Valentina Accardo (ANSA) - ROME, JUN 17 - To promote gender equality and female employment, which has also been severely tested by the pandemic, "an effort is needed on the part of businesses", some of which have moved "criticism" towards the conditionality clause which instead "is the answer" that goes in the right direction, for which "the discussion in Parliament is crucial, and it is true that we must take into account the specificity of the sectors, but it must not be the excuse to ignore or empty the goal we have set for ourselves ". Thus the Minister of Labor, Andrea Orlando, puts a point after the controversy on the norm included in the Pnrr, aimed at subordinating the execution of projects to the hiring of young people and women, during the online event "Gender equality and sustainable development "organized by the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development, ASviS.
On this front, the Minister for Equal Opportunities and the Family, Elena Bonetti, announces that the National Strategy for Gender Equality which will be finalized "by the end of the month" and that "gives a reading of the current state of the country, taking step by step of the objectives "and is therefore" useful and important as an impetus and framework for the PNRRR system but also for the verification and monitoring of the plan itself ".
Overcoming the gender gap is a goal "that can no longer be postponed", says Pierluigi Stefanini, president of ASviS, and the PNRR is heading in the right direction, but now it must "accelerate".
That between men and women is one of the main inequalities in our country, certified by the World Economic Forum which places Italy in 76th place out of 153 countries. Second, Asvis, there are above all insufficient resources and initiatives to reduce the large gap in female employment, which in Italy is 49% against a European average of 62.5%.
According to the Minister of Education, Patrizio Bianchi, we need to overcome gender stereotypes that "risk becoming a block to development" and put "at the center of the whole school", with a plan to "free children from the gaps in which they are chained ".
"Increasing that female employment rate is a very important factor for GDP growth", underlines Patrizia Grieco, president of Assonime. A point on which Linda Laura Sabbadini, Chair Woman 20 insists, who says: "now at the center of policies there must be the increase in the quantity of female work and the push towards new sectors" which warns with the Pnrr "investments in a first phase will benefit "men.
The warning comes from Minister Orlando: "If there is no attitude aimed at positive actions and there is no attitude to modify the natural balances that exist on the labor market, we will keep the numbers we have".
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