CHow is the gender equality game going in the Pnrr, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan that our country has adopted, committing itself with the European Union to spend 194.4 billion euros by 2026?
Female empowerment was, together with young people and territorial rebalancing, one of the three priorities of the plan. For this reason, a very large part of the investments financed was also linked to the objective of reducing gender gaps.
But, according to an elaboration of theOpenpolis Observatoryalthough 56 measures that fall into this profile have been adopted, for a total value of approximately 98.4 billion euros, with almost 100 thousand projects financed, as of 31 December 2025 the resources actually spent were on average 45.5 percent of the planned total (openpolis.it).
Antonella Baccaro (photo by Carlo Furgeri Gilbert).
«A still limited quota», observes Openpolis «considering that the plan now enters its final phase», and there is a risk of losing what has not been spent. Now, a significant part of the measures considered “sensitive” with respect to gender equality includes the obligation to reserve at least 30 percent of new hires for women and young people under 36 in companies that win contracts.
The EU directive aims to close the gender pay gap and provide workers with the tools to understand if they are paid fairly (photo Getty Images)
However, based on Anac (Anti-corruption Authority) data updated to April 2026, since the launch of the Pnrr, over 316 thousand tenders have been announced and the hiring reserve for women and young people is only foreseen in around 34 percent of cases. In 50.8 percent of the notices the clause does not appear, while in the remaining 15.5 percent the information is not available. What makes this situation possible are above all the too many exceptions provided for by the legislation.
Things are a little better in the part of the Pnrr which allocates 400 million euros to support the creation and consolidation of companies led by women. So far, 925 projects have been approved. By June it is expected that it will be granted to at least another 2,400 companies. As of 31 December 2025, however, once again only 39.7 percent of the available resources had been spent. This is bitter proof that what our country lacks to exploit opportunities is a streamlined and efficient bureaucracy.
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Antonella Baccaro’s articles on I Woman and on Corriere della Sera.