Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Italy (Ratification: 1963)

The Committee notes the observations of the Italian Confederation of Workers’ Trade Unions (CISL), the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), and the Italian Union of Labour (UIL) as well as those of the Italian Confederation of Managers and Other Professionals (CIDA) communicated with the Government’s report. It also notes the observations of CISL, CGIL and UIL communicated to the Office on 30 June 2022 and 5 September 2023.

Article 1 of the Convention. Discrimination on the basis of sex. Pregnancy and maternity. The Committee notes that, in its report, the Government informs about the adoption of Legislative Decree No. 105/2022, to implement Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and the Council on work–life balance for parents and carers, which: (1) extends the duration of parental leave from 6 to 9 months (or 11 for single parents) and increases the age of the children in relation to which such leave applies from 6 to 12 years; (2) gives priority for the assignment of “agile working” to working parents with children until 12 years of age and children with grave disabilities or workers caring for other persons with grave disabilities and those falling within the definition of “family caregiver” as per article 1 of Act No. 205 of 2017; (3) introduces a compulsory paternity leave of 10 working days (or 20 in case of multiple births) to be used between the 2 months before and 5 months after delivery; and (4) amends Act No. 104 of 1992 to expressly prohibit discrimination against workers who apply for or take advantage of benefits granted to the workers in relation to the condition of disability of those to whom they provide care and assistance.

The Government also refers to: (1) the inclusion in the definition of discrimination in the Code of Equal Opportunities (article 25 of Legislative Decree No. 198 of 2006, as amended by Act No. 162 of 2021) of “any treatment or change in the organization of working conditions and working time which, by reason of sex, age, personal or family care requirements, pregnancy, maternity or paternity, including adoption, or by reason of the ownership and exercise of the corresponding rights, places or is likely to place the worker in at least one of the following conditions: (a) disadvantageous position in relation to other workers in general; (b) limitation of opportunities to participate in the life or choices of the company; (c) limitation of access to the mechanisms for advancement and career progression”; (2) actions envisaged under the National Programme on “Youth, women and work” to promote a better work–life balance, including through access to affordable childcare and care services for dependent persons, and under the project “Equality for work and life” (EQW&L)to develop a checklist for employment centres to assess family reconciliation needs when matching labour supply and demand; and (3) promotional activities undertaken by the labour inspectorate (INL) on themes such as maternity and labour rights, gender equality and validation of resignations of working mothers and fathers, involving 2,034 people in 2022.

The Committee notes from the latest report available on the labour inspectorate (INL) webpage that, in 2022: (1) the total number of validations of resignations and consensual terminations adopted nationwide amounted to 61,391, 72.8 per cent of which concerned women; (2) voluntary resignation represented 96.8 per cent of the total number of employment terminations; (3) compared to 2021, while there was a decrease of consensual terminations (by 39.8 per cent) and resignations for just cause (by 29.4 per cent), there was an increase of voluntary resignations (by 20.1 per cent), which was higher for women then for men. The Committee also notes from the statistical data published by the National Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) on “work and life-time balance” that that there was an improvement concerning the distribution of time dedicated to domestic work between partners over the last decade until 2020–21, and has since then remained stable. The Committee also notes that the data shows increasing female employment among both those without children and those with small children in 2022. The Committee welcomes the measures adopted by the Government. It however remains concerned about the high incidence of voluntary resignations among women. The Committee thus asks the Government to:

• (i) investigate the underlying reasons for the high numbers of voluntary resignations by women with a view to designing appropriate measures to address any direct and indirect discrimination and provide information on the steps taken in this respect;
• (ii) assess, in collaboration with the social partners and appropriate bodies, the impact of the measures thus far adopted to prevent and address all discrimination against women based on pregnancy and maternity, in both the private and public sectors, including the measures adopted to promote the reconciliation of work and family responsibilities, and provide information on the main findings of this assessment, the lessons learned and the actions envisaged for the future.

The Committee also asks the Government to continue to provide information on the measures adopted to prevent and address all discrimination against women based on pregnancy and maternity, in both the private and public sectors, and their results, and on the relevant findings of the labour inspectorate concerning resignations and consensual terminations.

Article 2. Equality of opportunity and treatment for men and women. The Committee notes that the Government provides information on recent legislative and policy measures taken, including: (1) the extension to enterprises with more than 50 employees of the obligation to report every two years to the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy on the situation of male and female staff (section 46 of the Code of Equal Opportunities as amended by Act no. 162 of 2021), which will be jointly examined by the Ministry and the National Institute for Public Policy Analysis (INAPP); (2) the establishment of a Gender Equality Certificate attesting the adoption of concrete measures to reduce gender gaps, which enterprises may request in order to access a variety of benefits, such as social security exemptions (section 46 bis of the Code of Equal Opportunities); (3) the amendment to article 25 of the Code of Equal Opportunities to extend the prohibition of discrimination to job candidates; (4) the inclusion of gender equality as a cross-cutting priority of the Plan for Recovery and Resilience – Italy Tomorrow (“Italia Domani”) that aligns itself with the Strategy for Gender Equality 2020-2025 launched by the European Commission. The Committee also notes from the information provided by the Government in its report under the Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100), that the National Strategy on Gender Equality (2021–2026) envisages various interventions with the objective of reducing the gender employment gap, with a focus on the inclusion of female parents and the promotion of female entrepreneurship.

