In a small cafe in the center of Rome, Michela Romita stops for a short break until she goes to work. She works as an accountant in an Italian company and has a seven-year-old daughter. The life of a modern working mother in Italy is not simple. “If you want to continue your work as a new mother, in the first years the salary goes to kindergartens and baby sitters,” she says characteristically.
Michela is of course happy for her child. But in a big city like Rome, raising children is not easy because there is a lack of infrastructure: few places in daycare centers and kindergartens, and day-to-day childcare is expensive.
Serious problem for growth and sustainability
According to statistics, fewer and fewer children have been born in Italy for years. Last year, 450,000 babies were born, 15,000 fewer than last year. The final figures for 2021 are expected to be worse. On average a woman has a child – the lowest rate ever. According to LUISS University Professor of Economics Veronica de Romanis, the problem is serious. More children means more growth and sustainability for the country. But now the opposite is happening. Veronica de Romanis observes: “One figure is enough to outline the situation: In the 1960s, an elderly man was a child. “Today there are five seniors for each child.”
Italian governments have repeatedly tried to introduce adequate child-rearing allowances – without success. The Draghi government wants to change things, replacing different benefits with a single child benefit, simplifying procedures. The single allowance will result from the amount of income. The new measure is expected to relieve many families, but will not solve all the problems they face, especially working mothers. “Many of the friends or colleagues I talk to, when they return to work after maternity leave, are downgraded. I also hear it from my clients: ‘After the second child I returned to work but not with the same duties’ “.
For Professor Veronica de Romanis, what is required is for there to be positive role models for women in Italy. And of course more women in key positions in politics – that is, where decisions are made about managing public money, pushing for a better family policy.
DW – curated by Dimitra Kyranoudi
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