Istat data from a few weeks ago confirmed what many expected: women are the ones who have paid the highest price in terms of employment with the pandemic. The numbers are chilling: despite the blocking of layoffs, out of 101,000 workers who lost their jobs in December 2020, 99,000 are women. The difficulties of family management during confinement and with the various restrictions in force then fell more on them. If being a working woman in Italy is already difficult, this past year has made it even more difficult. Despite the period, however, women are not lacking in getting back into the game and conquering their autonomy.
The Fondazione Pangea Onlus, with the support of the Fondazione Finanza Etica, offers a path of accompaniment, support, information and training to reintegrate the world of work aimed at women who are suffering from the consequences of this pandemic in the workplace. work or whose economic dependence has worsened due to the Covid emergency. “Young women: what an undertaking! », a course – between business creation, creation of self-employment and the possibility of accessing microcredit – expressly intended for women who are victims of violence and who are coming out of it, but also for those who have lost their jobs during the pandemic, who want to overcome a condition of economic dependence as well as the discrimination and violent experiences that confine them. The objective is to provide them with a kind of “toolbox” with everything they need to develop their ideas and reposition themselves in the world of work.
“Young women: what profession”: a journey to reposition oneself in the world of work
The autonomy of women “is hampered by the decline in work that has hit the sectors that see us most employed, disoriented and exhausted by the commitment of care, by the intermittent schooling of children, burdened by fictitious intelligent work situations , by the loss of employment or temporary and forced dismissals”, denounces Simona Lanzoni, vice-president of the Fondazione Pangea Onlus. The result was a weakening of the earning capacity of women, who often found themselves in conditions of even greater economic dependence or even pure well-being. And the pandemic, confinement, forced isolation, have made many women prisoners in their homes, victims of violence. “We know well how much violence has increased during Covid and the experience we have gained over the years – also through our anti-violence network Reama and the requests for help received at the anti-violence counter – makes us increasingly aware that specific support is needed. , a response adapted to the specific need and to the violence experienced, also to build or rebuild one’s own economic and financial autonomy”, says Lanzoni.
“Young women, what an achievement! is divided into a 12-month course at the Centro Donna Pangea in Rome, during which the women who participate will be able to acquire the right tools to develop their business or self-employment idea, structure and plan it in a careful and competent way, to then be ready to test it in real life. In addition, a dedicated office will be opened at the center, an information point and a hub for women who want to discover Rome and Lazio, get information and start a path of professional orientation, business creation and / or l access to microcredit via the Pangea fund of Banca Etica.
“However, specific policy responses for women are slow to come”
“The collapse of female employment during the second wave increased women’s economic dependence and forms of social protection. The workload and care are if possible even more increased, as well as, exponentially, domestic violence. Faced with these figures, “explains Barbara Setti, contact person for the area of research and liberal disbursements of the Fondazione Finanza Etica, which finances” non-refundable, through the Semi di Futuro call for tenders, women’s entrepreneurship against gender violence, projects for ‘accompaniment to self-employment or the creation of micro-enterprises for women involved in empowerment paths to prevent or get out of situations of violence. “With the Semi di Futuro call, explains Setti, the Fondazione Banca Etica has already financed two projects and will carry thanks to the Banca Etica group and the REAMA-Rete network for empowerment and mutual aid in Pangea, a financial training activity for operators of anti-violence centers in Italy”.
“Faced with this scenario, the specific political responses for women, starting with those contained in the Recovery Fund, are slow to arrive: we are waiting for a gender impact assessment, which is necessary in order not to lose the recovery train, we are expecting sustainable growth prospects but above all resources to invest in care services without which we will never really be able to free ourselves to really support employment and female entrepreneurship,” concludes Lanzoni.