In Italy there remains a strong gender imbalance between parents in caring for their children, but the percentage of fathers who take paternity leave has more than tripled between 2013 and 2022. This emerges from the elaboration of Save The Children, on the occasion of Father's Day, based on the latest INPS data.
In 2013 just under 1 father in 5 (equal to 19.26%) took advantage of it, i.e. 51,745 fathers;
in 2022 there were more than 3 out of 5 (equal to 64.02%), i.e. 172,797, with few differences depending on whether they were parents of the first (65.88%), second or subsequent child (62.08%) .
When it was introduced in 2012, paternity leave provided for just one compulsory day and two optional ones, while today it guarantees 10 compulsory days and one optional one for new fathers and can be used between the two months before and 5 after giving birth.
Although the increase is recorded throughout Italy, those who benefit the most live in the Northern provinces.
Use values lower than 30% are found in the provinces of Crotone at 24%, Trapani at 27%, Agrigento and Vibo Valentia at 29%, while higher than 80% are recorded in the provinces of Bergamo and Lecco (81% in both cases), Treviso (82%), Vicenza (83%) and Pordenone (85%).
Those who use leave the most are men aged between 30 and 39 (65.4%) and between 40 and 49 (65.6%).
The father is more likely to take paternity leave if he works in medium to large companies.
In fact, among those with over 100 employees, use is equal to 77%, reaching 45.2% in companies with 15 employees or less.
It is precisely in this last type of company that the greatest increase in the use of paternity leave was recorded between 2021 and 2022 (+8.7%).
Strong inequalities between the different types of contracts, in favor of those with a more stable employment contract.
In fact, if among workers with a permanent contract the percentage is close to 70% (69.49%), among those with a fixed-term contract it drops to 35.95% and among seasonal workers it reaches 19.72%.
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA