Female integration in work and wages It’s not just a matter of fairness but of democracy
We need anniversaries, ceremonies and symbolic gestures. Without International Women’s Day on 8 March, how else could we publish the statistics which show that, despite considerable progress, Italy is still last in Europe in terms of the percentage of women in employment, at 53.5%, just below the EU average of 69.3% (in the south a disgraceful 34%). And what would motivate us to include the word “femicide” among the most heinous crimes in the criminal code. It may be a symbolic gesture, but naming a street after Luana D’Orazio, a worker who was crushed to death by a machine in a textile factory in Montemurlo (Prato) in May 1921, in contravention of safety regulations, “is a symbol of all deaths at work.” Without this anniversary, how would we know that the number of female rectors is increasing (there are 17 in 85 universities), with the leading Italian university city, Milan, boasting some “magnificent” women in its five universities (Statale, Politecnico, Bicocca, Cattolica and Iulm), as well as in the nearby Liuc of Castellanza, Varese and probably Pavia. How would we publish research (Il Sole24Ore, 8 March) documenting “the map of women at the top, from institutions to finance: more than ever before” and stressing that in schools “eight out of ten teachers are women” and therefore perhaps “the culture can change”.
In short, to use Wislawa Szymborska‘s poetic words, it’s a good thing to “carve bold words in stone”. But we should also listen to those who keep warning us: like Francesca Paci in “La Stampa”, “Dear men, more facts, less mimosas”, a reference to the mimosa flower traditionally given to women on 8 March as a symbol of the women’s movement. And we should heed the lesson that “every beginning is only a continuation” (another quote from Szymborska, the Polish Nobel Prize winner), with the understanding that there are battles to be fought, social and civil conquests to be achieved and then defended, values of equality and respect to be shared more and more.
Anniversaries, commemorations, celebrations and symbolic gestures serve precisely to reinforce, with the power of ritual, a longstanding commitment to give substance to the rights of equality and participation, to put into practice, here in Italy, the Constitution‘s dictates on equality and on the opportunity of every person to be a citizen and to assert their dreams and legitimate needs, and to guarantee, with each generational change, to the young people entering civil life, adequate opportunities for a better future.
It is therefore important to recognise that more and more women are breaking through the “glass ceiling” of gender discrimination and reaching the top of institutions, associations, companies, cultural and scientific structures (the Golfo-Mosca law on “pink quotas” has had a positive stimulating effect, gradually giving way to selection based on merit). But now we need to broaden our horizons to achieve ever greater equality. Starting from the world of economics and work, but above all from a political assessment of the need for ever greater and better participation by women in all the processes of life in the community, of active and responsible citizenship.
After the darkness of Fascism and the horrors of the racist laws and the war, women became the cornerstone of the life of the Republic at a time of extraordinary political innovation. They were finally able to stand and vote in the referendum on the choice between the Republic and the Monarchy and in the Constituent Assembly of 1946 (for a better understanding, it is worth reading “C’è ancora domani” (Tomorrow is still there) by Paola Cortellesi and “Le madri della Costituzione” (The mothers of the constitution) by Eliana Di Caro, published by IlSole24Ore). The electorate finally coincided with the entire population of voting age. An incomprehensible and unjust discrimination ended. Women became fully-fledged citizens with rights and duties.
Over time, the implementation of the Constitution has meant, and still means, the full implementation of Article 3, which states that “it is the duty of the Republic to remove the economic and social obstacles which, by limiting the freedom and equality of citizens, impede the full development of the human person and the effective participation of all workers in the political, economic and social organisation of the country”.
Checking the level of implementation of Article 3 could be a good parameter to measure, every 8 March, not only the path of equality, but also the state of health of democratic participation in the life and future of Italy.
A path to be followed, promoted and built upon.
In fact, ISTAT, INPS and CNEL statistics (“More educated, less paid”, La Stampa, 7 March; “Eight million unemployed women, the wealth we are wasting”, la Repubblica, 7 March) document that, beyond the formal equality of salaries and careers, women face an uphill struggle, especially after the birth of their first child. Part-time work, less mobility, less willingness to invest in careers and the obligation to take on more family responsibilities than men create a gap in pay and career opportunities. And this gap is often never closed.
