Almost 96,000 mothers lost their jobs in the year of Covid

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06 May 2021 In the year marred by the pandemic and the lockdown on 249,000 women who lost their jobs in 2020, 96,000 are mothers with minor children. Among them, 4 out of 5 have children under the age of five: they are those mothers who, due to the need to follow younger children, have had to give up their work or have been expelled.

This is the picture that emerges from the 6th Report "The Equilibrists: motherhood in Italy 2021", released on the occasion of Mother's Day, by Save the Children - the organization that has been fighting for over 100 years to save children at risk and guarantee their future - on mothers in Italy who, in addition to underlining the difficulties faced by mothers in such a difficult year, like 2020, once again brings out the gap between the North and South of the country.

 “Covid has put all of us in front of a health emergency first of all, but which soon turned out to be also a social, economic and educational crisis. Mothers in Italy have paid and continue to pay a very high toll on these emergencies. Children at home, the sudden collapse of family welfare, due to the need to protect grandparents from contagion, the excessive care and household burden and its lack of sharing with the partner, ineffective support measures, are all factors that have led to to the disruption of their working life. It is now important to direct efforts towards the concrete realization of objectives that aim, in addition to encouraging the participation of women in the labor market, to free them from unpaid work. " Antonella Winter commented,Head of Childhood Policies of Save the Children.

A situation that has only worsened with Covid, but which even before the pandemic saw many women left out of the job market due to the impossibility of combining work and family life and personal fulfillment.

"These data tell us that there is no more time to waste: political choices are needed that aim at the construction without delay of a system of protection, guarantees and incentives to overcome a situation that relegates mothers solely to the care of their children and of the House. The first step should be to introduce mandatory paternity leave, for all workers, of at least 3 months and to create an integrated system from zero to six years, which offers a quality and free service in which children have the possibility to learn and live educational contexts necessary for their development ”continues Antonella Winter. "There are now funds allocated in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and in the Budget Law but it is still to be clarified how to intervene as a priority in the most deficient areas,to create a public and quality offer in municipalities where resources and administrative capacity are lacking to manage a complex service such as a nursery school, a service that can really be a picklock to increase the well-being of girls and boys, their parents of the whole community. "

Moms and work: a difficult balancing act to grips with the Covid-19

In the year of Covid-19, due to the pandemic, have vanished in total 456 000 jobs (-2% compared to 2019)

To be still more affected a time are women who represent 249 thousand units (- 2.5%) compared to 207 thousand men (- 1.5%). In the period April-September 2020 alone, the decline in female workers in Italy was double the European average (4.1% of 15-64 year-olds, compared to 2.1% of the EU average), recording the highest contraction after the Spain; our country is also the one in which the gender gap in the impact of the crisis in the same period was the highest, with a gap of 1.7 pp between men and women. 

Again, in 2020, for example, women represent the vast majority of employed with a part-time job, almost 3 out of 4 (73% of the total). They are often mothers of minor children: almost 2 out of 5 (38.1%) of them have a part-time contract compared to 5.6% of fathers in the same condition.

According to Istat estimates, the "family organizational shock" caused by the lockdown would have overwhelmed a total of about 2.9 million households with children under the age of 15 in which both parents (2 million 460 thousand) or the only present (440 thousand) were employed. The "reconciliation stress", in particular, was highest among parents who were unable to work from home, nor to use the services (formal or informal) for childcare: this is 853,000 households with children aged 0-14 , specifically 583,000 couples and 270,000 single parents, the latter mostly (84.8%) women.

Even mothers who have maintained an occupation in smart working, some studies have found more critical issues than their male colleagues, also due to the greater burden of home care and care of children and families, aggravated by the need to follow the children in DAD. Research highlights how many mothers register signs of emotional and psychological fatigue.

The Index of the Mothers

The Report "The Equilibrists: maternity in Italy 2021" by Save the Children, includes, as every year, the Index of the Mothers which identifies the Regions that commit themselves, more or less, to support motherhood in Italy. Developed by ISTAT for Save the Children, the Index evaluates, through 11 indicators, the condition of mothers in three different areas: care, work and services.

Also this year, it is the Northern regions that are more mother friendly: here data are recorded well above the national average, compared to those of the South, where all three indicators are positioned below this average. In the general index, the most virtuous regions are again the Autonomous Provinces of Bolzano and Trento followed by Valle d'Aosta (in 4th place last year) and Emilia-Romagna (which loses one position compared to 2020). Bottom line is Campania (in 2020 it was penultimate), Calabria (in 19th place last year) and Sicily (which lost the last position), preceded by Basilicata (in 17th place in 2020). For the regions of the Mezzogiorno, the composite index always shows values ​​below 93, even if the trend seems to be slightly improving.

Stories of mothers during Covid

Also this year, Save the Children has collected the stories of some mothers who wanted to share their story. "Equilibrist" mothers who during the pandemic tell of the fear of facing a pregnancy, or of the difficulties in reconciling smart working and the Dad of their children or of not being able to find a job after losing it, or of reconciling a job in presence even if reduced, with the closure of schools. Stories of women, of mothers in the most difficult year that have become a video and a multimedia product, where mothers tell each other and share this 2020 with all of us.

In addition, a meeting will be held on 7 May at 5.30 pm on the Save the Children Instagram profile to talk about “mothers”. Participants will be Prof. Azzurra Rinaldi, Francesca Fiore and Sarah Malnerich from the Mammadimerda blog and the actress Valentina Melis, together with Antonella Winter.