Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- From: "MCP" <gf010w5035@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:53:40 +0100
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0901/p06s01-woeu.html
Italy's end to employment discrimination has women crying foul
Italy has raised women's retirement age to match that of men. Many women
says it's unfair in a culture where women who work also are responsible for
housework and the care of family members.
Milan, Italy - Labor laws should not make any distinction based on gender:
This may seem obvious in most democracies. Yet a public outcry arose when
the Italian parliament recently ratified a new law ending discrimination in
the retirement age between men and women - much of it from women's rights
groups and labor unions.
Until now, female employees could retire at 60, five years earlier than
their male counterparts - a double standard based on the consideration that
women also take care of the housework and family. The European Commission
found the rule illegal last year, and the government acted to bring Italy
into compliance.
But not all women are happy about the change - underscoring how traditional
ideas about gender roles have held surprisingly firm in Italy, both in
raising children and looking after ailing parents.
"I cannot imagine working until 65; there's simply a point where you've
exhausted all your energies," says Stefania Zevi, a public high school
teacher in her mid-50s. She says that working with teenagers is demanding
for everybody, but the load becomes unbearable for middle-aged women, who
often have to take care of older family members at home.
"Most of my female colleagues have at least one aging parent who is not
self-sufficient," she says. "What are they supposed to do?"
Women carry the family workload
When it comes to family and home, the work lies largely on women's shoulders
in Italy. According to the OECD, Italy has the biggest disparity among
industrialized nations between male and female workloads at home. This may
help explain why just 45 percent of Italian women work, a low figure
compared with other Western European countries.
The newly approved law applies only to 3.5 million female government
employees. But Italy's conservative government has vowed to extend this
policy to the private sector soon.
"Finally, they're changing this ridiculous double standard," says Tonia
Mastrobuoni, an economic expert for Il Riformista progressive daily. "It was
so hypocritical to grant working women an earlier retirement as a
compensation for all the discrimination they have to suffer.
"I find it particularly odd that unions and women's groups are defending the
old system, based on the assumption the woman's primary duty is to take care
of the house, even if she works outside," adds Ms. Mastrobuoni.
She argues that economic policy can help change the culture: "In Germany,
they're strongly subsidizing fatherhood leaves, and this is convincing men
to take care of their children."
Others defend the idea that female workers should be granted earlier
retirement until equality is achieved: "I don't like either the way women
are treated as the [family's] only caretaker," says Renata Polverini, head
of the UGL workers' union.
But, she says, "before changing the pension system, the government should
have improved services helping female workers, such as daycare for children
and the elderly."
"I bet many women would be glad to work until they are 65, if they only were
put in the position to do so," says Polverini.
Currently only 1 child in 10 finds a place in public daycare, making it
difficult for mothers to work. Indeed among those who entered the workforce,
a fifth drop out after giving birth to their first child, while more than
half quit after having their second baby. This may also explain why Italy is
a land of single children.
Whether it's about culture or the lack of services, some economists have
linked Italy's inability to adapt to female employment to its low fertility
rate of just 1.2 children per woman.
"Here everybody speaks about family values" argues Mastrobuoni. "But [all]
Italy has got is a lot of empty nurseries and few women at the workplace."
Yet more women bleating like little babies.
.
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