In the 9th edition of Save the Children’s “The Tightrope” report on motherhood in Italy, Abruzzo is placed in 14th place in the ranking of the so-called “mother friendly” Italian regions
Compared to the previous study, Abruzzo gains a position, going from 15th place in 2022 to 14th in 2023. At the top of the ranking of the most mother friendly regions there is once again the autonomous Province of Bolzano, followed by Emilia Romagna and Tuscany, while the last place is occupied by Basilicata, preceded by Campania and Sicily. Among the regions that have improved the most compared to the previous year, there is Lazio which went from thirteenth to eighth place, gaining five positions and Lombardy which rose from eighth to fourth.
This is what emerges from the ninth edition of the report “Le Equilibriste – Motherhood in Italy 2024” by Save The Children, which developed the ranking with Istat.
The dossier shows that in Italy one worker in five leaves the job market after becoming a mother; 72.8% of the “validations” of the resignation of new parents concern women; the average number of children per woman continues to decline (1.20); there is the highest average age of women at childbirth among European countries (32.5 years).
In the Save the Children report it emerges that an indicator of the difficulties that mothers face in reconciling family and work commitments is represented by the number of employed women between the ages of 25 and 54: compared to a female employment rate of 63, 8%, women without children who work reach 68.7%, while only just over half of those with two or more minor children are employed (57.8%). On the contrary, for men of the same age, the total employment rate is 83.7%, with a variation ranging from 77.3% for those without children, up to 91.3% for those with a minor child and 91.6% for those with two or more.
«The good news is that compared to 2022 the territorial gaps have decreased and in the special ranking drawn up by Istat for our Mothers’ Index the distance between Basilicata, the last on the list, and the autonomous Province of Bolzano, the region with the best performances, decreased by 7 points”, commented the Research and Analysis manager of Save The Children Italia Antonella Inverno. «The overall value of Italy as a country system has also increased, a sign of greater awareness on the topic of parenting support after years of public debate.»
