ABSTRACT
For various reasons, deeply rooted in cultural and economic structures, patterns of female employment in Italy are historically weak and distinct from those of male employment. For example, according to the National Bureau of Census (Instituto Centrale di Statistica (Italian Bureau of Census) 2011), when the Italian economy was still largely agricultural in 1951, the employment rate for men was 80.8 per cent, compared with the employment rate for women of 26.0 per cent. Since then, women's participation has steadily increased. Ten years later, with an economic recovery that brought a more industry-based economic structure, these figures were respectively 72.9 per cent and 23.2 per cent. By 1971, when Italy's gross national product (GNP) was comparable to those of most industrialised countries, the ratio had shifted again in favour of women to 71.5 per cent vs. 25.1 per cent. At around the same time, the importance of the pivotal role played by a type of worker defined as male, middle-aged, low–middle skilled in the labour market was being emphasised (Paci 1973). Subsequent decades saw female employment rates continue to increase steadily. By 1981, male and female employment rates were respectively 68.0 per cent compared with 32.9 per cent; in 1991, 64.9 per cent compared with 35.0 per cent; and in 2001, 60.5 per cent compared with 37.6 per cent.
