************************************************************** The material posted here was provided to the Division for the Advancement of Women by the Government in response to a note verbale. It is being made available in electronic format in the form received. In cases where it was not possible at this time to reproduce charts and tables supplied, these can be obtained by contacting the Division for the Advancement of Women directly. ************************************************************** NATIONAL PLAN OF ITALY TO IMPLEMENT THE BEIJING PLATFORM FOR ACTION New York, 11 March 1996 8 MARCH 1997: ITALY ADOPTS A NATIONAL PLAN TO IMPLEMENT THE BEIJING PLATFORM FOR ACTION Promoting equal opportunities and women's rights has been a priority for the new Italian government from the moment it took office. A first sign of this was the appointment, for the first time in Italian history, of a Minister for Equal Opportunities. Ms Anna Finocchiaro. This decision was the result of ten years' experience in Equal Opportunity policies, leading to the creation of a vast network of local, national, public and civic bodies, coordinated by the National Commission for Equality and Equal Opportunities. In 1991 Italy enacted legislation on "affirmative action to implement equality between women and men in the workplace". The law established a special committee under the Ministry of Labour, the National Committee for Labour and Employment Equality and Equal Opportunities. Implementing the Beijing Platform for Action in the specific Italian context and mainstreaming gender policies into government action were the first commitments made by the new Minister for Equal Opportunities. The Prime Minister's Directive 1/, adopted by the government on 8 March 1997, is a concrete result of such work. The guidelines for this Directive, focused on the two notions of women's empowerment and mainstreaming of gender policies, were discussed and adopted by the Italian Parliament on 6 March 1997. 1/ See attached text. NATIONAL IMPLEMENTATION PLAN BEIJING PLATFORM FOR ACTION Prime Minister's Directive "Actions to promote women's empowerment, and to recognise and ensure freedom of choice and a better quality of social living for women and men" Adopted by the Italian Council of Ministers on 7 March 1997 The Prime Minister in view of art.5, comma 2, letter a), of Act n 400 of 23 August 1988; in view of the powers delegated by the Prime Minister to the Minister for Equal Opportunities on 12 July 1996; in view of the Declaration and Platform for Action adopted by the 4th World Conference on Women (Beijing, 4- 15 September 1995); in view of the 4th Mid-Term Action Program for Equality and Equal Opportunities for Women and Men (1996-2000) of the European Union; in view of the document adopted in December 1996 by the National Commission for Equality and Equal Opportunities between women and men; considering that in Western countries and in Italy women are now highly educated and hold jobs in the top professions and in decision-making capacities; that despite the persistence of high unemployment and of occupational segregation in some fields, there is a prevailing trend towards integrating women into the labour market and towards increasing the number of women entrepreneurs; considering that nevertheless, women are still marginalized from leadership and decision-making fora in their professions, businesses, public administration, and political institutions; convinced that the causes of this phenomenon are to be found in the way that decision-making fora operate, in a manner often alien to women's culture and lifestyles, both in terms of the unequal division of family responsibilities between the two genders, and of the persistence of patterns of exclusion; and that public authorities need to intervene through consistent and concerted actions; convinced that the social experience of women's multiple work activities highlights the following needs: to attribute greater value to caretaking activities, in order to ensure an enhanced quality of social coexistence and of relations between individuals; to introduce a different use of time 2/ as the foundation for the modern welfare state; to redistribute within society the time and work dedicated to caretaking, also as a source of jobs and new citizenship; convinced that educational centers should promote cultural values targeted towards gender-consciousness, solidarity, social coexistence and mutual respect between women and men; considering that the World Health Organisation has defined health as overall personal psychological and physical well-being, and not as the mere absence of disease; that this notion of health should be adopted as the basic principle behind social and healthcare policies, both to respond to the healthcare needs of all the population and to protect women's reproductive health; considering that women's movements advocating gender difference were the driving force behind the drafting of the Beijing Platform for Action; considering that the 4th World Conference on Women identified many strategic objectives for equality, development and