What do two characters so different, and belonging to diametrically opposite worlds, like Christine Lagarde e Patricia Arquette? Yet in recent days, also thanks to the approach of March 8, their names have been placed side by side for a common stance in favor of women. The single mother of B he chose the Oscar stage to invoke equal pay between women and men (since they impose that on us as taxpayers…); the top manager of the International Monetary Fund, normally measured and sober (like her candid hair) spoke of conspiracy, conspiracy, conspiracy against women all over the world. A very precise lexical choice that leaves no room for misunderstandings.
The ostracism of the fairer sex from the productive world is a gigantic ballast to global growth: in the United States, female discrimination costs an (additional) 5% of GDP; in Italy we are at 15%. In Egypt 34%. Scary percentages, especially in a phase where growth represents a sort of universal mantra, which, translated into a nutshell, amount to nine trillion dollars in Cuba. Yes, nine trillion greenbacks that are missing because, all over the world, women take refuge in plan Bs, alternative (and less valuable) options to those to which their talents and preparation could aspire.
It cannot be entirely and solely the fault of the lack of initiative of the female gender or of a limited willingness to spend themselves in "onerous" tasks in terms of time and responsibility ... and here comes Christine Lagarde to put the compound in her sights, or those "legal restrictions ” that prevent women from being “economically active”.
All of this was also photographed in the Gender Gap elaborated by the World Economic Forum which, by outlining world trends, highlights situations that are not idyllic in our country. Out of 142 countries covered by the survey, Italy, which occupies the 69th position on average, does better for the political valorisation of women (37th place, thanks to the result of the 2013 elections) but falls to position 114 under the heading "participation and opportunities economic".
Translated, on the overall economic level, Italian women are in bad shape and are much worse off than men. When they work, they suffer from an estimated wage gap of around 7%; they are the group of workers who resort to part-time work more than others (with the consequence of lower wages, lower participation in the life of the company, fewer, if not zero, chances of promotion; much lower pensions in old age) and they occupy the lowest rungs of the corporate structure.
In the Europe of 28 there are certainly those who are worse off than us if the average wage gap exceeds 16%, but the Italian cross-section is not exciting between the different areas of the country in terms of employment. The North as a whole reaches the target desired in Lisbon in 2000 (60% of female employment) while in the South the percentages are halved.
Is it possible to reverse course? I'd say it's a must if you want to give new life to the country, to all of the industrialized West. More work for women equals not only more gross domestic product but also less empty cradles. In Italy we are at historic lows in terms of birth rate (8,5 births per 1000 inhabitants) ewe limit the damage only thanks to the contribution of foreigners.
The remedies? To grow professionally and try to land a few blows decisive at the glass ceiling the commitment of the individual is crucial. The defeatist attitude of women (often even qualified) who, faced with “family” choices/commitments, abdicate their public role, engulfed by – outdated – stereotypes that others have often designed for them, does not pay. The family, the children must be an extra incentive to do. And to do well.
Young women who do not want to be dropped out of the world of work cannot forget training, both top-down and modality self-managed; they must learn the art of negotiation, ask and know how to ask with equal assertiveness.
From the institutions we can (must) expect support that materializes in more services (which are not to be understood as free) for the family, widespread policies of timing reconciliation work-family including introduction/recognition of smart working (whom she sees among her main supporters Irene Tinagli, economist, deputy and mother of a one-and-a-half-year-old child), possible today also thanks to the solutions offered by user-friendly technologies and on which lies a bill in Parliament.
Also to stem the still high fear that primiparas leave work taken care of the baby, it would be desirable, as he repeated with conviction on several occasions Ilaria Capua – Parliamentarian of Civic Choice for Italy, virologist and mother – to financially reward those new mothers who decide to go back to carrying out their duties at the end of the period of compulsory absence (with us 4 months fully paid). A widespread institute even if with different modalities that is not foreseen in only three countries in the world. And here comes the surprise: to keep company in Oman and Papua New Guinea none other than the United States.
