Donne al lavoro in Italia tra parità formale e disparità sostanziale

The contribution aims to articulate in critical terms the condition of women in Italy, in light of the recent transformations that have affected the welfare state and labour market. In particular, the attention has been paid to the more hidden aspects of the recent reforms implemented by Italian governments, concerning the relation between care work and social and material changes. The casualization of labour among young women is producing a postponement of the reproductive choices while among older ones, especially the unskilled ones, it is producing a returning as a full-time housewives, with all the implications that this dynamic has in terms of loss of emancipation and autonomy. For many women the impossibility to balance work and personal life is leading to their exclusion from the labour market. The reflections developed in this paper aim to highlight the process of invisibilization that continues to mark the reproductive work and the consequences that this process has on the reproduction of class and gender inequalities.