In short, there is still much to be done to reduce and then eliminate gender differences in work, pay, rights and, why not? power. This requires a positive process to create better economic and social balance. As Chiara Saraceno, one of the most authoritative Italian sociologists, confirms: “The growth rate of working women is half that of men; motherhood continues to weigh heavily. And reducing the gender gap is not just a question of equality, but of the economic sustainability of the country” (La Stampa, 6 March).
In an Italy that is experiencing a worrying “demographic winter”, policy and investment choices on issues such as labour force participation, family and childcare services, housing, health, support for training and innovation in the broad sense (economic and social, not just technological) are crucial, both from the point of view of sustainable development and, above all, from the point of view of the defence and growth of democracy. Let’s look again at Article 3 of the Constitution from the integrated perspective of women and men.
The issue is also important from a purely economic point of view. “The best way to have a strong economy is to unlock the full potential of women in our workforce,” writes Sheryl Sandberg, former director of Meta (Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook and Instagram empire), in the Financial Times (reprinted by Il Foglio, 8 March). This is the choice of womenomics as a growth strategy. But it is also an indicator not only of quantity, but above all of quality, and therefore of the equity of development.
Italy itself, with its unique business culture, is the perfect example of this. Our “industrial humanism”, which characterises the most competitive companies in international markets and those most deeply rooted in the country’s “polytechnic culture” of memory and innovation, is based on the synthesis of humanistic and scientific knowledge. And a lack of inclusion is a contradiction in terms. Experience in business management also shows that women are able to express specific qualities that are fundamental in the era of the primacy of the “knowledge economy” and the multidisciplinary approach that is essential for the management of artificial intelligence.
Thinking about the role and responsibility of women therefore means not only having the ability to improve the general social situation by improving the female situation, but above all having an intellectual and cultural universe, a sensitivity and a pragmatic ability to solve problems for that general “paradigm shift” that has been talked about for some time and that affects the productive economy, civil life, the sphere of rights and duties and welfare. In short, the whole of our democracy.
(Photo Getty Images)
We need anniversaries, ceremonies and symbolic gestures. Without International Women’s Day on 8 March, how else could we publish the statistics which show that, despite considerable progress, Italy is still last in Europe in terms of the percentage of women in employment, at 53.5%, just below the EU average of 69.3% (in the south a disgraceful 34%). And what would motivate us to include the word “femicide” among the most heinous crimes in the criminal code. It may be a symbolic gesture, but naming a street after Luana D’Orazio, a worker who was crushed to death by a machine in a textile factory in Montemurlo (Prato) in May 1921, in contravention of safety regulations, “is a symbol of all deaths at work.” Without this anniversary, how would we know that the number of female rectors is increasing (there are 17 in 85 universities), with the leading Italian university city, Milan, boasting some “magnificent” women in its five universities (Statale, Politecnico, Bicocca, Cattolica and Iulm), as well as in the nearby Liuc of Castellanza, Varese and probably Pavia. How would we publish research (Il Sole24Ore, 8 March) documenting “the map of women at the top, from institutions to finance: more than ever before” and stressing that in schools “eight out of ten teachers are women” and therefore perhaps “the culture can change”.
In short, to use Wislawa Szymborska‘s poetic words, it’s a good thing to “carve bold words in stone”. But we should also listen to those who keep warning us: like Francesca Paci in “La Stampa”, “Dear men, more facts, less mimosas”, a reference to the mimosa flower traditionally given to women on 8 March as a symbol of the women’s movement. And we should heed the lesson that “every beginning is only a continuation” (another quote from Szymborska, the Polish Nobel Prize winner), with the understanding that there are battles to be fought, social and civil conquests to be achieved and then defended, values of equality and respect to be shared more and more.
Anniversaries, commemorations, celebrations and symbolic gestures serve precisely to reinforce, with the power of ritual, a longstanding commitment to give substance to the rights of equality and participation, to put into practice, here in Italy, the Constitution‘s dictates on equality and on the opportunity of every person to be a citizen and to assert their dreams and legitimate needs, and to guarantee, with each generational change, to the young people entering civil life, adequate opportunities for a better future.
