Gender Gap:

main problems

In Italy there are different types of gender gap which lead to some problems

In fact, Italy is quite behind in many rankings on gender disparity, including the Global gender Gap Index, in which our country is only in 76th place.

Education

Article 34 of the Italian constitution is dedicated to the right/duty to study for everyone, male and female. Unlike many years ago, when women did not have access to education because they had to take care of the different types of housework, nowadays in Italian schools we do not find any distinction between genders.

Silvia M. e Nikol T.

As regards to university, some gaps remain in the choice of study courses that have a negative impact on the possibility for women to enter the job market and to succeed. In Italy, women mainly graduate in Humanities, while men take up places in the fields of Engineering, Mathematics and Technology. Today there are more and more awareness compaigns that promote scientific and technical subjects as suitable for young girls .

Silvia M. e Nikol T.

Politics

Today it is very difficult to see women in politics, or we should rather say that there are more men as compared to women. In Italy people had to wait until 1976 to see a woman appointed as a Minister. However, so far, there has never been a woman who has been appointed as President of the Italian Republic.

In the last few years things have been changing and in 2020 five women held three of the 5 top positions of the State: President of the Senate, President of the Chamber (three times) and the President of the Constitutional Court. The two highest positions of the State that have never been held by a woman are: President of the Republic and Prime Minister.

Silvia M. e Nikol T.

Work

In Italy, as in almost the whole world, women face a gender gap at work. Very often men are the ones who do better jobs like being a doctor, a surgeon, a lawyer, a business owner...

Even if men and women do the same studies and they are committed in the same way, it is always men who reach the top positions.

All this because in work, men usually have much more visibility than women and because there is still the prejudice that a man is the one who must earn and take home his salary and a woman has to stay at home to take care of the family without being able to have a career. Luckily this prejudice has been lost over the years, even if not completely.

As in work, the same thing happens in sport, activities such as basketball and football, played by men, are the ones that get greater visibility. We therefore notice that men are the ones who manage to be more successful at work.

Tommaso M.

Violence

Gender-based violence is both a cause and a consequence of gender inequality, as well as a violation of human rights. Both women and men experience gender-based violence but the majority of victims are women and girls.

Many people think that victims of sexual violence try to provoke it with the way they dress or behave, but it is absolutely wrong because, as men can dress or behave as they want, also women must have this possibility.

Giulia G.

There are many types of violence, the most widespread is DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, the one within the family unit. The victims are men, women and children who often don’t report the fact because of fear or even shame.

The VERBAL one is also very frequent, less visible than the PHYSICAL one because it doesn’t leave marks on the skin, but it includes threats, control of a person's choices and social relationships.

Another form is SEXUAL VIOLENCE , which includes any kind of involvement in sexual acts without the consent of the other person.

There is also ECONOMIC VIOLENCE, which consists in any forms of control over economic independence, limiting or preventing the availability of money or having a own job. The last type of violence is WITNESSED VIOLENCE , which occurs when children are spectators of any form of harassment against their caregivers.

Giulia G.

Salary

Nowadays there is a difference worldwide in salaries between female and male workers. In fact, as you can guess, most of the time women earn much less than men. This is because there's still a stereotypical thought in the world that women are weaker, less intelligent, they should stay home to cook... and things like this so they shouldn't earn more than them.Women earn less than men. Definitely less: the law is the same for everyone, the contracts as well, but in the course of their working life the careers, the interruptions, the choices made or suffered make this equality only apparent.

The evolved society as it is today, however, does nothing to change this working condition, in fact in Italy a woman earn about 23% less than a man.

A woman doing the same sport as a man, averagely has a lower salary. The situation in this case is more complex since a lot of money revolves around sport. For example, a woman who usually plays football has a lower salary than a man also because women's football is watched by far fewer people.

Enrico G.