The number of women in the transport industry currently stands at 22% at European level but in the maritime sector we are at 20.2% of the total. Only 2% of the total workforce employed on board ships is female. These are the figures presented this morning by the President of Espo, Isabelle Ryckboost, at the national focus day, Women in Transport, coordinated by Assoporti (the Italian port association- Translator’s note) and dedicated to the fight against inequality.
These figures are harsh, and still reflect the lack of progress in gender equality in a sector that is also characterized by a critical gender pay gap: on average, women earn 45% less than men.
“There are strong gender stereotypes in the sector,” says Linda Laura Sabbadini, gender analysis pioneer at Istat. (Italian National Institute of Statistics – Translator’s note) Speaking at the conference, Sabbadini underlines how there is a distorted image of the sector: “There is a misconception that certain jobs are not suitable for women which fails to take into account the major changes that are transforming the world”.
Environmental sustainability, sustainable mobility, digitalization are all central issues that, according to the ISTAT executive, will give an important impetus for renewing the transport and logistics industry, also redefining the role of women more clearly than in the past. “Women – says the expert – are usually endowed with organizational and planning skills and they themselves bring innovation. They could make an important contribution to this professional sector, in terms of growth and improving the quality of work.”
Italy, unfortunately, is dramatically behind in this field: “We are not a country where women’s employment is particularly developed” – says the ISTAT director -, “we are at the bottom of the European female employment list, we do not even reach 50%.”
The pandemic crisis has undoubtedly contributed to creating new difficulties: “Unlike what we have seen with the economic crises over the last few years, which have mainly affected the industrial sector, the one triggered by the spread of the virus has impacted on the service segment, where women are notoriously more present and where they often hold precarious if not irregular positions.”
Women have paid a much higher price than men during the pandemic: “The Italian government has failed to adequately safeguard the female part of the job market”.
However, the problem of gender equality goes back a long way and has been dragging on for decades: “The progressive entry of women into the labour market has not been matched by adequate support measures, also in terms of welfare.”
While in Nordic countries the various governments have been able to take a proactive role in supporting women’s employment, with common policies promoting educational services, childcare and healthcare, “Italy has not been able to take the burden of family responsibilities off women’s shoulders, which is particularly heavy here.”
Sabbadini is convinced: “In our country we have suffered the lack of policies that would prevent women from having to choose between family and work. Many laws, passed over time, haven’t, in fact, had the slightest effect.”
The ISTAT director mentions the 1971 law on public day-care centers (only 12% of children today use this service) or the 2000 law on parental leave. “They have basically remained unimplemented due to a lack of adequate funding. Indeed, these services have often been among the first to be cut when it has come to making public spending reductions.”
For Sabbadini, there is a serious problem: “The pandemic crisis has shown that our social infrastructure is inadequate. Covid-19 has caught us off guard, but if we had been stronger on social and healthcare services, perhaps the numbers we are talking about today would have been different.”
However, the new challenges launched by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan may define new paradigms and social models. The director of the Master degree in Maritime, Port and Logistics Law at the University of Bologna, Greta Tellarini, is certain of this: “The Italian government is moving in the direction pursued by the objectives defined by the 2030 Agenda”.Signs of change can also be seen in the port-maritime sector: “The Gender Equality Pact signed by Assoporti and the Port Network Authorities has clear strong points for systematically affecting the transformation of cultural and organizational models in the industry.”
Translation by Giles Foster