In recent decades, despite the social and cultural changes of our society, men and women continue to be in asymmetric positions that promote the persistence of relational models grounded on a traditional division of gender roles across generations. Recent national data shows the disadvantages of women in the workplace: a lower female rate of employment, a higher rate of temporary and part time employment, a lower quality of employment, and a lower salary than men (Almalaurea 2008, 2010; Istat 2010). Moreover, women spend twice as much time on domestic work and child care than their partners (Istat 2008-2009); despite formal equality between the sexes being established as a regulatory norm, women do not the same opportunities in terms of “leisure time” and “time for a career” (Istat 2012). Invisible barriers continue to block women’s emancipation. This could be called “sick emancipation” and can be considered a “perverse effect” of feminine and feminist “mouvementism.” In fact, regarding their goals, the emancipation of women and all the outcomes linked to this emancipation (intentional and anticipated effects of the goals of the movement) have resulted in a condition of further sacrifice (unintentional and unanticipated consequences) for those women who are divided between family and career. This condition is so widespread that it results in the behavioural model of “double presence,” which is widely adopted and culturally assimilated in Italy. Given the above conditions, speculating on the possible implementation of a symmetrical family model requires a series of considerations both about gender identities and gender division of time. First of all, the emancipation of women, which is also symbolized by their entry into the world of work, did not run parallel to the family models, both from a structural and a cultural point of view. Thus, the transition from the nuclear family to the symmetrical one with flexible and interchangeable roles did not have a massive expansion in Italy. The family continues to be characterized by stereotype and separation of roles, particularly in the South of Italy. The above delay has produced some specific conflicting situations, including a widespread dissatisfaction of women in family life. In this sense, the widespread female “double presence” model is not only one of the most important reasons of the above conflicts, but also one of the unanticipated consequences of feminine and feminist achievements. Moreover, the above model results in serious difficulties for women in everyday life and often leads to disagreements in the couple. However, instead of claiming for shared domestic tasks and being interchangeable, women are still linked to old cultural stereotypes of gender identity, thus being often reluctant to delegate obligations arising from household labor. Based on the above and other considerations, making also use of statistical data, the possible implementation of a symmetric model of family in contemporary Italian society will be analyzed.
Nonostante i cambiamenti sociali e culturali avvenuti nella nostra società, in particolare negli ultimi decenni, uomini e donne continuano a trovarsi in posizioni asimmetriche, posizioni che favoriscono la persistenza, attraverso le generazioni, di modelli relazionali di coppia basati su una suddivisione tradizionale dei ruoli di genere. Recenti dati statistici continuano a mostrare uno svantaggio delle donne nel mondo del lavoro: il tasso di occupazione femminile è più basso di quello degli uomini, mentre è più alto quello di occupazione a tempo determinato e part time, anche l’occupazione femminile è percentualmente di qualità inferiore a quella degli uomini ed il salario più basso (Istat 2010, Almalaurea 2008, 2010). Le donne dedicano inoltre il doppio del tempo ai lavori domestici e alla cura dei figli rispetto ai loro compagni (Istat 2008-2009); malgrado una parità formale fra i sessi stabilita giuridicamente, le donne non posseggono le stesse possibilità né in termini di “tempo libero”, né in termini di “tempo per fare carriera”. Ostacoli invisibili continuano a bloccare l’emancipazione femminile, tanto da poter essere denominata “emancipazione malata” ed esaminata come “effetto perverso” del “movimentismo” femminile e femminista. Con riferimento agli obiettivi di tali rivendicazioni, l’emancipazione delle donne ed i risultati a questa collegati (effetti voluti e previsti dagli obiettivi del movimento femminista) si è tradotta infatti in una condizione di ulteriore sacrificio (effetto non voluto e non previsto) per quelle donne che si dividono tra famiglia e carriera, condizione così diffusa da tradursi nel modello comportamentale della “doppia presenza”, largamente adottato ed assimilato da un punto di vista culturale. In questo contesto, avanzare ipotesi per l’implementazione di un modello di famiglia simmetrica richiede una serie di riflessioni importanti sia circa