GENDERWISE The role of men as agents of change in reconciling work and family life

1. GENDERWISE The role of men as agents of change in reconciling work and family life 2nd Transnational Peer Review Enna 6th-07th October 2006 Gender Equality in the workplace

2. Role discrimination the workplace

3. In Italy, genderwise and anti-discrimination policies have not reached important results. Disparities persist and occur again in the new social dynamics and in the new productive and reproductive conditions. • At the same way than in other countries, women are a priceless resource, however they are still the most exposed to risks of discrimination and exclusion.

4. The most important change which has taken place recently in our society concerns women’s experience and identity. This change concerns above all their freedom and chance to make their own choices in their private life (procreation and access to training and job opportunities).

5. The increased woman emancipation can be seen in the increase in her participation in the job market, in the improvement of her work position, in the increase of the number of women employed in the growing sectors and in higher positions. • Italian women, indeed, who are as a paradox the most employed and unemployed in Europe, are the most dynamic and innovative component force of the job market and entrepreneurship.They have been identified as the engine of economy and social and economical development of our country.

6. Neverthless, the Italian job market records still a strong gap between male and female workers. The rates of female activity and employment are dramatically under the European ones and as a consequence, the Lisbon directions (the objective for Europe is an increasing of 60% for 2010) imposed to Italy an extraordinary growth of female employment, in term of fast pace, steady solidity, quality and stability.

7. The positive results of woman component force, that are still low in the Southern regions, pointed outthat woman employment is mainly bound to atypical and temporary job. This results showed how women profitof opportunities of stabilization of business relationsmuch lesser than men.

8. Moreover, the increasing participation of women in the job market have not modified the role of man in the familiar responsibilities and the burden of domestic work and activities remains mainly on woman.

9. The female job, figures Since 1993 up to now jobs among women increased of 16,5%, reaching the rate of 8.236 unities, against an increase of 1,3% among men, reaching 13.593. This means that in a decade the total amount of new jobs have been covered by women.

10. Women employment increased above all in the sector of services (however little in the sector of commerce), while it decreased in agriculture and industry. Italian women have been and still are underrepresented in self-employment: their rate is just 29,2%, while the rate increases in the subordinate sector like for men,despite the growth of number of female entrepreneurs.

11. According to a study of CESIS, among public and private managers, 80,7% are men, while women are only 19,3%. The “pink sectors” are school, and health service and the number of women manager is increasing: the number of women manager, especially in public institutions, has increased up to 24.2%, and the percentage reaches 37,4% among executive managerial staff.

12. If we analyse the level of education, however, a strong discrimination come out. Among the 30-39 year-old female employees, almost 60% todays has a secondary degree, while men are less then the half. Almost 20% of young female employees has a doctor’s degree, while among male the rate is just 11,6%. The most important aspect is that for men education is connected just with their position and their role in their workplace.

13. For women, instead, education seems a prerequisite for their access to work, that would be otherwise difficult and anyway subordinate. In the job market 80,3% of women have doctor’s degree, 66,7% have secondary school diploma, 64,9% have vocational school, 42,9% compulsory school, 16,6% without any school the percentage fall to 16,6% and the unemployment rate is the highest. Compared to the European average Italy has the lowest rate of low-educated women employed.

14. If we analyse the unemployment rate the differences between genders and between geographical areas become stronger. If we consider manpower between 15 and 64 years old, the female unemployment rate is two times the male one in every areas of the countries.

15. The data show critical situations above all for the youngest categories living in the South (57,4%) and in the Islands (58,7%). • The chances to find a job for young women are higher in the North-Eastern area where unemployment rates are 7,8% for 20-24-aged women and 6% for 25-29-aged women.

16. For middle-aged categories (35-39 and 40-44) the highest unemployment rates record once more in the South and in the Islands. The unemployment rates for Southern women reach 23,8% (for 35-39) in the islands against 4,4% of the North-West area. It is probable that some of these unemployed women have never been employed, not even as temporary or off-the-book workers.

17. A study of the Ministry of Labour through the Excelsior informative system concerning the job demand in the Province of Enna for 2004 reveals that there is a low level of participation of female component force in the job market.

