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Why Italy’s women are out of work
Posted on: April 19, 2008
- In: domestic | economy | Europe | family | girls | Italy | out of work | women
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The economy is one of the big issues in the forthcoming General Election in Italy.
Some are questioning why in particular the country has one of the lowest rates of women’s employment in the European Union.
Why is there so much female unemployment in one of Europe’s most developed countries?
Italy has almost the lowest rate of female employment in the European Union – just 46 percent of Italian women have jobs, and the figure is even lower in the south of the country.
Italy’s minister for European affairs Emma Bonino believes that getting women into work would help revive the country’s economy.
“We have six million women, more or less, who do not have access to a job or are not looking for one anymore,” she told BBC World Service’s Analysis programme.
“In any country, if you had six million men out of the job market it would be an emergency. In Italy you have six million women and, apparently, it is thought to be normal.”
Demand
The state of the economy is likely to be one of the key issues in the election in a few days’ time.
And Italian economist Fiorella Kostoris says that the current state of insufficient growth means many more women are needed in the economy.
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  It is important that women understand what is happening to them, and take the strength publicly to say it is unacceptable  European affairs minister Emma Bonino
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She says the jobs are available, but the demand is not effective because women are not seen as good candidates.
“Provided there was a fight against discrimination towards women – in particular in the south – there would be a demand for them,” she added.
“And there would be a supply, because of the female unemployment.”
Family
In order to work out how to get these women into the job market it is important to understand why they are unemployed.
Traditionally, women are absent from the workforce in order to have children – but Italy has an exceptionally low birthrate too.
“In Italy, family and domestic responsibility fall almost completely on women’s shoulders,” RAI news Mariella Zezza, who broadcasts a programme about the role of Italian women in society.
There are calls for Italy’s media to show more than glamour girls
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Because “family” in Italy refers to extended family, even women without children might give up looking for work to look after elderly relatives.
“We need to offer tax incentives to women, and the state should think about what mothers who work need. They should build more nurseries, for example.”
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