Mothers and housewives, only 35% of those with young children work in the South:- WWN

Southern mothers mostly housewives. This is the snapshot taken by data from Svimez, the association for the development of the South. According to the observatory, only 35.3% of mothers with children of pre-school age work in Southern Italy compared to 64% in the Centre-North. Overall, at a national level, the employment rate of Italian women with children of pre-school age is particularly low: it stops at 53.9% against 60.5% of mothers with children aged 6 to 17.

Kindergartens are missing

Svimez underlines how the lack of services in the South penalizes the work of women with children and contributes to the so-called demographic winter, the decline in newborns. According to the association, the problem of the few women at work is determined by several factors: the lack of places available in nursery schools, the high costs of accessing the service, the scarce diffusion of full-time attendance in kindergartens. It is no coincidence that the Pnrr, for 4.6 billion, provides for the construction of 1,857 nursery schools and 333 nursery schools by 2026. However, many municipalities are in difficulty and have not met the deadline set for May 31 for the award of contracts (read more here).

Eurostat data: the ranking of the regions

It must be said that female employment in Italy is also growing slightly in the South, but the South is still at the bottom of the Eurostat ranking. In particular for Italy the last four positions are occupied by Sicily, Campania, Calabria and Puglia. According to the employment tables, in 2022 30.5% of women between 15 and 64 years of age in Sicily worked, an increase compared to 29.1% in 2021 but still more than 34 points away from the average 64.8% of the euro area. In Campania in 2022 only 30.6% of women worked against 29.1% in 2021 while in Calabria 31.8% of women worked against 30.5% in 2021. Puglia fourth last for employment female with 35.4% of women employed (33.8% in 2021). The area in Italy with the highest female employment is the province of Bolzano with 69%, a sharp increase from 63.7% in 2021. The South and the Islands are at the bottom of the ranking also for overall employment with Sicily which scores 42.6% (up from 41.1%) not far from French Guiana (42.4%).

An own goal if you think of the potential contribution of women and not just mothers to the growth of the country. According to the Bank of Italy’s latest annual report, in 2040 the decline in population will imply a reduction of more than 9% of the workforce. The decrease in the number of active individuals would be halved if the female participation rate were to reach at least the EU average level of 2022 within the next ten years.