Italian leave policies: changes since April 2014

Italy has the lowest birth rates in Europe; on the work front, most women stop working when they become mothers while a minority work full time, with huge reconciliation problems. The male breadwinner family model has long been the dominant factor and the hegemonic cultural model in Italy; this has defined family members’ relationships with the employment system, the environment considered suitable for bringing up children, and the division of work within the family. Data on the allocation of time and differences in the time devoted by men and women to unpaid care and domestic work show the persistence of a gendered, unbalanced distribution of unpaid work in Italy even among younger cohorts. In this context what is the role and influence of leave legislation? The aim of this presentation is to briefly illustrate the path made in recent years by Italian leave policies and changes noticed since April 2014 (Jobs Act) in particular with Legislative Decree 15 June 2015, n. 80 “ Measures for the reconciliation of the demands of care, life and work”.