(Finance) – Despite the numerical increase of women in the labor market (the female employment rate between 15-64 years old reached 52.5% with +1.4 percentage points from the previous year), the problems that have determined and continue to determine gender gaps in the labor market do not appear resolved. The gender gap between employment rates remains at an average of 18 percentage points of difference and despite the slight annual decline in the inactivity rate, to date 64% of inactivity in Italy continues to be female and mainly motivated by personal needs family. 34% of women and 2.8% of men between 15 and 64 years old and 43.7% of women and 4% of men between 25 and 34 years old (age group of average female fertility). The main reason for male inactivity remains study and training. These are the main findings that emerged from the new Gender Policy Report edited by INAPP.
In particular, the Report highlights that in the first half of 2024, 4,294,151 new hires were activated, of which only 42% were women. 24.4% of all hirings took place through incentives, but despite the incentive policy, three indicators of work quality remain critical: Level of employment stability. The prevalent hiring method remains fixed-term (45.5% for men and 40.4% for women). Permanent contracts cover 18.3% of male hires and only 13.5% of female ones, a lower share than seasonal contracts (17.6%). Incidence of part time. Of all the contracts for women (which are 42% of the total), almost half are part-time (49.2% compared to 27.3% for men). The “double weakness” of fixed-term employment associated with part-time employment it especially affects women. 64.5% of women’s fixed-term contracts are part-time compared to 33% of men.
The Report also highlights the imbalance of care burdens between men and women which continues to have repercussions on employment and incomes. Second the Inapp Plus survey, following motherhood, 16% of women stop working, compared to 2.8% of men. 80% of parental leave is requested by women, but as it partially covers their salary, it determines, according to Inapp Plus estimates, a gender pay gap (raw) of 5 thousand euros. Another aspect to take into consideration is poor work which has a strong gender connotation: for women, given the characteristics of their participation (primarily low hourly wages and low work intensity), the incidence of low-paid work is approximately triple that of male employment (18.5% versus 6.4%).
Finally, the migratory background for women resulted in a lower employment rate in 2023 compared to native women (48.7% versus 53.0%) and higher unemployment (14.2% versus 8.3%). For the same job and qualifications, immigrant women still earn less than both their male colleagues and Italian women, with a concentration in the lower deciles of the income distribution. The presence of children represents a further penalty: if the migration is for reunion or marriage, inactivity is greater for both native women and women who migrate for work. For women who migrated for work, however, the issue of “white orphans”, children left in their country of origin, increases. The complexity of the reunification procedures and the partial coverage of protections enjoyed by the domestic and family work sector in which they are mainly employed represents a further factor of marginalization.
The report also offers the analysis of three European directives, on the subject of gender equality, which Italy will have to implement by spring 2026: directives 1499 and 1500 of 2024 on the rationalization and support of equality bodies and directive 970 of 2023 dedicated to strengthening the principle of equal pay for one same job or for a job of equal value through pay transparency measures.
“Female employment is a strategic resource but increasing the employment rate to bring it closer to the European average is hindered by the difficulty of having adequate services for care work, for children and for non-self-sufficient people – she declared Natale Forlani, president of Inapp –. Female work suffers in terms of the quality of working relationships and a significant share of women give up looking for it. The objective of increasing the provision of services and improving the quantity and quality of women’s working relationships therefore becomes a priority of employment policies”.
(Photo: Carrie Allen www.carrieallen.com on Unsplash)