ABSTRACT
The Italian economy imported raw materials and exported much of its manufactures. Labour costs and labour agitations, perhaps the major economic issue of the 1970s, were far less evident in the 1980s. The new post-industrial jobs were more likely to go to women than to men. Some ancient discriminations were removed: after 1977 women could even become judges. The number of working women increased by 50 per cent from 1970 to 1985, and by the latter date 60 per cent of married women of child-bearing age had jobs. Over much of the country the one-child family became the norm, with the mother returning to work as soon as possible after the birth, helped by plentiful churches and nursery schools. No longer could young Italians count on a vast support network of brothers, sisters, aunts and cousins. This was an astonishing transformation. Arguably the true foundations of Italian society were being rapidly eroded.