le identità di genere sulla suddivisione dei tempi ad esso. In primo luogo, l’emancipazione delle donne, simboleggiata pure dal loro ingresso nel mondo del lavoro, non si è sviluppata parallelamente ai modelli familiari, sia da un punto di vista strutturale che culturale. Il passaggio dalla famiglia nucleare a quella simmetrica, con ruoli flessibili e intercambiabili, non ha infatti avuto una massiccia espansione in Italia e, in particolare nel Sud d’Italia, la famiglia continua ad essere caratterizzata dalla stereotipizzazione e la separazione dei ruoli. Tale ritardo produce e continua a produrre, oltre ad un’estesa insoddisfazione delle donne nella vita familiare, alcune specifiche situazioni conflittuali. In questo senso, la grande diffusione del modello di “doppia presenza” femminile, oltre ad essere uno tra più importanti motivi di tali conflitti, potrebbe essere individuato quale conseguenza inattesa delle lotte femministe e femminili. Inoltre, il suddetto modello genera nella vita quotidiana delle donne complessità, che può talvolta anche portare a seri contrasti nella vita di coppia ma, se a questa insoddisfazione dovrebbe corrispondere un’ampia richiesta di condivisione ed intercambiabilità dei compiti domestici, si rileva invece la persistenza culturale di stereotipi del passato, fortemente legati all’identità di genere, sia degli uomini che delle donne, le quali sono spesso riluttanti a delegare gli obblighi derivanti dal lavoro di cura intra-familiare. Sulla base di queste ed altre considerazioni, avvalendosi pure di dati statistici provenienti da varie fonti istituzionali, sarà esaminata la possibilità della possibile implementazione di un modello di famiglia simmetrica nella società italiana contemporanea.
Care Work and Social Identity: Hypothesis for a Symmetrical Family
DAHER, Liana Maria
2012-01-01
Abstract
In recent decades, despite the social and cultural changes of our society, men and women continue to be in asymmetric positions that promote the persistence of relational models grounded on a traditional division of gender roles across generations. Recent national data shows the disadvantages of women in the workplace: a lower female rate of employment, a higher rate of temporary and part time employment, a lower quality of employment, and a lower salary than men (Almalaurea 2008, 2010; Istat 2010). Moreover, women spend twice as much time on domestic work and child care than their partners (Istat 2008-2009); despite formal equality between the sexes being established as a regulatory norm, women do not the same opportunities in terms of “leisure time” and “time for a career” (Istat 2012). Invisible barriers continue to block women’s emancipation. This could be called “sick emancipation” and can be considered a “perverse effect” of feminine and feminist “mouvementism.” In fact, regarding their goals, the emancipation of women and all the outcomes linked to this emancipation (intentional and anticipated effects of the goals of the movement) have resulted in a condition of further sacrifice (unintentional and unanticipated consequences) for those women who are divided between family and career. This condition is so widespread that it results in the behavioural model of “double presence,” which is widely adopted and culturally assimilated in Italy. Given the above conditions, speculating on the possible implementation of a symmetrical family model requires a series of considerations both about gender identities and gender division of time. First of all, the emancipation of women, which is also symbolized by their entry into the world of work, did not run parallel to the family models, both from a structural and a cultural point of view. Thus, the transition from the nuclear family to the symmetrical one with flexible and interchangeable roles did not have a massive expansion in Italy. The family continues to be characterized by stereotype and separation of roles, particularly in the South of Italy. The above delay has produced some specific conflicting situations, including a widespread dissatisfaction of women in family life. In this sense, the widespread female “double presence” model is not only one of the most important reasons of the above conflicts, but also one of the unanticipated consequences of feminine and feminist achievements. Moreover, the above model results in serious difficulties for women in everyday life and often leads to disagreements in the couple. However, instead of claiming for shared domestic tasks and being interchangeable, women are still linked to old cultural stereotypes of gender identity, thus being often reluctant to delegate obligations arising from household labor. Based on the above and other considerations, making also use of statistical data, the possible implementation of a symmetric model of family in contemporary Italian society will be analyzed.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.