We have been talking about this for decades, and yet the calls from civil society to strengthen the kindergarten network in Italy have so far gone largely unheeded. Still educational facilities for young children remain a luxury for the few and the numbers speak for themselves. In 2002, the European Council in Barcelona decided that by 2010, member countries must guarantee 33% coverage of children under 3 years old, it is a pity that the data updated to 2022, only 28 out of 100 children go to kindergartens. In fact, the structures are still lacking, despite the allocation of funds envisaged in 2020.
From the 3.1 billion euros of the National Plan for Resistance and Resilience by the end of 2025, the coverage was supposed to grow from 26.6% to 45.5%, and instead in the peninsula. less than 1 in 3 children manage to find a place in kindergarten, with obvious consequences for women’s employment. In the absence of adequate educational structures in the area, it is often the mothers who have to take care of their children, turning down jobs or accepting cuts in wages and contracts. An efficient and extensive network of kindergartens is crucial not only for child care, but also as a prerequisite for work. Not to mention that the increase in the number of institutions throughout the country will be an additional element of relief for women, precisely because the majority of kindergarten staff are women.
But what about the demographic collapse? Returning to the study of Letizia Mencarini, professor of social and political sciences at the Bocconi University of Milan, there is a correlation between falling birth rates and women’s low employment. The scientist writes in his paper, signed by Daniele Vignoli. The parents wanted. Italy in a demographic trap and published in 2018 by Egea: “Among European countries there is a positive relationship between the female employment rate and the total fertility rate.: where the average birth rate is very low, below 1.4 children per woman, and the female employment rate is below 60%, these are the countries of Southern Europe, such as Italy, Spain, Greece, Malta; where the average birth rate is above 1.7 and the employment rate is above 70%, we find the Scandinavian countries, the Baltic countries and the United Kingdom.” Basically, in European countries, where women work more, they have more children, and one of the female employment is precisely the presence of kindergartens.
This correlation also works in Italy, but only in the center-north. The strong differences between regions depend, in addition to the availability of jobs, on “the different quantity and quality of family and work reconciliation services (primarily kindergartens), which are known to characterize different geographical realities,” the scientist continues. According to Istat data for 2015, the proportion of municipalities covered by nursery services ranged from 83% in the northeast to 27% in the south, with the maximum coverage of the total number of children under 3 years old in the center, 17.5%, and the most low in the south – 3.7%. Instead of being an obstacle to motherhood, women’s work can become a prerequisite for maintaining or increasing fertility. Provided that the network of services (not only kindergartens, but also nursing homes and nursing homes) is adapted to the needs of families and European standards. Women’s emancipation also takes place here.
Source: Elle