Italy: high number of women entrepreneurs but low welfare for mothers in business

According to statistics, Italy has the highest number of women entrepreneurs in Europe. Yet it is no country for "mothers in business". The State spending on family and childcare is 39.3 percent lower than the European Union (EU) average and only 14 percent of children under three years of age have access to public nurseries, according to a report by Confartigianato, which represents more than 700,000 artisans and custom manufacturers. The situation results in female entrepreneurs and self-employed women being penalised, the report said. "The lack of welfare for families has a high cost for society and that cost is being paid by women," Edgarda Fiorini, president of the women group Donne Impresa-Confartigianato, told Xinhua. Fiorini is the CEO of Inerbeton Company, which produces prompt concrete in the northeast province of Udine. "Women-run enterprises have showed strong resilience against the crisis and they could boost the wealth of the country. Yet the State doesn't help women enough to cope with their double burden of work and children," Fiorini said. "This situation hampers women entrepreneurs most of all, because they cannot take temporary leave to look after their children as easily as employed mothers ... they have a business to run. That's why they would need more childcare services to rely on," she added. Most important, entrepreneurs with Donne Impresa suggested, would be to increase public nursery schools throughout the country, in central and southern areas especially, and to keep them full-time open (many now close in the afternoon and in summer months). Reducing fees for low and medium-income families would be also useful, they said. The current cost ranges between 300 and 500 euros per month, according to the Interior Ministry. For this reason many self employed women don't see as "profitable" to return to work after maternity leave. On May 2013 the EU sent recommendations on this issue to Italy and other 10 member States. It specifically asked Italy to strengthen childcare availability and meet the so-called "Barcelona targets", which required European countries to provide childcare to at least 33 percent of children under three by 2010 and to at least 50 percent by 2020. Italy received the same recommendation in 2012. Its rate, as Confartigianato report showed, is still around 14 percent. Nevertheless, Italy has showed good performance regarding women entrepreneurship. It counts 1,719,043 between women entrepreneurs and self-employed female workers, according to the Italian Institute of Statistics (ISTAT). It is the highest number among EU countries, before Germany (1,373,400) and Britain (1,264,400). During the crisis women-run companies have outlived those run by male colleagues. Between 2008 and 2013 the former have increase by 8 percent, while the latter have decreased by 7.8 percent. Women entrepreneurship also seems to run faster now: with 4,878 newborn small enterprises in the last year, it has grown more than the domestic average altogether (0.34 percent and 0.13 percent, respectively). Despite the positive results, though, the environment remains quite "unfriendly" for women. According to European Statistics, Italy spending on childcare services is 1.31 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). It is lower than the EU average (2.26 percent), Spain (1.51 percent), Britain (1.87 percent), France (2.66 percent) and Germany (3.20 percent). Since family obligations still lie with mothers, this condition has resulted in one of the lowest women employment rate in Europe and it discourages women's initiative. "What people doesn't fully understand in Italy is that an entrepreneur or self-employed cannot stop working. Our work does not wait ... no matter if you are a mother or not," entrepreneur Emanuela Bacchilega told Xinhua. Mother of two girls aged seven and 14, Bacchilega leads the shoe factory Calzaturificio Emanuela in the northern province of Ravenna. She graduated in law, but then took the reins of the family business. As an entrepreneur mom, she would like to see more flexibility in childcare services. "With my second pregnancy, I broke the waters while I was cueing at the post office. Before going to hospital, I went back to my office to fix all pending files ... and I did the same the day after I had the child. Am I a wonder woman? Not at all! Every entrepreneur, man or woman, would have done the same. That's why childcare should change to better meet our needs," she explained to Xinhua. Public nursery schools are limited in numbers and select pupils on the base of family income first. That's why children of medium and high-income households are often left out, Bacchilega said. Nurseries opening time is also fixed and short: many mothers are left with the need of a long after-school childcare. The problem is bigger for professional and self-employed ones, who don't work with fixed timetable. Other European countries have approached the EU Barcelona targets: Denmark, Sweden and Iceland already provide childcare to more than 50 percent of children under three, while France, Britain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium and others are between 25 and 50 percent. Many countries also complete public childcare with services such as the "tagesmutters" in Germany (women working as childminders at home, caring of their own and other children), with financial support to cover baby-sitting costs, or private nurseries within factories. Italy doesn't keep the pace on this, Emanuela Bacchilega complained, and it is neither fair nor profitable: as the economy struggles with a long recession, she suggested, to give help to women in business could benefit society as a whole. "Give mothers more help and they would be more focused on work. I am pretty sure our GDP would gain from this."