• by Emma Bonino
• Tuesday, March 17, 2009
• Inter Press Service

The difference in retirement age between men and women -65 and 60, respectively- in Italy lies at the intersection of two major national problems: pension reform and the unequal treatment of women in the labour market. It is discriminatory, intolerable, and a colossal waste of the great untapped capital of Italy's female population, writes Emma Bonino, leader of the Transnational Radical Party, Senator, and Vice President of the Italian Senate.

In this article, Bonino writes that the work situation for women in Italy was already grim before we were struck by the current economic crisis: 67 percent of the country's inactive population are women; 3.5 million inactive women would be inclined to accept any job available but cannot because of a lack of childcare and a lack of demand for female workers by businesses. A mere 46.7 percent of women have access to the labour market, as opposed to 70.9 percent of men.

The judgement by the European Court of Justice against Italy's failure to level the government employee retirement age for men and women should be taken as an opportunity to equalise the retirement age, pay, and career opportunities, and to improve childcare and public assistance. Otherwise, we will suffer the bad joke of paying a fine of millions of euros that should have been used to help resolve the situation.

(*) Emma Bonino, member of the Transnational Radical Party, senator, and Vice President of the Italian Senate.

//NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN CANADA, NEW ZEALAND, CZECH REPUBLIC, IRELAND, POLAND, THE UNITED STATES, AND THE UNITED KINGDOM//

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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