuous female participation in the labor market and reflects the considerable wage differentials and the greater prevalence of part-time among women. For these reasons, the over 65s (about one third of the total) are also more often holders of social allowances and, due to their greater longevity, survivors’ pensions, characterized by much lower amounts.
- The office worker for 21 years at the desk: “My second home here”
Emanuela Pascucci has been working as an employee in the administrative sector of the “La Quercia” social cooperative for 21 years. A period of time in which that place «has turned a bit into my second home. And, since it represents a reality that operates above all in the branches of social assistance and in the educational one, I have always witnessed a great movement of young workers.
Women who, once they have finished their studies at the University, immediately set in motion and start working with us – specifies Emanuela, 48 years old -. I know that there are many other areas where women are not yet sufficiently protected.
But I think that, as far as the gender problem is concerned, my workplace represents a somewhat particular observatory, a happy island. 90% of the employees are women and the guarantees of workers’ rights represent one of the central points of the cooperative ».
- The bartender: “The restaurant offers space, but the bartender must be sacrificed”
“I have been working since I was 16, now I’m 34 and the opportunities for employment have never been lacking.” Andrea Leghissa, back at full speed among the tables of the Da Marino bar, in the center of Monfalcone, after periods of layoffs imposed by the health emergency in 2020 and at the beginning of the year, underlines how this is the situation for all her friends, beyond beyond the different sectors of activity.
“Perhaps only one in 10 has difficulties due to on-call contracts,” he explains. “There is no shortage of work in the catering and administration sector, even for women. Those with experience have kept their place even in the pandemic, but opportunities have nevertheless created that are not always seized, because working in a bar or restaurant requires sacrifices that not everyone is willing to make.
We work on holidays and weekends ». The lockdown periods and the context of the pandemic have prompted many of his friends to change jobs. «Getting better», Andrea closes.
- The worker: “With factory shifts you can organize yourself”
«With the shifts I have the possibility to organize my life and to be free. For the moment I do not set myself goals, but I hope to be able to stay here. I feel good”. Martina De Luca, 22, has been working as a worker at Ilcam in Cormons since 14 June.
That Martina is not someone who likes to remain idle is immediately clear: she graduated from the “Brignoli” Agricultural Institute in Gradisca d’Isonzo, for two and a half years she worked in a restaurant, then, before reaching the Ilcam, it was in another factory.
“It’s not the sector I studied for, it’s true, but given the period of the Covid pandemic, I looked for something more stable. I’m doing door gluing and loading and unloading on robots. It is physical work, but it is not a problem and if they see you in difficulty there is always someone to help you », he says with a smile.
- The order: “Contract immediately restarted at the end of the health emergency”
The contract expiring in February 2020, coinciding with the outbreak of the pandemic, did not guarantee her immediate renewal and so Erika Ramon, a 22-year-old clerk, had to stay at home, waiting for the health situation to improve.
«I was assured that, as soon as work would resume, I would be called back – she says – and so it was. I thank my owner, she kept her word and started the contract for me in July 2020 ». He started again in the Tezenis store and then moved, two months ago, to Calzedonia (same chain) in the Meduna shopping center in Pordenone. Fear of contact with customers in a pandemic?
“Never had any fear, but I respect the fear of others: it is necessary, on the part of those who work in contact with people, to perceive their moods”. The increase in female work in the pandemic has also been found among her friends. “I know several women who have found work even when you least expect it.”
- The student: “My first experience as a teacher”
Vittoria Todaro is almost 23 years old and is in the fourth year of primary education sciences. «Although I have not yet completed my studies, last October I started working at the Sorelle Agazzi kindergarten.
Due to a serious shortage of teachers, especially in kindergarten and primary school, an enrollment portal for “making available” has been set up for each institution, which allows you to send your application as a teacher of class, support or Covid even to those who have not yet obtained the qualification “.
Vittoria was called as a Covid teacher with a mentoring assignment. “This experience – he says – allowed me to enter the world of work and put into practice what I am studying”, waiting to be able to start a path, once I graduate, “within the world of school”.
- The receptionist, new business in a month: “I was lucky”
Her contract had expired in the middle of the pandemic last December 31, and the fear, for 28-year-old Sara Padovan, was the difficulty in finding a new job in such a complicated period, in the midst of the health emergency. Instead, the wait did not last long: on February 1 she found employment as a receptionist and breakfast clerk at the Podere dell’Angelo hotel in Pasiano. Its schedule runs from early morning to around noon.
«I realize that leaving my previous job in full pandemic was a gamble, but in the end it went well and I feel lucky because I found the new job within a month – says Sara -. Working in a pandemic period, in contact with people, is complicated to the extent that it is necessary to enforce safety rules. Customers are attentive and collaborative: they also accept the observations that, for reasons related to the fight against the pandemic, must be implemented ».
- The head teacher: “Many more hours at school, little time at home”
During the pandemic, the school was put to the test. And so do the women who work in this sector. “As a civil servant I know that my position has never been at risk, and I consider myself a lucky person – explains Monica De Carolis, 53, head teacher of the Marco Polo Comprehensive Institute.
However, work has become much more strenuous, and so has the management of family time. My daughters are 21 and 18 years old, they are autonomous, so personally I have not suffered from any particular problems. But at work I stopped having a fixed schedule, tasks increased and I started spending many hours at school ».
Furthermore, when a case of contagion arose, it was necessary to start immediately, “whether it was 8 pm, Saturday or Sunday. However, I had less difficulty than the many workers who found themselves managing similar situations despite having small children to look after ».
- The craftswoman: “On the road with my van, this is how I challenge difficulties”
Lockdown can also sharpen your wits. This is the case of Debora Rossetto, who last December, in the midst of a pandemic emergency, decided to take over an artisan pastry shop, the “Strudelina” in Venzone. He has created a traveling business and today, with his van, he moves around the region and outside to sell his typical Carnia products, from apple strudel to forest fruit jams.
«Two years ago – says Rossetto – I closed my own restaurant that I had managed for eight years. Then I decided to challenge the difficulties of the closures due to the pandemic and buy, therefore, the business of my neighbor ». “You don’t always find me in the same place, – she continues – but I move constantly with my products, taking part in fairs and events where I’m sure there are people”. –