18. If we make a distinction between genders, we can notice that in the Province of Enna the number of women participating in the job market is very low, compared to female population living in this area.

19. Concerning the professional composition we can notice, once more, a kind of gender segregation, in the sense that there are typical female job and typical male jobs. Women are mainly employed in the sector of services, health services, domestic services, aesthetics sector, and in the door-to-door selling.

20. DISCRIMINATIONS IN THE WORKPLACES • The concept of discrimination lays on the definition of unjustified prejudice from the employer or from collegues and superiors to hire a woman and to place her in high level sectors and give her high positions, according to her requisites and competences, and give her an equal wage, like a male employee with the same competences and skills.

21. Although the discrimination against female workers is a widespread phenomenon, both in horizontal and vertical segregation, women have a partial and insufficient awareness of it.

22. The most common cases concern the following aspects: conciliation, wage discrimination, discriminatory dismissal, persecutions in the workplace, sexual harrassement, career progressions.

23. Especially maternity still represents a very critical stage of woman career. It is still a common practise to ask for the pregnancy test before hiring, and the practice of hiring with a contextual blank letter of resignation. Regressions and transfers are often connected to maternity, as well as stricter conditions than the ones provided by law concerning the leaves for fathers in case of under three-year-old kid’s sickness, in the assumption that mother should be in charge of the nursing.

24. Another widespread form of discrimination concerns the wage. The wage differences between women and men are a common phenomenon in Italy. Women’s job income, as well as retirement pensions are considerably lower than men’s.

25. The average gap of job income is higher, in relative terms, in the most qualified and better paid jobs and in the areas where the average income is higher. A manager’s wage is 1,5 time higher than a woman of the same level and qualification, in subordinate job man’s hourly pay is more than three times higher than woman’s.

26. POLICIES IN SUPPORT OF WOMEN To cope with these inequalities, in these last years the Government developed policies to promote women participation and employment through specific laws and allocations.

27. Let’s remind the laws against discrimination: • law 125/91 prohibitsany kind of discrimination in the workplaces, in order to promote professional equality among workers. It provides a series of instruments to promote women employment and to prevent and contrast discrimination in the workplaces.

28. Law 215/92, provides financial support for actions promoting woman entrepreneurship in favour of women who wish to create an enterprise

29. Law 53/2000 introduces leaves for relatives and, with the objectives to promote a new balance between professional and private life, provides a series of provisions to support maternity and paternity, to support the right to nursing and training. The objective of the law is to attribute to both parents the right to get leaves in order to make possible a re-distribution of responsibilities and nursing between the two genders.

30. The anti-discrimination measures and the genderwise policies have contained direct discriminations and have produced a higher awareness, above all in young women.

31. Discrimination against which we must fight today is mainly indirect discrimination, which push female workforce towards underpaid sectors, job, and qualification with no chance of promotion. Meaningful examples is the increase of nursing job in private household or in the third sector and the increase of atypical jobs. Underpaid and discontinous jobs not only prejudice the acquisition of experiences and competences, jeopardizing the hopes of career, but they also obstacle perspectives of private projects of life, such as maternity.

32. It is necessary, therefore, a real “cultural revolution”. Within this context actions must be taken in school concerning cultural education, civics, school guidance and services to family. The problem of gender disequalities does not concern only women, but the whole society, which must cope with it more than in the past, to make more effective the commitment to reduce the gender disparities in the work context.

33. No progresses can take place if we do not improve the dimension of local welfare and the network of common culture, services for person and families, network of support and associations, that could assure a fair and right conciliation between women’s work and private life. Besides the possible investments in specific services for working women, the most important boost in this field must be employed in the creation of a shared culture and the combination of all the different services of familiar support.

34. Finally, also guidance and monitoring are necessary. Careful observations of the current situation and new ideas about strategies to be carried out derive from a careful and steady analysis of the context with its progresses and from an accurate study of the processes taking place. It is necessary, therefore, to strengthen the monitoring activity concerning woman and man employment, and also the local socio-economical job systems, woman troubles, quality of the carried out actions and good practices of guidance.