Women are paying the price for the pandemic. In the United States it was renamed transition, i.e. the recession affecting the women much more than men. A world-class phenomenon, which has increased the gender gap, resulting in a 4% drop in the female workforce at the OECD level and a negative impact on wages of 8,1% for women versus 5,4% for men. This is what emerged from Inapp Report 2021.
The results of the Report are alarming. In December 2020, there were 9 million and 530 thousand employed women and 13 million and 330 thousand men. Compared to the previous year, there are 444 fewer employed people, of which only 312 thousand women, corresponding to a decrease of 3,6% for women and 2% for men. In particular, employed women are decreased by 2,6% in dependent work (against 1,9% of men) and of8,3% in self-employment (against the corresponding -2,5% male).
Among the causes: the sectoral composition of employment, whereby women work more in sectors and services that have long been subjected to restrictive measures and closures arranged in compliance with social distancing and which are currently struggling to recover; The non-renewal of fixed-term contracts, in which women have always been present in a greater proportion, which concerned 16,2% of women against -12,4% of men; the reduction of new employment relationships which in 2020 was much more marked for women (-1.975.042) than for men (-1.486.079) in almost all types of contracts (in fixed-term contracts -52% women and - 48% men; in apprenticeship -51% women and -47% men; in seasonal work -34% women and -31% men). Incisive factor on overall female participation was also the growing burden of care on the elderly and minors (aggravated by the health emergency and distance learning) which has strengthened the "sandwich generation" label for women over 40.
“Now we need a new commitment that favors the modification of these quotas and seriously puts the issue of raising the female employment rate at the center of the political agenda – commented prof. Sebastian Fadda, President of the Inapp -. To this end, it is necessary to move along two directions: implement long-term support policies that can become of a 'structural' nature and not miss the opportunity of the PNRR, in particular the conditionality clause, implemented by the Support decree, which requires 30% of young people under 36 and women out of all new hires".
Furthermore, Fadda underlined that so far short-term measures have been taken, aimed at marginally buffering the situation (such as monetary transfers, bonuses, vouchers, cheques, but also tax incentives and tax cuts), while less attention has been devoted to the elaboration of concrete and long-term strategies capable of affecting the structural causes at the origin of the phenomenon.
Il PNRR it may be an opportunity to unblock the situation. “The conditionality clause, transposed by the Support Decree, which requires 30% of young people under 36 and women on all new hires on PNRR projects, may represent an opportunity to exit the shecession. The Institute – concluded Fadda – will monitor the progress of this highly innovative measure in the public procurement system”.
