Italy the Quiet Revolution Has Become Silent

In Italy, the gender gap in the labor market is significant. Starting in the 1990s and until the crisis, female employment grew at a faster pace than male employment, bringing a reduction in the participation rate differential. The Great Recession further strengthened the process, thanks to a drop in male employment more pronounced than women. However, the latest data seem to indicate a re-opening of the gender gap in activity rate, with female employment participation that for years has been stuck at 47%, with women experiencing a stronger incidence of short-term contracts with respect to their male counterparts. In terms of wage differentials, the news are not good, either: although they diminished over time, in line with what happened in other OECD countries, since the 2000s in Itay the reduction process has stopped, and in recent years, in particular, has not involved the upper end of the wage distribution, thereby accentuating the glass ceiling phenomenon.

Claudia Goldin, an American economist, years ago coined the term quiet revolution to refer to the growth in women's education and the significant increase in the participation of women, especially married ones, in the labor market. A quiet yet disruptive change to the US economy and society. More recently, the question has been raised of what is still missing in the United States to complete the silent revolution: the attainment of full convergence between genders seems to be impeded by the organization of work within companies and organizations. In her opinion, to stop rewarding working long hours and the willingness to work in peculiar hours would help more than anything else to achieve gender parity in the labor market. Changes in this direction have taken place in the United States in some sectors, for example in IT or health industries, where there has been an improvement in the professional position of women, but much less in others, such as finance, business and the legal professions.

œ' each industry has its own corporate welfare
Surely even in Italy the organization of labor is a crucial ingredient: the procedures within companies define the opportunities for households to achieve that balance between work and family care that is essential for individual well-being and sense of personal fulfillment. Different working hours, flexibility in the organization of work flows, mentoring and tutoring for professional growth, the availability of corporate welfare services especially for women are items on the agenda to make business organizations more conducive to the attainment of gender balance. According to ISTAT data regarding firms that offer corporate welfare, 31% of companies operating in the service sector provide some form of childcare, social services, assistance, recreation and support: but if we look at manufacturing or retail, the percentages drop to 18 and 4% of firms, respectively. If we ask how many companies are willing to introduce flexible hours to help reconcile life-work balance for employees, the numbers improve but the differences remain: 50% of companies operating in the service sector, 36% of manufacturing companies and 24 % of those working in the retail sector are respectively willing to tolerate more flexibility in the employee's interest. However, the numbers then tell us that there is room for considerable improvement.

But the organization of work at the office or factory, although crucial, is neither the last nor the only obstacle that Italian women have to overcome. There are also factors in the home that have to be considered. First, the apportionment of family chores is as important as work in determining gender gaps: according to the OECD, Italian women devote on average 22 more hours of unpaid work per week than their live-in partners, while the average difference in Nordic countries is only 5 hours. Secondly, consider the gender culture: the data of European Values Survey say that the percentage of Italians who believe that "When jobs are scarce, men should have a priority over women" is much higher than in other European countries.

Finally there's the issue of government policies: the resources invested by our country to promote women's employment and the balance between work and family duties are limited with respect to other countries.

We just have to choose where to start from, to reduce gender inequality in Italy.