peace; that governments undertook the commitment to implement actions in line with these objectives, appropriate to their specific national contexts; having heard the opinion of the Council of Ministers; on the basis of a proposal by the Minister for Equal Opportunities, addresses the following Directive to all members of the government: Acting on the basis of their respective prerogatives and through all initiatives that shall be deemed necessary over the course of time, all Cabinet Ministers will pursue the following objectives, in the framework of the strategic objectives indicated in the Declaration and Platform for Action of the 4th World Conference on Women, in view of promoting women's empowerment and mainstreaming of gender policies into all general purpose and sectoral policies, of promoting new employment policies and new policies on the use of time and the organisation of work, and of providing full recognition and assurance of freedom of choice and an enhanced social quality of life for both women and men. 2/ Translator's note: the Italian expression, corresponding to "use of time" or "policies on the use of time" refers to the notion. common in women's and feminist debate that the "timing" needed to reconcile paid work with caretaking activities is a crucial factor in women's lives. Hence it is believed that working hours need to be reorganised and coordinated, extending the hours of shops, public offices schools, transportation facilities etc.. in order to make it possible for all citizens both women and men. to reconcile their working time with adequate time for family and personal life. 1. Empowerment - strategic objective G.1. Create conditions for a wide-spread presence of women in decision-making fora dealing with matters of high relevance to the life of the community Actions 1 1. Ensure a significant presence of women in government-appointed bodies and in all policy-making positions of public administration, fully recognising the value of women's expertise and experience; 1 2. Analyse the impact of existing electoral systems at the European, national and local levels, on women' representation in elected bodies; 1 3 Analyse the impact of training, education and continuing education systems and curricula on women's access to decision-making positions, in the framework of the reform of public administration, suggesting appropriate changes; 2. Mainstreaming a gender perspective into government policies - strategic objective E.1 Strengthen and enhance institutional mechanisms for mainstreaming. Actions 2.1. Ensure structural and standing co-ordination in the actions of all government departments, in order to re-examine provisions, policies and programs, to monitor implementation of the objectives indicated in this directive, and to study any innovative proposals. 2 2. Take initiatives and adopt rules and regulations and any other acts that may be necessary for the purpose of a full and timely implementation of this directive. 2 3. Monitor the implementation of existing equality provisions, particularly Act 125 of 10 April 1991, also in view of assessing whether existing institutional and legal instruments are up to standard; trigger a process of reform, with the contribution of the National Commission for Equality and Equal Opportunities and of the National Committee for Labour and Employment Equality and Equal Opportunities, targeted at building a comprehensive system of mainstreaming implementation programs. 3. Statistical analysis and impact evaluation - strategic objective H 3. Generate and disseminate gender-disaggregated data and information. Evaluate gender-equality impact of government policies. Actions 3.1 Evaluate the gender-equality impact of the welfare reform, with a particular focus on gender relations and relations between generations. 3.2. Before undertaking any government action, adopt the method of evaluating its impact on social structures and gender relations. 3.3. Prepare a White Paper on Labour and Employment Issues, specifically focusing on the influence of gender difference on changes in work experiences and patterns, and on the types of work characterising different age groups, and different sectors and areas of the country 3.4. Develop, collect and process gender-disaggregated and age-disaggregated statistics, through instruments such as ISTAT (National Statistics Agency) and the National Statistics Systems; when planning statistical studies, data collection and data analysis, prioritize the identification of gender-specific features. 3.5. Promote studies aimed at highlighting gender-related issues, basing such studies on official statistics 4. Disseminate gender-sensitive culture in education - strategic objective D 4. Integrate women's innovative knowledge into proposals to reform the school system, universities and teaching approaches; promote cultural understanding and studies on gender difference and learning processes that acknowledge gender difference. Actions 4.1. Introduce into curricula the teaching of women's basic rights, as enunciated in UN Conventions and documents. 