The gender gap at home and in the labour market: the case of Italy

This chapter focuses on gender inequalities both in housework and in labour market in Italy. In the first part of the chapter we focus on gender inequalities in housework in Italian couples of any age. We first give a brief review on the previous literature with reference to Italy and illustrate trends in housework in Italy over the years. Then, we recall the main sociological and theoretical economic approaches explaining gender inequality in family work. Finally, we propose an original statistical analysis of the most recent Italian Time-Use Survey (2008-9) with the aim of estimating which factors affect the amount of time men and women allocate on management of the house and if they change with age. The second part of the chapter focuses on gender gap in the labour market. In this part we discuss the sociological aspects and we present main results obtained by studying in-entrance, horizontal and vertical segregation and gender gap in working conditions. A brief discussion will close the chapter.