The Italian woman: the risk of a return to the past (2006)

To mark 8 March 2006, Eurispes wanted to dedicate a reflection to the condition of women, caught between the multiplication of roles that society demands and the need to operate in an increasingly complex environment. The focus was on the working situation and the perception of one’s own economic conditions, but also on fundamental values and changes in the man-woman relationship. Therefore, we proceeded to targeted analysis of the data used in the drafting of the 2006 Italy Report, but not published in full, isolating the responses of the female component of the samples used. The study highlighted how the role and condition of women in Italy today are at risk of a dangerous cultural, social and economic regression. In particular, the data show that the female employment rate in Italy is 45.1%, which is the lowest in the EU-15 (in Denmark it is 72.8%, in Sweden 71.6%, in Germany 60.2%, in France 57.8%, in Spain 48.4%). The data is significant in terms of how much economic and productive potential our country loses due to low female participation in the labour market. On a cultural level, too, the surveys carried out by Eurispes show the persistence of old habits and clichés: just think, for example, of the 40% of men who believe that housework is mainly a woman’s job.