Italy takes a step back on nine of the 17 global goals of the 2030 Agenda, including the fight against poverty (Goal1), health protection (Goal3), quality education (Goal4), decent work, innovation and infrastructure (Goal 11), partnership (Goal 17) and, with an important alarm signal, gender equality (Goal 5) and the fight against inequalities (Goal 10).
The 2030 Agenda is at the heart of the European Commission's program which aims to create a Green New Deal with the funds of the Next Generation EU (erroneously renamed the "Recovery Fund"). This money will also be a starting point for Italy, which will have to spend it with a gender perspective, abandoning the subsidy policy to instead implement an investment plan for women's work and the digitization of the country, especially as regards services to families (from nursery schools to the care of the disabled and the elderly).
Clear indications come from the EU: 37% of the funds must be used against the climate crisis, 20% for digitization and the remaining 43% for maintaining the social fabric.
GOAL 10: FIGHT AGAINST INEQUALITIES, BETWEEN SOCIAL AND TAX POLICIES
Istat has offered a merciless picture of the situation in Italy, where the probability of social ascent for the younger generation is very low and the improvement in per capita income now concerns an increasingly small slice of the population (from 95% of the of the 40s to 30% of Millennials born between 1980 and 2000). The chapter on inequalities shows that the main labor market indicators referring to 2019 already highlighted several critical elements: the persistent relative disadvantage of young people; the decrease in self-employment, which for a long time has represented a means of social ascent in our country; the greater instability of work, which is associated with lower than average wages and has become an important cause of inequality especially for women.
Furthermore, the evident shortcomings in digital skills reduce the speed of adaptation of our labor market, increasing the risk of segmentation and inequality among workers. With the Asvis Report, the president Enrico Giovannini has repeatedly underlined the importance of "starting today to build tomorrow's welfare", while guaranteeing equal access to fundamental services, starting with education and health. The debate in the majority on the Mes is connected to this last point, especially in the face of the risk of a second wave of infections similar to that of March but in the impossibility of implementing a new lockdown.
Even the ECB insists that governments make more use of the fiscal lever. For our country, this translates into the urgency of an overall reform of the system, preceded by a reorganization of exemptions and deductions to harmonize income taxes with those on assets. In short, social policies on work, education, taxation and the environment become an essential combination to fulfill the commitment to reduce inequalities.
GOAL 5, GENDER EQUALITY: A VICTORY WITH WOMEN SQUARED
The Goal 5 Asvis national event focused on economic violence, a topic dear to me because it is one of the founding purposes of the Global Thinking Foundation. This goal distinguishes us from other associations that deal with financial education in Italy and clarifies the uniqueness of the model that has characterized GLT since its inception: our goal is to carry out projects to "prevent and combat situations deriving from economic isolation for women victims of economic violence, implementing training and dissemination actions to support the principles of gender equality and the reduction of social damage deriving from this phenomenon, which also exposes the new generations to a lack of active participation in the country's economic development " .
The closeness to other European realities in which Governments have courageously implemented existing laws (as in Great Britain) or strengthened widespread family policies (as in France, Spain and Portugal) fills us with hope and strengthens our commitment so that Italy too can understand the phenomenon of economic violence in its economic and social gravity. When we talk about violence and relationship abuse, we typically focus on physical and emotional abuse. But financial abuse and control of an intimate partner's ability to acquire, use and keep money occurs in 99% of domestic violence cases.
Even if this silent form of abuse is not easily recognized, it cannot be relegated to the bottom three questions of a knowledge questionnaire. It begins with small gestures, which in themselves are violations of rights and therefore crimes, which slowly become more and more controlling. This may involve one partner insisting on managing finances without the other's input, or asking the other to stop working. But limiting the ability to earn isn't the only way abusive partners exercise control. They can also limit access to anything the partner has not paid for, such as a car or other basic necessities, even those intended for the children.
A person who runs out of their credit card or bank account ruins their credit profile: in this way, they can prevent them from finding housing by taking out a mortgage, but also from buying a vehicle or obtaining loans for the children's study at the same time. 'abroad. Without access to economic resources, survivors often face a new set of challenges to their safety and security.
In Economic Violence Prevention Handbook and the 2020 Economic Violence Report, published together with Altis of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, we have collected the results of the first social impact analysis carried out on the national territory, which revealed a tangible increase in the financial well-being of the participants in the "Women squared" courses. The project is now 3 years old and has so far involved over two thousand women in 36 municipalities in Italy, acting not only on knowledge – for which according to the OECD we are bringing up the rear in the EU – but also on behaviors and attitudes.
We have shown that prevention can combat economic violence and that financial education is the starting point for women to achieve full economic independence.
Domestic violence remains a systemic and cultural problem and the absence of equal opportunities between men and women, together with deeply rooted stereotypes, only aggravates the situation, with an annual cost measured by We World at 17 billion euros globally (sum that combines social and economic costs).
PROJECTED IMPACT
The acceleration imposed by digitization and automation processes will change the structure of resources employed in the world of work and therefore the necessary and required skills. Rapid and profound changes that require an answer: on the one hand, important investments are needed in training and in the inclusion of women in the world of work; on the other hand, the human factor must be placed at the center of economic and social policies for family support services, which favor the reconciliation between work and family without conditioning linked to wage and systemic differences for women.
There are no years to implement these measures: we have a few months to develop public policies that value sustainable development. We need vision from the Government: on the other hand, the 2030 Agenda is a path traced with well-defined steps, which call for immediate action.
Each of us can do our part and take action to enhance ourselves, but we also have a duty to promote the freedom to act and participate in society, eliminating cultural and systemic barriers that oppose the recognition of constitutional rights that apply to all citizens.
Promoting gender equality and economic independence for a more just and inclusive world that cares about the education and training of the new generations is an investment in the future of our country. Some progress has already been made – for example on air quality or on the reduction of municipal waste and crime – but it is not enough. The Government must act in the direction of acknowledging the rights of Italian women guaranteed by the Constitution: in article 3, in relation to social dignity and equality, and in article 4 regarding the right to work and the promotion of conditions that give effect to this right. We must ensure that ours does not remain a single isolated voice but becomes a widespread choir, because, as we like to say in our Foundation, "education and knowledge are the clean energy of the future".
