Female employment has grown significantly in Italy over the past 10 years, rising from 50.5% in the third quarter of 2015 to 58.3% in the same period in 2025, but the gap with the EU has widened from 12.7 points to 13.2. Eurostat data shows that it is still difficult for women in our country to balance family and work, but also that the path to reducing the gender gap lies in education.
In Italy, the female employment rate declines with the birth of children and plummets with the arrival of a third child, especially for women with low education. Meanwhile, graduates hold their ground and maintain high employment rates, with rates close to those of men, even when they have large families . "One in five women," said CISL leader Daniela Fumarola, "leaves her job after the birth of her first child, and this is no longer tolerable. Wage gaps are addressed by allowing women to enter the labor market and stay there. And to stay there, they must be given the opportunity to balance work and life."
According to Eurostat, in Italy, 64.9% of women aged 25 to 49 are employed overall, but for those without children, the percentage rises to 68.5%, drops to 64.8% with one child, 62.5% with two children, and 42.3% with three or more children (36.6% if the youngest child is under six). Among less educated women in this age group, the overall employment rate is 41% but drops to 18.7% among those with at least three children. For men in the same age group with a low level of education and three children, the employment rate is 81.2%, over 62 percentage points higher. This also clearly highlights the differences in caregiving burdens and wage burdens. Looking at female entrepreneurs, there is a slight decline in numbers, with 1.303 million businesses (-0.3%), but it should be noted that female-led companies are on average stronger and more structured, with a greater number of employees.
"Small, distributed businesses, some of which are close to self-employment, are tending to give way to more complex production facilities capable of competing on the market. This is a positive sign we've been seeing for some time," emphasizes Andrea Prete, president of Unioncamere. Businesses with 10 to 49 employees grew by 0.5%, those with 50 to 249 employees by 1.3%, and those with more than 250 employees by 3.8%. Women are less likely to be injured at work than men because they work primarily in less risky sectors like the service sector, while fewer are involved in manufacturing and construction.
But commuting accidents are on the rise, with women dying on the way to work, reaching 39 in 2024, representing 39% of all confirmed fatal accidents involving women. Women, explains ANMIL, "suffer more stressful commuting to work than their partners, due to their role as wives, mothers, and workers, who are still burdened, almost exclusively and with disregard for any social or educational advancement, with a whole host of burdensome family responsibilities before going to work, making the trip a stressful race against time."
(Unioneonline)