As regards the impact of the measures adopted, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that the National Equality Adviser, on the basis of the periodical report on the staff situation and the indications provided by the National Committee for the implementation of the principles of equal treatment and equal opportunities for men and women workers, submits to the Parliament, every two years, a report containing the results of the monitoring of the implementation of the legislation on equality and equal opportunities at work and the assessment of the effects of the legal provisions but does not provide further details on the findings of such assessments. The Committee also notes the Government’s indication that the INL cooperates with the National Equality Adviser to ensure full application of the legal framework on gender equality and address discrimination, including through joint analysis of the reports that companies with more than 50 employees are required to submit under article 46 of the Code of Equal Opportunities concerning the situation of male and female staff in each of the professions and in relation to the status of recruitment, training, professional promotion, levels, changes in category or qualification, other mobility phenomena, the intervention of the Wage Guarantee Fund, redundancies, early retirements and retirements, and remuneration actually paid.

The Committee notes from INSTAT’s 2024 report on the Sustainable Development Goals that, between 2014 and 2023, the family work asymmetry index has decreased by 5.4 percentage points, due to a slow consolidation of equal distribution of care responsibilities and the growth of female labour participation. However, female disadvantage in the labour market, due to the difficulties in reconciling family and work life, persists. In this respect, the Committee notes the observations by CISL, CGIL and UIL that: (1) legislation on gender discrimination is limited in terms of impact as, with the exception of the provisions included in the Code for Equal Opportunities, other existing measures tackle part of the problem without an overall perspective; (2) behaviours, customs, prejudices and lack of services, in particular for parenting, but more generally of care and assistance to the family, continue to constraint women’s access to work, being that lack of care services for children, the elderly and persons with disabilities is the main cause of women’s exit from the labour market; (3) the incentives to increase women’s employment have mainly been used to recruit women in part-time or fixed-term employment, and women’s careers continue to be discontinued, lower paid and with little opportunity for advancement; (4) the Gender Equality Certificate system does not provide for the participation of workers’ organizations to design or verify the existence of workplace measures and their implementation, and does not require to reinvest the exemptions obtained with the certificate in gender equality policies; (5) controls, investigations, and coordination between the many existing monitoring bodies are scarce, and that a number of these bodies, such as the National Equality Adviser and the National Committee for the implementation of the principles of equal treatment and equal opportunities for men and women workers, lack budgetary resources or receive them unequally across the country. Furthermore, the Committee notes that in its observations CIDA, while providing 2023 statistical data showing an increase of women managers (+13.5 per cent against +3.6 per cent for men), highlights that discrimination against women at the top levels of employment persists, and that incentives for female employment to increase women’s labour participation remain necessary.

The Committee furthermore notes that, in 2024, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) expressed concern about the underrepresentation of girls and women in non-traditional fields of study and career paths, the extremely low level of female employment rates and the insufficient measures to promote the economic empowerment of women, the high number of women leaving the workforce after childbirth due to barriers to re-entering the labour market, including the limited availability and accessibility of care services and support programmes to re-enter the workforce, and the lack of measures to address gender stereotypes that deter fathers from participating in parenting responsibilities (CEDAW/C/ITA/CO/8, 27 February 2024, paragraphs 35 and 37). The Committee also refers to its comments under the Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100). Noting all the information above, the Committee therefore asks the Government to make, in collaboration with the social partners, an assessment of the various measures adopted to promote equality of opportunity and treatment between men and women in respect of employment and occupation with a view to: (i) evaluate their impact in practice; (ii) identify the shortcomings, challenges and obstacles that may persist, including any legal, policy and governance gaps; and (iii) take follow-up actions accordingly to address them. In this regard, the Committee alsoasks the Government to assess, in collaboration with the social partners and the concerned bodies, the capacity of the competent monitoring bodies to function effectively and evenly across the country and identify the corrective measures needed, and provide information on the steps taken in this respect. Please also supply a copy of the latest report to the Parliament of the National Committee for the implementation of the principles of equal treatment and equal opportunities for men and women workers and the main findings of the joint analysis conducted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and INAPP on the reports submitted by companies under section 46 of the Code of Equal Opportunities, as well as the follow-up actions undertaken based on the results of those reports. In addition, the Committee reiterates its request for information on the monitoring of the application of Legislative Decree No. 8/2016, with a view to ascertaining whether the decriminalization of cases of gender discrimination in employment and occupation has reduced the deterrent effect of the sanctions.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.