It is therefore important to recognise that more and more women are breaking through the “glass ceiling” of gender discrimination and reaching the top of institutions, associations, companies, cultural and scientific structures (the Golfo-Mosca law on “pink quotas” has had a positive stimulating effect, gradually giving way to selection based on merit). But now we need to broaden our horizons to achieve ever greater equality. Starting from the world of economics and work, but above all from a political assessment of the need for ever greater and better participation by women in all the processes of life in the community, of active and responsible citizenship.
After the darkness of Fascism and the horrors of the racist laws and the war, women became the cornerstone of the life of the Republic at a time of extraordinary political innovation. They were finally able to stand and vote in the referendum on the choice between the Republic and the Monarchy and in the Constituent Assembly of 1946 (for a better understanding, it is worth reading “C’è ancora domani” (Tomorrow is still there) by Paola Cortellesi and “Le madri della Costituzione” (The mothers of the constitution) by Eliana Di Caro, published by IlSole24Ore). The electorate finally coincided with the entire population of voting age. An incomprehensible and unjust discrimination ended. Women became fully-fledged citizens with rights and duties.
Over time, the implementation of the Constitution has meant, and still means, the full implementation of Article 3, which states that “it is the duty of the Republic to remove the economic and social obstacles which, by limiting the freedom and equality of citizens, impede the full development of the human person and the effective participation of all workers in the political, economic and social organisation of the country”.
Checking the level of implementation of Article 3 could be a good parameter to measure, every 8 March, not only the path of equality, but also the state of health of democratic participation in the life and future of Italy.
A path to be followed, promoted and built upon.
In fact, ISTAT, INPS and CNEL statistics (“More educated, less paid”, La Stampa, 7 March; “Eight million unemployed women, the wealth we are wasting”, la Repubblica, 7 March) document that, beyond the formal equality of salaries and careers, women face an uphill struggle, especially after the birth of their first child. Part-time work, less mobility, less willingness to invest in careers and the obligation to take on more family responsibilities than men create a gap in pay and career opportunities. And this gap is often never closed.
In short, there is still much to be done to reduce and then eliminate gender differences in work, pay, rights and, why not? power. This requires a positive process to create better economic and social balance. As Chiara Saraceno, one of the most authoritative Italian sociologists, confirms: “The growth rate of working women is half that of men; motherhood continues to weigh heavily. And reducing the gender gap is not just a question of equality, but of the economic sustainability of the country” (La Stampa, 6 March).
In an Italy that is experiencing a worrying “demographic winter”, policy and investment choices on issues such as labour force participation, family and childcare services, housing, health, support for training and innovation in the broad sense (economic and social, not just technological) are crucial, both from the point of view of sustainable development and, above all, from the point of view of the defence and growth of democracy. Let’s look again at Article 3 of the Constitution from the integrated perspective of women and men.
The issue is also important from a purely economic point of view. “The best way to have a strong economy is to unlock the full potential of women in our workforce,” writes Sheryl Sandberg, former director of Meta (Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook and Instagram empire), in the Financial Times (reprinted by Il Foglio, 8 March). This is the choice of womenomics as a growth strategy. But it is also an indicator not only of quantity, but above all of quality, and therefore of the equity of development.
Italy itself, with its unique business culture, is the perfect example of this. Our “industrial humanism”, which characterises the most competitive companies in international markets and those most deeply rooted in the country’s “polytechnic culture” of memory and innovation, is based on the synthesis of humanistic and scientific knowledge. And a lack of inclusion is a contradiction in terms. Experience in business management also shows that women are able to express specific qualities that are fundamental in the era of the primacy of the “knowledge economy” and the multidisciplinary approach that is essential for the management of artificial intelligence.
Thinking about the role and responsibility of women therefore means not only having the ability to improve the general social situation by improving the female situation, but above all having an intellectual and cultural universe, a sensitivity and a pragmatic ability to solve problems for that general “paradigm shift” that has been talked about for some time and that affects the productive economy, civil life, the sphere of rights and duties and welfare. In short, the whole of our democracy.
(Photo Getty Images)