QSomething has been done, much remains to be done. The first Gender relationship by Almalaurea, presented this morning at the University of Bologna by the president Ivano Dionigi, and in the presence of the rector Giovanni Molari, highlights the gender gap that is still strong in our country. Girls are better all through their studies, but their potential is not always able to express itself as it would be right. Let’s start with the numbers: in Italy in 2020, female graduates accounted for 60 percent of the total, and completed their studies with an average grade of 103.9, compared with 102.1 for colleagues. The girls arrive at graduation after a brilliant course of study (82.5 / 100 average graduation mark compared to 80.2 / 100 for males) and with a more lively participation in study holidays abroad, alternating school work and internships. They look like they are destined for a bright employment future, but that’s not the case.
Graduate and employment
– CIRCA 1930: A group of young women in robes beeing happy over their graduation, Dublin, Ireland, Phtography, Around 1930 (Photo by Imagno / Getty Images) [Eine Gruppe junger Frauen in Talaren freut sich ?ber ihre bestandene Promotion, Dublin, Irland, Photographie, Um 1930]
Five years after the master’s degree, 85 per cent of girls and 91 per cent of boys are employed. With the pandemic, the gap has widened. But the gap also concerns the type of work performed: for males, more self-employment and more permanent contracts; among girls, on the other hand, precariousness is much more widespread also because they are a lot more numerous are those employed in the public (24.4 master’s degrees against 16 of classmates), and we know that, for those who want to become teachers, for example, stabilization is a long and complicated affair.
An interesting aspect of the research concerns the students’ family background: girls start from a more disadvantaged condition, because only 28 percent of them have a graduate parent, compared with 34 percent of males. Not only that: where the parents are graduates, the daughters follow in their footsteps less than the sons do. “Women play an important role in restarting the social elevator”, comments Larina Timoteo, director of Almalaurea. «Among them it is more frequent to find girls from less favored family backgrounds, and they follow in the footsteps of their parents less frequently. The country system must guarantee equal conditions and access to these innovative women in the professional field “.
That salary gap that does not close
The wage difference is clear: always 5 years after graduation, men earn 20 percent more than women: 1713 euros against 1438, again for master’s degree graduates. The good news is that though, between graduates and STEM graduates, a decrease in the gap has recently been observed. “A positive sign”, commented the minister of the university Maria Cristina Messa, “and the proof that the measures we are adopting, from the orientation towards scientific subjects to scholarships for girls, are going in the right direction”.
But what fulfillment are our graduates looking for? The girls would like to find job stability, social utility, consistency with their studies and independence economic. In males, the ambitions are aimed at earning and prestige. At lower employment levels, gender differences are minimal; they grow as you move up the hierarchy of positions and salary.
Finally, the issue of migration. More boys than girls leave from the South to study in the North, even if in recent years the gap has been narrowing and even disappearing when the families of origin are culturally more prepared. The choice is rewarded for both genders, because southern graduates who migrate to the North earn more (18 per cent) not only than their comrades who stayed at home, but also their northern peers. Not only, the salary gap of 20 per cent is reduced to 14 among boys and girls who have packed their suitcase. And among these, the STEM graduates are the most ready to go.
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