THEin Italy 3 out of 10 women do not have a bank account and for 4 out of 10 women economic independence from her husband is a mirage. 2 million 277 thousand are women who live in poverty. Even if they have a job, they earn less than men and are often singled out as having sole responsibility for the care of the children and the family. For this reason, on International Women’s Rights Day, To say. – Women on the Net against violence launches an awareness and information campaign that has a very significant title: Oh, poor women.
Women and work, after maternity leave it’s a business
How much the issue of work remains critical for the female population is also demonstrated by the Plus Report 2022. Understand the complexity of the job, presented yesterday in Rome, on the eve of Women’s Day. Collects the results of the Inapp-Plus survey conducted on a sample of 45,000 individuals aged 18 to 74 and notes that, after the birth of a child almost 1 in 5 women (18%) between the ages of 18 and 49 no longer work. Only 43.6% remain employed (29% in the South and Islands). Prevailing motivation. there reconciliation between work and care (52%), followed by non-renewal of contract or dismissal (29%) and evaluations of economic opportunity and convenience (19%). The share of those who did not work either before or after maternity is 31.8% and 6.6% that of those who found work after the birth of their child.
Motherhood therefore continues to represent one structural cause of the fall in female participation in the world of work. Two very serious phenomena affecting our country, namely the fertility rate, which sees us last in Europe, and the “brain drain”, are two forms of dispersion of human capital linked to the lack of support for female employment.
There is a lack of kindergartens, welfare and a different culture
In fact, the family condition, welfare services and education weigh on the decline in female participation after maternity. There is the crux of the low availability and accessibility, even economic, of nursery schools. While the educational qualification only partially protects against job loss. The most educated remain in the labor market (65% of university graduates), but more than 16% (of both graduates and diplomats) stop working against 21% of mothers with a middle school diploma.
To reconcile work and childcare, about a quarter of those interviewed consider a more flexible working hours, while 10% indicates the possibility of telecommuting or smart working. Part-time work is more frequently indicated by women (12.4% compared to 7.9% of men). This last figure, together with that relating to the use of parental leave (68.6% for women against 26.9% for men) confirms a family model that relegates the female component to the role of main caregiverwith obvious employment and wage repercussions in both the short and long term.
More graduates and more qualified but rarely in top roles
“Although among female workers there are percentages of graduates and highly qualified more than double compared to men – pointed out Sebastiano Fadda, president of INAPP – a marked distance is also observed in access and in the characteristics of roles of responsibility: women in top roles have only one person’s supervision versus seven people supervised by male workers».
Poor women, violence is also economic
The DiRe campaign speaks in no uncertain terms about female poverty. – Women on the Net against violence for 8 March. Because «the freedom to be able to choose one’s life and to leave behind the dimension of violence often depend on possibility of women’s economic independence», explains the president Antonella Veltri. But financial control of the partner is also a form of violence, economic violence. In Italy, 3 out of 10 women do not have a bank account and 4 out of 10 are economically dependent on their husbands. If this happens in an abusive relationship, finding a way out is nearly impossible.
The DiRe campaign, between anti-violence centers and job desks
Countryside Oh, poor women will highlight the various aspects of female poverty and economic violence, also illustrating the daily work that the Network’s anti-violence centers carry out to support the women welcomed in their paths of autonomy. The presence of job desks and the activation of local networks support thousands of women in identifying new job opportunities and training courses for professionalisation and placement on the job market.
Economic independence, a goal for 7 out of 10 women
The seriousness of the matter is also confirmed by the “Portrait of Italian women between inclusion and gender gap’ snapped by Mastercard in collaboration with PWN Rome, always on the occasion of March 8th. The research investigated the relationship between women and money with a focus on spending and savings habits, financial independence and inclusion, and the relationship between women and new technological tools. The study shows how 7 out of 10 Italian women declare that one of their main goals is to become economically independent, even if the 74.9% of them have a pessimistic view of the future, especially in the age group over 40 years. It is the youngest women, between 25 and 39 years old, who demonstrate the strongest desire to achieve financial independence (75.1%), testifying to how the new generations of women want to emancipate themselves financially and economically as soon as possible, so as not to depend on other people for their economic stability.
According to the report, it is the money to be received as the real “freedom enabler”, i.e. the main driver of financial independence for 64% of the interviewees.
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