Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2020, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Italy (Ratification: 1963)

Other comments on C111

Observation

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The Committee notes the observations of the Italian Confederation of Managers and High-level Professionals (CIDA) communicated with the Government’s report.

Article 1 of the Convention. Discrimination on the basis of sex. Pregnancy and maternity. In its previous observation, referring to the practice of having workers sign an undated letter of resignation at the time of hiring for future use by employers (licenziamento in bianco) and its disproportionate impact on women with children under three years of age, the Committee asked the Government to: (1) step up its efforts to prevent and eliminate all discrimination against women based on pregnancy and maternity; (2) provide information on the implementation of the specific measures adopted under Legislative Decree No. 80/2015 (for the reconciliation of care, work and family life) and under Act No. 81/2017 (for the promotion of flexible new working arrangements for employees in the public and private sectors), and their impact on reducing the incidence of resignations among working women; and (3) provide information on the impact in this respect of the measures implemented under the three-year plan on affirmative action by the public administration. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report on the measures adopted with the aim of facilitating the reconciliation of family and work responsibilities, including the introduction of allowances for nurseries and a special bonus for the birth or the adoption of a child, as well as updated information on the number of resignations and consensual terminations validated by the labour inspectorate in 2017 and 2018, which concerned working mothers in more than 70 per cent of cases. The Committee also notes the Government’s indication that over the same period there was an increase in cases of resignations and consensual terminations concerning working fathers (15 per cent more in 2017 than in 2016, and 49 per cent more in 2018 than in 2017). The Committee notes that, according to the information provided by the Government, the most frequently stated reason for resignation given by workers continues to be the difficulty of reconciling their work and family responsibilities (36 per cent of the cases validated by the labour inspectorate), with workers mentioning, among other obstacles, the costs of child-care support (babysitters or nurseries), lack of access to kindergartens (that is, the unavailability of child-care facilities in numbers sufficient to meet demand) and the absence of grandparents or other family members who could provide help. In this connection, the Committee notes from the 2018 report of the labour inspectorate on the validation of resignations and consensual terminations that, of 2,062 requests for part-time work or other flexible working arrangements made by the workers concerned, only 423 were accepted by the employer. The same report indicates that the vast majority of cases of resignation and consensual termination (76 per cent) are in the tertiary sector, where women are over-represented.

Noting that family responsibilities continue to represent a major barrier for workers, especially women, to engage in the employment of their choice, the Committee wishes to emphasize that measures assisting workers with family responsibilities are essential to the promotion of gender equality in employment and occupation (2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, paragraph 785). In this regard, the Committee notes from the 2017 report on the investigation of national gender equality policies conducted by the Italian Institute of Statistics (INSTAT), that women face greater difficulties in accessing the labour market because of the burden of family responsibilities and the difficulty of reconciling them with their professional life. The INSTAT report indicates that the employment rate of single women is 81.1 per cent, compared with 70.8 per cent for women living with a partner and 56.4 per cent for women with children. The Committee further notes CIDA’s indication that reconciling family and work responsibilities remains an obstacle particularly for women managers. It also notes from the website of the National Agency for Active Labour Policies (ANPAL) that an international comparative analysis of national policy development for life–work balance was completed in 2019. The Committee therefore once again asks the Government to step up its efforts to prevent and address all discrimination against women based on pregnancy and maternity, in both the private and public sectors, including by adopting measures to promote the reconciliation of work and family responsibilities, ensuring that such measures are available to men and women on an equal footing and encouraging their use by both, and to provide information on the impact of the measures adopted. Noting the adoption on 20 June 2019 of Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and the Council on work–life balance for parents and carers, the Committee also asks the Government to provide information on the measures taken pursuant to this Directive.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.