Squeezed between the difficulties of reconciling work and family and breaking the glass ceiling. Often forced to a part-time job, in many cases still with little space at the top of companies and companies, with lower incomes – even more for mothers – than men who, then, are reflected in lower pensions: the recovery in employment for women, also penalized more by the pandemic, it is struggling to take off just as the wage gap, albeit reduced in recent years, remains a factor of inequality, as emerges from the data and analyzes on the eve of 8 March. A reversal signal comes from the more qualified profiles: with the increase in the recruitment of graduates and specialists.
From this year, the new law on wage equality starts, introducing the certification of gender equality in companies and the possibility of taking advantage of a contribution relief of 1% up to the limit of 50 thousand euros per year (the total budget is 50 millions).
The wage gap is narrowing, but there is still some way to go. The difference between the average gross hourly earnings of men and women decreased in Europe in 2020 to 13% (from 13.7% in 2019 and against 16.4% in 2012), Eurostat notes with regard to enterprises with 10 or more employees. And in Italy the gap reaches 4.2%, among the lowest in the continent and down from 4.7% in 2019 (compared to 6.5% in 2012). But the main problem for women in our country remains the difference in the employment rate, which is around 50% (compared to 68% for men). Falling rate for mothers. In 2020, again according to Eurostat, mothers between 25 and 54 years old in Italy were found to have the lowest level of employment in the EU, less than 60% compared to the average 72% in EU countries (and 77% for women without children). For mothers, the paycheck is also lighter. A woman with a child earns less than a childless worker: 15 years after maternity leave the annual gross salary is lower than 5,700 euros, underlines the president of INPS, Pasquale Tridico, highlighting in general that “wage inequalities are transformed into pension inequalities “. The pensions of women are on average 27% lower than those of men: the average allowance, he points out, is in fact 1,352 euros against 1,863 euros per month.
A new scenario seems to open up with the more specialized generations: thanks to the increase in demand for specific figures, in 2021 the hiring of women was characterized by a growth in both graduates (+ 8.3%), and in the intellectual and senior professions. high specialization (+ 23%) and technical ones (+ 1%), highlights the Foundation for employment consultants. Even if women are the ones who paid the most for the pandemic crisis: in 13 years, from 2008 to 2021, the female employment rate in Italy grew by only 2.6 percentage points (from 47.3% to 49.9% to the third quarter), says the Di Vittorio Foundation of the CGIL. For them, the use of fixed-term or part-time contracts remains greater, often involuntary, which is why careers are discontinuous and less paid.
Reaching the top remains not easy. In the banking sector, the presence of women is high but the disparity in roles and salaries is equally high: 46.9% made up of women, only 0.8% have managerial positions, 31.5% have the role of managerial staff and 67.7% of office workers, highlights the analysis of the Uilca Orietta Guerra Study Center. The same conclusion from the Unioncamere-InfoCamere Women’s Entrepreneurship Observatory: the presence of women is reduced towards the top of companies, where only one in four positions is held by women.
Source: Ansa
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