She calls me Smart women in a country of sleepwalkers and describes vital and proactive women who want to talk about another Italy, live in a different country, build a positive future that looks much more like them. They are the Italians that Censis has just photographed on behalf of iO Donnagoing in search of those on which to bet for the awakening of the country, in a feminine counter-narrative capable of rebalancing the painful Censis report on the social situation of the country/2023 released last December, which had photographed “an Italy of sleepwalkers”: a country only apparently alert, dazed by fear but in the throes of raw emotions, sad, without impulses and without dreams.
Italian women are very smart
Today, through research Awake women in a country of sleepwalkers, Censis identifies in contemporary women a resource for the future and in the world of iO Donna an advanced tip of Italians with skills, knowledge and positive vital energies that can contribute to awakening the country from widespread sleepwalking, overcoming fears, moving towards the future with a certain optimism. We talk about it with researcher Anna Italia, head of research at Censis.
iO Donna was born in 1996 and since then has accompanied millions of Italians on a journey of profound emancipation. What are the strengths of contemporary women?
Compared to thirty years ago, women are enormously more autonomous and evolved, both in the family context and in the social and professional context. Since 1996, for example, there has been an increase in the number of heads of families, i.e. those capable also from an economic point of view of leading a family unit (they were 24 percent in ’96, they are 38.1 percent in 2022) and those who have children at an older age. advanced, therefore experiencing a more conscious motherhood: in 1996, those born to mothers aged forty and over represented 2.4 percent of the total, a value that rose to 9 percent in 2022. This family protagonism is the result of a broader social and economic emancipation, the same one that means that today there are more women than men among graduates. If in 2001 there were 97,183 female graduates, in 2022 there were 209,626, with an increase of 115.7 percent, an enormous growth that bodes well for the future, also in light of the significant advancement of girls in scientific subjects: There are 37,501 so-called STEM graduates. A jump of 143.2 percent.
Education, cultural consumption and attention to rights are distinctive traits of the women interviewed. (Photo Nik Hartley)
In short, we are moving towards a country driven by increasingly competent and prepared women who, in any case, are more competent than men. Women who, with considerable commitment and sacrifice, gain positions.
Yes. There is another interesting record: in 1996, among employed graduates, women represented 43 percent; today they are 55.4 percent, the majority. Women are also gaining space at the top of companies: in the private sector, they make up 30 percent of managers (in 1996 they were 21.9 percent). Of course, it’s true, they conquer positions at work with difficulty, they earn less than men, they have lower activity rates than those of European countries, but if we read the last thirty years, we note that the growth of employed people in Italy is the result exclusively of increase in female employment: in 1996 there were 7 million 600 thousand employed Italians, 9 million and 800 thousand in 2022.
Italian women are more empathetic than men
In research Smart women in a country of sleepwalkers write that contemporary women represent a resource for the country. For what other reason, other than school preparation and skills?
Compared to men, they have healthier lifestyles, are more attentive to the affirmation of new civil rights, perceive attention to the environment as a process to be experienced in everyday life and recognize the value of companies that practice sustainability, all dimensions that they fully express the contemporary spirit. For example, women are more willing to pay more for sustainable/non-polluting or labor-free products or services. Furthermore, they feel more involved in civil and social challenges: 67.4 percent favor same-sex marriage, compared to 63.7 of men; 77.1 percent to adoption by singles and 58.1 percent by same-sex couples: men in favor are, however, 63.1 and 50.3 percent respectively.
And then, women are driven by a positive energy that leads them to appreciate well-being and daily happiness and to look ahead with optimism: 90.9 percent think that if you want to invest in new projects, ideas or changes you must think about tomorrow in a positive way and 67.5 percent are convinced that society can be changed. In short, we tried to understand if there is a moving component in this Italy of sleepwalkers and we found it in women. In particular, this one we found positive vital energy in a specific segment of the female population: that of Italians between 18 and 64 years old, who live in the Central-Northern regions, have a high school diploma or degree, work, read. Furthermore, they are all potential readers of iO Donna. Representing this advanced point of contemporaneity are approximately 4 million 700 thousand women. These are women who are particularly attentive to psychophysical well-being, who live immersed in everyday life, who inform themselves and participate in political and social life, who are aware of the challenges of the digital and environmental transition we are experiencing, who are also projected forward in consumption.
Tell us more about these Italian women, capable of a positive energy that is evidently not always grasped.
If we compare their cultural, social and spending behaviors with the total population, we find that they always differ in a positive way. They pay more attention to their body and physical fitness: for example, 50.8 percent of them practice sports compared to 39.7 of all Italians. They have higher cultural consumption: 36.8 percent inform themselves daily about Italian politics and 28.4 percent frequent museums, exhibitions, concerts against, respectively, 28.3 percent and 17.5 percent of the entire population. Furthermore, these advanced women are more concerned about the environment and sustainability: 62.9 percent are worried about climate change, while 52.7 percent of Italians are and 25.4 percent purchase organic products, compared to 16.6 percent of the entire population.
Technological and digital
They are also more technological and digital: in the last three months, 65.1 percent created files containing various elements, such as text, images, tables, graphs, animations or audio and 66.1 percent purchased on the web. As for purchases, these are women who exploit all the possibilities that technology offers, using it intensively for consumption. They differ from the overall sample of Italians for having bought more clothing and accessories, more household items, more cosmetics, more books, more toys, more sporting goods, more household cleaning products, more food in the last three months. , more drugs.
Why are these women and their energy often underestimated?
We perceive it little, we talk about it even less. We often think and talk about women focusing mainly on the negative aspects of a condition which, in fact, still suffers from delays and inequalities. Of course, it is necessary that we continue to do so, with thegoal of bridging the gaps.
But note that There are many fully realized women, satisfied with their livesimmersed in a present that excites and gratifies them and being positive about the future does not mean denying the problems, but highlighting that the possibilities for forward momentum and realization exist and are practiced more than one might think.
iO Donna © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED