Women Matter: An Analysis of Italian women’s Employment Between Two Crises

The strongest impacts of economic downturns are often on female employment. However, this is not a generalized decrease, but has mainly affected specific economic sectors. The COVID-19 crisis has affected some of the fields in which women are most present, such as trade, tourism and care services. The impacts also differ according to the employment contract and age. We analyzed the effects of a set of explanatory variables on women’s income level in Italy in the three years. The results confirm the strong segmentation of the Italian labor market, which penalizes, especially the weakest categories. Although it is not yet possible to assess the effects on female employment due to the pandemic, the 2020 data currently available still allows highlighting a downward trend. The results could provide several insights for policymakers, first of all, to get away from the idea of growth linked only to green transition and digital technology by marginalizing the other “essential” sectors. Secondly, to reschedule the investments planned in the post-pandemic recovery strategies, focusing on the creation of quality work in these sectors that would improve both employment conditions and the quality of services. The conducted statistical analysis was conducted by considering 3 different years, 2009, 2011, and 2020 and by estimating three generalized ordered logit models, one for each considered year. It seems to be necessary to enhance all women's human capital, making women key players and supporting more inclusive economic and social systems based on good quality employment for all.