If the father chooses childcare and leaves or changes job

A pioneer of the phenomenon was the actor Cary Grant in the 1960s: he took a step back in his career after the birth of his daughter Jennifer. Today there are also examples in Italia of fathers who, in order to take care of their children, leave or change jobs, refuse a transfer. Cases that cannot be compared numerically to those of mothers but that are beginning to emerge from pure exceptionality. "When my twins were born,' says manager Marco Ottonello, 'I decided to take a year's leave. I was a senior manager in Italia, and with the arrival of the children I sacrificed my career and money to have more time for myself and my family'. In Bolzano, a 30-year-old accountant, Mario T., left the firm he worked for and set up his own business so that he could take care of his children and not force his wife to take part time. 'I followed my partner to Asia to enable her to progress in her career, and after a few months' leave of absence, I left my job,' says a former telco manager.

Data from the National Labour Inspectorate (INL) actually record an increase in the motivation of care among those cited by fathers for voluntary resignations and consensual terminations within three years of a child's life, showing a timid cultural change. In general, according to the report on validations of resignations and consensual terminations of working mothers and fathers, published last May, there were 59,454 voluntary resignations in 2024; of these, 69.6 per cent concerned women. In 2023, men's voluntary resignations rose by 11.7 per cent, a stable figure in 2024, while women's voluntary resignations fell (-3.8 per cent). Care as a reason for resignation or consensual termination cited by fathers increases from 16.7% in 2023 to 21.1% in 2024.

However, the big gender difference concerns precisely the reasons. For women, the difficulty of reconciling work and care prevails, mainly due to the absence of services (45.2% in 2023, 47.5% in 2024), a problem followed by that of work organisation (29.5% in 2023 and 30.0% in 2024); overall, the difficulty of care represents 74.7% of validations in 2023, 77.5% in 2024. For fathers, while care is increasing, the main motivation is to move to another company (72.2% in 2023 and 66.6% in 2024). 'In reading the data, it should be considered that the motivations,' explains Stefano Marconi, who is director of the Centre's Interregional Labour Directorate at INL, 'are not univocal. That is, a father might indicate more than one motivation. Certainly, the fact that childcare motivations are increasing could indicate a start of cultural change. But it should also be borne in mind that the increase occurs after 2023, when the regulatory change that extended benefits to fathers came into effect'. Fathers, like mothers, can now voluntarily resign within three years of the child's birth; within the first year, no notice is due and Naspi is payable, in addition to the indemnity in lieu of notice if paternity leave was used.

While the greater involvement of fathers that can be guessed from the data is positive news, the phenomenon of resignations for reasons of care is not, defined by Lara Ghiglione, confederal secretary of the CGIL, as 'a collective defeat. It means that parenthood, and not only motherhood, is still not recognised as a social value. Clear and consistent political choices are needed. We need structural investments in childhood education services'. Then there remains the profound gap with mothers: "Despite the trend recorded by the latest data on voluntary resignations, the impact on work," says Maddalena Cannito, professor at the University of Turin, "of motherhood compared to fatherhood is immeasurable. Looking at other data, having children for men increases the employment rate, makes them more active and increases the hours worked'. And there remains, finally, a certain social stigma for fathers who take a step backwards. "Many friends who could have afforded it have not done so for fear of judgement. One headhunter told me that mine was professional suicide. I preferred my personal happiness,' Ottonello concludes.