From the analysis of current trends in female occupation and from the specific contradiction between the desire/necessity of women to enter the labour market, and the entire organisation of the market, stems the urgency to establish conciliation policies intended not as «corrective» downstream measures to allow women to conduct their triple roles as wives, mothers, workers but as innovative, transversal upstream policies as the crux of a new welfare. This thesis is supported in the paper through the analysis of a «case study» of a territorial coalition in the province of Arezzo and reference to recent European recommendations on the issue of reconciliation.only subscribers can see the full article

A demographic trend particularly important in Italy and other industrialized countries is the ageing of the population. It has effects on the labour market because it creates an imbalance between those actively contributing to the economic system and those who are now outside it absorbing its resources. From this point of view, the article analyses Italy’s progress in achieving the European objectives of Lisbon, Stockholm and Barcelona, which were fixed with the precise aim of tackling this imbalance, showing how Italy is still behind, above all as regards the rate of participation of women and elderly workers.only subscribers can see the full article

The article examines the progress of female employment in the face of the world economic crisis that has hit the country. The aim is to bring out how, in the present-day scenario, not only gender inequalities, related to the trends of the last fifteen years, are growing, but also those between women. In a context where there are serious employment difficulties, the unequal distribution of opportunities, both between different areas and different classes, produces further fragmentation. At the same time, there is an emerging «need» for women to work, to reduce the economic vulnerability of the family, given the serious implications on economic wellbeing and expenditure on children. The conclusions emphasize the clear risk of widening the gulf between a North that may already be enjoying an upturn, and a South where those regressive phenomena might be consolidated, forcing women into an anachronistic role as housewives and excluding the young from jobs and professional training. only subscribers can see the full article

The article describes some of the results of recent detailed research on critical features in the ongoing modernisation process in Italy as regards the redefinition of male and female roles and the social division of labour. Although the remixing of gender roles in the family is extremely asymmetric, there are also new trends and important signs of change. All the same the potential for spreading better balanced models for the division of labour between men and women is now being hindered by a deficit of conciliatory policies and quality of female employment.only subscribers can see the full article

Many studies on services for small children underline the importance of the availability of these facilities for female employment. This work offers an account of the provision of these services in Italy with the aim of identifying the link between young women’s presence in the labour market and the availability of care services for early childhood and for old age; it also sketches an analysis of the relation between the presence of services and fertility rates. A factorial analysis leads to a geography of local welfare in Italy, the picture that emerges being marked by strongly contrasting levels of provision in different areas.only subscribers can see the full article