“We should implement…”. We should. So says the minister Marina Calderone. Chamber of the Chamber, Wednesday, internal day. We talk about paternity leave, an achievement of civilization in many Western countries, a great unfinished business in Italy.
Ten days of obligation for men, compared to five months for women. Plus the optional ten months that the two parents can share up to the child’s twelve years of age. Result: very thin. In 2022, according to Istat, 173,223 fathers took compulsory leave, 3,203 took optional leave. To introduce a little more equality in family management, a provision of the Family Act, in force from spring 2022, would commit the government to increasing the days of compulsory leave “for a minimum period, not less than two months, of parental leave not transferable to the other parent for each child”. Two months each, with a bonus if the split between the two is fair. An incentive for equality within the walls of the home. Nice, in theory. In practice, after two years: nothing.
“We should implement it,” says Calderone, Minister of Labor in the Meloni government. But my fellow Minister of the Family, Eugenia Roccella, does not seem equally convinced: “There is a natural desire to reconsider its contents in light of the directions of the current majority, but the Family Act is essentially a declaration of intent, without corresponding budget items and has in fact remained unimplemented”. There is no money and perhaps we do not agree: this is the message.
Leaves, last in Europe
Two years ago in Italy, optional parental leave was requested by 78% by mothers, 22% by fathers. Fifty-four days on average for women, twenty-three on average for men. Four thousand five hundred and twenty brave people, ready to fight stereotypes and put their careers on hold, to join an army of mothers in caring for their children. Cultural but also economic factors weigh heavily: men generally earn more than women, their work weighs more for a family.
But compulsory leave doesn’t seem to make any inroads either. Those ten miserable days of break close to the birth of their children were enjoyed by 124,410 fathers in 2022. But more than half didn’t care about the law: 393 thousand children were born that year in Italy.
Today we are still there, among the last in Europe, with Belgium and Poland. In Spain both mothers and fathers are entitled to 16 weeks, non-transferable, full salary. The leader Sweden is unmatchable: the State guarantees leave of over a year per couple, four hundred and eighty days, of which sixty are reserved for the mother and sixty for the father, at 80% of the salary. In Rome, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Minister Roccella celebrated the guarantee, for 2024 only, of two months of leave compensated at 80% as an important measure for women. A doubling compared to the previous year. Better than nothing, perhaps.
The push for intervention
The centre-left parties have been asking for months for more to be done. They had also presented an amendment, which was rejected, to the measure. Five months, for both parents, paid 100%, he suggests Elly Schlein. It’s a battle we’ve been carrying on for years, he insists Giuseppe Conte. A table was also opened between the opposition groups, to arrive at a unitary proposal. And yet Elena Bonetti, former Minister of the Family and signatory of the Family Act, repeats that the law exists, it just needs to be implemented. In the meantime, however, nothing, or almost nothing. “We should,” says the government. Maybe.
#Dads #work #mothers #home #years #paternity #leave #theory
– 2024-03-14 16:42:25