4.2 Promote and enhance knowledge of women's history, and of the contribution of women, women movements and feminist movements to societal development and progress, also by promoting mono- or multi-disciplinary education projects and teacher training and refresher programs, and by developing specific teaching aids on these issues. 4.3. Promote educational activities fostering respect for difference and peaceful resolution of conflicts and controversies. 4.4. Use a wide range of learning paths to promote the teaching of sex education, gender awareness, and recognition of the value of gender difference and of gender relations based on affection, reciprocity and sharing responsibilities. 4.5. Integrate into the drafting and reading of school and university reform bills, a process of consultation of women who are researchers, education experts, teachers and students. 4 6 Promote women's access to research and professorial posts. 5. Employment and job-creation policies - strategic objective F 5. Support innovation-focused production structures; invest in sectors related to improved quality of life, education, culture, environmental protection and the protection of urban and local sustainable development patterns. Actions 5 1. Evaluate the gender equality impact of decision-making when selecting development sectors and investment programs. 5 2. Measure the impact on women's jobs of public investment into job creation and vocational training. 5 3. Introduce financial incentives for women's employment growth in crisis areas and in Southern Italy, where women's unemployment is particularly high. 5.4. Consider local tripartite agreements between local authorities and social partners, as well as other local bargaining practices, to be special opportunities to identify and pursue specific strategic objectives for increasing women's employment. 5.5. Adopt special programs: to promote targeted training and education activities; to facilitate the transition from school to work; to promote women's skills within the experiences of "socially useful" community work and non-profit-making activities; to introduce new highly skilled career paths for women. 5 6. Initiate pilot experiments and other related actions to eradicate the practice of unregistered and unregulated employment, also through training activities aimed at enabling self-employment, whilst valuing and enhancing new skills and new forms of knowledge. 6. Women's skills and entrepreneurship - strategic objective F 2. Promote new development by valuing the innovative potential represented by women's skills and entrepreneurship. Actions 6 1. Support and provide incentives for all job-creation activities, particularly those aimed at promoting self-employment and entrepreneurship, also by using and strengthening legislative provisions to support new business initiatives and by fully implementing provisions on "loans of honour" 3/ for young businessmen and women. 6 2. Support non-profit welfare and community activities, setting quality standards of service and designing new regulatory systems in line with the wide diversity and innovation which characterise this type of activities. 3/ Special measures to facilitate access to credit for young people wishing to set up new enterprises. 6 3. Regularly monitor women's access to European Structural Funds; ensure transparent information on, and management of, such funds; promote initiatives aimed at fully using these funding channels, also through support measures for project planning; regularly monitor the state of affairs in women' s entrepreneurship and vocational training experiences, also in view of enhanced research and experiments on innovative career paths for women 7. Policies to re-organise the use of time, working hours and the organisation of work- strategic objective F.6 Implement policies on issues related to the use of time and respect for human life cycles: allow women and men to fulfil their engagements related to work, caretaking, cultural and professional development, in different forms in the different phases of their lives. Promote work organisation policies that value gender difference and do not lead to gender discrimination in access to work and career development. Actions 7.1. In the framework of tripartite concertation between government and the social partners, promote policies to introduce flexible working hours, adapted to the different needs of working women and men in the different phases of their lives, and making it possible for them to choose part-time work arrangements for a period, and later be reinstated into full-time employment with no negative impact on their careers. 7 2. In view of the European Parliament resolution on the reduction and re-organisation of working time, initiate a joint study by different government Departments, aimed at a cost-and-benefits analysis of policies for the reduction of working time, measuring both their financial impact and their impact on social cohesion and well-being. 