The impacts of smart working on women. Lessons from the first lockdown in Italy

ABSTRACT Before the pandemic, Italy was one of the European countries with the lowest numbers of remote workers, both in the form of tele working and smart working based upon digital mobile technologies. In addition to increasing remote working to 40% in Italy, the pandemic has also led to a noticeable rise in the number of women working from home. This change presents a valuable opportunity to redefine the ways, times, and mechanisms of conducting work. However, it also needs to be assessed more closely in relation to gender impacts. While, on the one hand, evaluations on smart working during the pandemic must necessarily consider the extraordinary emergency conditions in which it has come to be, on the other, its criticalities have primarily affected women. With the aim to analyse the differential impacts of smart working, this paper discusses the results of a web survey conducted during the first lockdown in Italy, involving a total of 470 women working remotely from home. The results of the research are particularly interesting and appear to indicate at least three significant spheres for a differential analysis of the impacts: burden of care; availability of space/equipment, and skills.