Female independence necessarily passes through economic autonomy.
Consequently, it is difficult for a woman to be truly independent without a personal income, generally from work.
Recent data indicate that in Itay female employment is very low compared to the rest of Europe and compared to male employment. In fact, women are responsible for caring for the family as a whole. There are still very few Italian men involved in housework and looking after children and the elderly (Source: https://documenti.camera.it/leg19/dossier/pdf/PP004LA.pdf wich cites the ISTAT SDGs 2023 Report)
In 2022, Eurostat data, which allows for an international comparison, indicates an employment rate for women aged between 20 and 64 in Italy of 55%, against an EU average of 69.3%.
There are therefore approximately 9.5 million employed women, compared to approximately 13 million men.
Furthermore, one in five leaves their job after becoming a mother.
Is motherhood an obstacle in the workplace?
What are the reasons that still lead a considerable number of women to leave their jobs after a pregnancy?
Among female workers who choose to quit following maternity, 52% make this decision due to the difficulty in reconciling working life with caring for children.
19% do so because of economic considerations: if, for example, the expense necessary to send a child to nursery or to pay for a home support figure (nanny, babysitter) is too high, many women give up work to take care of the children personally. As if this expense should only fall on them because the care of the children does not concern their worker partner.
The gender employment gap increases in the case of young children. In 2022, the employment rate of women aged 25 to 49 with children under the age of 6 was 55.5%, while that of women of the same age without children was 76.6%.
What makes the difference, very often, is the level of education, as demonstrated by the reduction of the employment gap between mothers and non-mothers, in the case of a high educational qualification.
There is a gender wage gap
According to the latest Eurostat data on the topic (2021), the average pay gap (the difference in gross hourly pay between men and women) is equal to 5%, therefore below the European average which is 13%.
On the other hand, the overall gap (the difference between the average annual salary received by women and men) is equal to 43%, therefore above the European average which stands at 36.2%.
The data collected by the INPS Observatory on private sector employees say that in 2022 the average annual salary was consistently higher for the male gender: 26,227 euros for men versus 18,305 euros for women.
This situation, in addition to being contrary to policies in support of equal opportunities, can also have indirect consequences on the level of female employment. As already mentioned, when the costs for a nursery or babysitter are too high, usually two parents, following cultural stereotypes, usually decide to “sacrifice” the lower salary (generally the female one), to allow the mother to stay at home to take care of children.
A cultural question (also).
Excluding any economic considerations, the problem remains essentially cultural.
In fact, a still extremely widespread social narrative deems it completely normal to delegate care activities to women. Young children, sick relatives, domestic issues remain for many a strictly female “affair”.
Frequently, it is women who take it for granted that it is up to them to take care of the various family tasks and who choose to delegate the management of their money to their partner.
Also for this reason, many women lack true financial autonomy and, consequently, are limited in their ability to decide freely.
The lack of economic independence is, unfortunately, one of the reasons why, in the event of episodes of domestic violence, many hesitate to leave an abusive partner.
The lack of self-awareness and a condition of economic dependence on the partner, often based on socially accepted clichés and gender stereotypes, make it difficult to understand when one is a victim of economic violence, a form of psychological violence still little investigated precisely because it is often difficult to recognize.
The Museum of Saving has been addressing the issue of economic violence for years and, through numerous financial education courses, is committed to raising women’s awareness of the importance of economic independence for a better quality and greater serenity in their lives.
To find out more visit our website.