7 3. Draft and submit to Parliament new provisions on night work arrangements for women and men, to guarantee their health protection and set limits on the use of night shifts, whilst ensuring special protection for women workers pre- and post-partum and when breast-feeding, reasserting the provisions laid down by Act 903 of 9 December 1977 7 4. Draft and submit to Parliament new legislation on parental leave, aimed at granting both parents the individual right to take leave from work, subsequent to the period immediately before and after birth, for reasons related to health or other needs of their children. 7 5. Draft and submit to Parliament new comprehensive legislation on educational leave, promoting its implementation also through public sector bargaining practices, enabling working women and men to take leave from work for a given period of time, to be used for continuing education and upgrading of skills. 7.6. Support actions to reform provisions that regulate hours and use of time at the municipal level. 7 7. Develop and regularly repeat special studies on the use of time, also to measure the economic value of unpaid work, and evaluate gender role imbalances within families. 7 8. Acknowledge the existence and value of caretaking work, also through specific provisions on personal safety and protection from domestic accidents. 7 9. Promote affirmative actions that involve changes in the organisation of work, aimed at enhancing human resources, particularly in the field of public administration, and also in view of access to public funding. 7 10. Analyze re-organisation and privatization processes in state-owned firms, also by developing specific monitoring tools, in order to monitor women's occupational and career paths. 7.11. Promote full implementation of Act 125 of 10 April 1991, particularly as concerns legal action against indirect discrimination. 8. Health protection and disease prevention - strategic objectives C.1-C.5 Protect women's and men's health, namely their global psychological and physical well-being; promote initiatives aimed at providing support for women who wish to become mothers and at ensuring free and responsible choices on reproductive issues. Actions 8.1. In the National Healthcare Plan, enhance all actions aimed at protecting women's health in all phases of life. 8 2. Promote a National Welfare and Social Relief Plan, and carry out a preventive evaluation of its gender equality impact. 8 3. In the specific targeted project on healthcare for mothers and children, encourage targeted actions to identify risk factors, and promote early diagnosis, disease prevention and protection of reproductive health. 8 4. Promote the use of more humane childbirth practices by re-organising hospital structures and staffing in order to create facilities that will attain a rational balance between the requirements of a public healthcare facility and the need to respect personal dignity. 8 5. Draft new comprehensive legislation on maternity rights, absorbing and harmonizing existing sectoral provisions and ensuring greater protection for more disadvantaged groups. 8 6. Develop studies and data collection to highlight gender differences in health and healthcare, particularly focused on risk factors, disease prevention, chronic conditions, disabilities and reproductive health. 9. Prevention and repression of violence - strategic objectives D.1-D.3. Promote effective initiatives against violence in personal relations and against forced prostitution. Actions 9 1. Develop statistical studies on phenomena related to rape and sexual abuse, included those perpetrated within families, and on abusive practices, sexual harassment and blackmail in the workplace. Repeat such studies regularly, developing new methods of investigation on such issues. 9 2. Set up a standing observatory on the phenomenon of violence against women and children, also in view of monitoring and evaluating results of the new legislation on sexual offences and crimes, and of analyzing case law on sexual offences and domestic violence. 9 3. Draft new legislative provisions ruling that perpetrators of domestic violence be immediately removed from the family home. 9 4. Promote effective strategies against forced prostitution: launch information campaigns on this issue and adopt specific measures to protect women who wish to escape from the prostitution and sexual exploitation racket, and to identify alternative employment opportunities for them. 10. International relations and cooperation - strategic objectives E.1-E.4 Develop a foreign policy targeted towards peace, cooperation and full respect for human rights: a policy whereby gender differences in different cultures are considered an opportunity for mutual understanding and genuine exchanges. Actions 10 1 Develop initiatives aimed at full acknowledgment of and concrete respect for the human rights of women and girls. 10.2. Value women's contribution to international relations and peaceful conflict resolution, with a specific focus on using women's expertise on such issues existing in crisis areas. 10 3. Develop new forms of international cooperation, aimed at fully valuing women's autonomy in all spheres of society and of the economy, with a specific focus on the role of women in efforts to eradicate poverty.