women from the national-level response to Covid-19 was seen as blocking women’s perspective and influence on decisions that affect their lives and place in work and society. It was met with political action in the form of mass mobilisation by civil society, social and political groups, including female parliamentarians, campaigning on social media with the hashtag #DateciVoce (#GiveUsVoice), demanding more women be involved in the taskforces set up to manage the national response. The two main taskforces were initially made up of 90%men, one with no women at all, and only on May 4 did Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announce that six women scientists would join the coronavirus civil protection technical-scientific committee of 20 men, who had advised government from early on in the crisis. At the same time, five women experts joined the four already part of the 17-strong task force to look at bringing the country out of the crisis. Why have the voices of competent women been marginalised? Italy is a country with a strong feminist tradition, but it has been strongly affected by its Fascist past and Catholicism, both of which envisage a woman’s duty to be procreation, placing great emphasis on their role within the traditional family. Silvio Berlusconi and more recent coalitions have reinforced women’s objectification as sexual objects or sanctification as angels or mothers. Feminist movements in Italy have renewed efforts to dismantle the representation of women as objects of desire and/or located in the home as wives and mothers, but these circumstances permeate the world of work, where there needs to be more recognition of women’s roles and value. Attitudes must move away from the traditional picture of men as the breadwinners and of women as carers. The inability to let go of the cultural legacy of Catholic and Fascist ideologies serves as an obstacle to women being employed in decisionmaking roles in politics and other organisations. Women are blocked from access to decision-making positions, and institutional and policy interventions are needed to address the lack of equal access and opportunities. Hiring and promoting at local and state government levels are based on clientelism, rather than meritocracy. It is an old boy’s club, where masculine practices discriminate against women. In order for women to have these opportunities, there has to be change beyond addressing direct discrimination. Better, more affordable public care services are needed. If women are to step beyond the home and into the world of work, structured childcare and care for elderly is required. Covid-19 has shown the problemwith relying on friends and grandparents to care for children, as they were unable tofill the gap left by school closures and a shortage of childcare when they must shield from the virus. Covid-19 has shone a light on these inequalities, and the country needs a long overdue and radical shift towards the centring of women and their contributions in work and society. There is the potential for the pandemic to help bring about a more just future for Italian women. Dr Lara Pecisis a Lecturer in Organisation Studies in the Department of Organisation, Work and Technology. Missing Voices: The Absence of Women from Italy’s COVID-19 Pandemic Response was written with Dr Vincenza Priola, of the Open University Business School, and is published in Gender in Management. l.pecis@lancaster.ac.uk FIFTY FOURDEGREES | 13 Italy56.2% EU68.3% Women’s participation in workforce: Italy27% EU: 33.9% Women in managerial positions: Italy34.8% EU14.5% Unemployment rate (women, aged 15-24): Sources: Carta (2019); Moresco (2020); Censis (2019) Italian andEU workforce comparison
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