Worse than Elisabetta Franchi's speech on women and work, there are the late and ambiguous answers of the Minister for Equal Opportunities

Worse than Elisabetta Franchi's speech on women and work

Why did the Minister for Equal Opportunities Elena Bonetti take so long to reply to the phrases of the stylist Elisabetta Franchi? And because she did not decide to say practically anything during the infamous conference on Women and Fashion organized by the consulting firm Pricewaterhouse Cooper and Il Foglio, which went down in history for the "medieval" positions of the entrepreneur on women's work, to which Bonetti also spoke connecting? Answer number one: because the great black hole of this country is the timidity with which, on such occasions, one does not have the courage to rip the microphone and immediately fix things out of place. So it was for the moderator of the meeting, the journalist Fabiana Giacomotti, between a few sneers and a few jokes, so for the minister of Italy alive.

There is also a more articulated answer, which speaks of rights and values. Today, with an interview with Repubblica, Bonetti broke the embarrassing silence in which she had slipped for days. "I believe they were strong phrases, which highlighted critical issues and discrimination, and also highlight the real difficulties of companies with regard to female work and motherhood. To which I replied by explaining which concrete measures, starting with the Family Act, the government has put in place precisely to avoid this discrimination. From nursery schools to parental leave for fathers ", the minister told the newspaper. Calling that crap "strong phrases" is an understatement. While the phrase "real difficulties of companies in relation to female work and maternity" is instead an ambiguous formula on the part of a minister of the Republic. The difficulties are first of all for those who queue up for public kindergartens which cover only 23% of the needs between 0 and 3 years. But let's move on.

The risk of discrimination As Vitalba Azzollini rightly pointed out in Domani, Franchi's was a speech bordering on legality: "Offering professional advantages in relation to gender, age, motherhood - has written by the jurist - it may constitute a hypothesis of discrimination pursuant to the Code of equal opportunities, as well as a processing of personal data that goes beyond the permitted cases ". The head of Equal Opportunities should have intervened on that, and immediately, with the serenity and severity that should be shown when replying to obscenities such as those uttered by Franchi. And then, if anything, to worry about renzianamente renzianamente what the government has done or has not done.

In other words, an intervention on values ​​was needed - better before but it would have been fine afterwards as well. While Bonetti first chose essentially to remain silent during the conference and then to speak a couple of days late with some brief reply in the purest politichese. These are somewhat sad words. For example, it is proud of a 10-day paternity leave, when elsewhere in Europe it can even go up to three months. But above all words that carefully dodge that harsh reply on the values ​​that were needed. A clear condemnation was needed, a somewhat inconsistent minuet arrived. Hear here: "My job is to create the conditions for not having to hear a speech like that of Elisabetta Franchi anymore".

The answer that hasn't arrived You really don't understand the meaning of these positions: Franchi said to hire women over 40 because "if they had to have children or get married they have already done so and therefore I take them that they have made all the turning points and work 24 hours a day, this is important." They are people at the complete disposal of the company without maternity and leave, that is, without the fantasy of enjoying one's rights. What measures could the minister propose to neutralize those positions? In order not to listen to a speech like that of Elisabetta Franchi, she should have replied by emphasizing the gravity of such an approach: the entrepreneur in fact, she did not speak of parental leave or crèches, she did not enter into the merits of the political measures that she probably ignores, she made a revamped speech full of stereotypes and rights. al borati, self-declaring among other things the "discriminatory" way in which she manages her company. Again: Bonetti should have answered about that.

In fact, Franchi's five months of maternity leave and six of parental leave seem to be unsuitable, so in choosing the people to work, he avoids those who statistically could benefit from them, by aiming directly to women over 40. Would giving more time to partners favor the early return to work of mothers? Have more places in kindergartens as well? Certainly, but without touching the right to enjoy the periods granted by the law which are exactly those against which the entrepreneur has lashed out, underlining the problem of seeing "holes" appear in the organization charts of a company, and which Bonetti would like instead and rightfully extend.

In short, there is no way to keep the designer's positions together with the expansion of rights and protections for families: the former wants to hire only women who no longer have to take care of their children, regardless the length of paternity leave - even if this were the same as that of mothers - or some extra place in nursery schools. She defines the choice to have children and take care of them with some position in her company incompatible. On that Bonetti should have answered, rather than claiming the meager achievements of his mandates to the ministry.