ROME (AP) — Worldwide, working women paid a high price during the pandemic as many quit jobs to care for children when schools closed. But Italy’s women went into the crisis already struggling for decades to expand their presence in the national workforce. Among the 27 European Union nations, Italian women rank next to the bottom, after Greek women, in terms of percentage in national workforces. That is partly due to deeply rooted Italian attitudes that hold a woman’s main vocation is in the home and also to a lack of day-care services. EU pandemic recovery funds could encourage more female employment and help Italy’s economy to rebound.
Pandemic sets back Italian women’s long fight for jobs
