The 'complicated' choice of motherhood in Italia

Mother's Day

Part-time and career abandonment: the traps for working mothers

A reorganisation of work patterns and a review of leave are needed, as well as an equal division of family care duties

by Chiara Di Cristofaro and Simona Rossitto

10 May 2026

6' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

6' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

It is not just about giving up or losing one's job. Even for those mothers who manage to keep their jobs, the challenges are many and often less visible.

According to the latest data compiled by Save the Children, in Italy only 58.2% of mothers with children of pre-school age work, just over half. And if they manage not to leave the labour market, the road remains difficult because of the so-called 'child penalty': after the birth of children, not only female employment rates, but also working hours, career progression and earnings tend to decrease, either because of the use of part-time and flexible forms of work, or because of lack of growth and career opportunities. This happens sometimes precisely because of those tools designed to reconcile work and private life. And sometimes because of a cultural change that is still struggling to take hold.

How much does the child penalty weigh?

The Child Penalty Atlas, a global atlas that quantifies the penalisation of mothers compared to fathers, calculates a child penalty of 33 per cent for Italia. The child penalty weighs on the wages of mothers with considerable differences according to sectors: in the public sector, which is more protected and regulated, says the Inps report of 2025, the penalty is 14 logarithmic points, in the private sector it reaches 31. Already in the year of birth, mothers experience a reduction in pay. In the public sector, the drop is around 5 points, while, again, in the private sector it is much more pronounced, close to 14. A crucial role is played by the family composition: while mothers with only one child manage to fully recover their wage loss within three years of birth, for those with several children the path is longer and more discontinuous, marked by further declines in correspondence with new motherhood. Important inequalities are also found at a territorial level, with a clear advantage for female workers in the South, where the probability of exiting the labour market following the birth of a child reaches 26%, against the 18% recorded in the North.

'For those who stay at work,' explains Matilde Marandola, president of Aidp, the Italian Association for Personnel Management, 'the path is often a paradox. On the one hand there is a real metamorphosis: motherhood trains the brain to an incredible reactivity and management of complexity; on the other, this potential risks being extinguished by clashing with archaic work models. Thus, female professionals who have grown so much on a human and cognitive level find themselves working twice as hard to prove their worth to a system that looks at them with prejudice'.

Worsens quality of work

In this year's report, for the first time since 2022, Save the Children also notes a general worsening. "The mothers' index", explains Antonella Inverno, Head of Research and Data Analysis, "worsens above all in the employment dimension. Not so much on the employment front, which in 2024 for 25-54-year-olds with at least one minor child will increase by 0.1%, although much less than for fathers, but looking at the other indicators. The number of those employed in temporary jobs in 2024 increased by 2%, a sign that there is more precariousness. The voluntary resignations of mothers with children up to three years old increased by two points per thousand, from 4.8 to 6.8 per thousand. Young mothers are particularly affected: between 15 and 29 Neet are at 60.9 per cent". The use of part time decreases somewhat, even when - and this is certainly to be read as a good sign - it is involuntary. In 2024, according to Save the Children, the use of part-time work by women aged 25-54 with at least one minor child in Italia is 32.6 per cent (of which 11.7 per cent involuntary), compared to 35.6 per cent in 2023 (of which 12.6 per cent involuntary).

The part-time 'trap'

"Part-time started out as a tool for reconciling life and work, within a traditional and patriarchal vision of roles. Over time, however, the data clearly show a transformation: female part-time work, from an opportunity, has often become a 'cage', if not a real ghetto," explains Roberto Rizza, labour sociologist at the University of Bologna. "These are rarely prestigious or highly professional positions," says Rizza, "and this reinforces occupational segregation and limits career possibilities. Finally, there is the pension issue: "Women are more exposed to discontinuous careers, fixed-term and part-time contracts. The cost is paid in the end: less economic autonomy and more vulnerability in an already delicate phase of life'.

What is blocking your career?

On a more general level, even for those women who work full-time and manage to maintain full-time employment after maternity leave, there is a trade-off between work and family that must be read carefully. "The main driver of the increase in female employment is education: women today are on average better educated than men, and this has driven their participation in employment. Women with a high level of education are no longer willing to leave the labour market, even at critical times, such as the birth of children,' Professor Rizza explains. The discourse is different for less qualified women, 'where the link with work is weaker and the exit can become definitive, even with long maternity leave'. The central issue, according to the sociologist, remains the imbalance between maternity and paternity, with deeply asymmetrical leave and with parental leave that, being transferable, is often used almost exclusively by mothers. "This reinforces the interruption of women's careers and produces discouraging effects," he concludes.

The chronic shortage of childcare services

To this must be added the chronic shortage of early childhood services, which goes hand in hand with a prevailing cultural model in which childcare is mainly considered a woman's responsibility. "The most critical elements," comments Simona Lanzoni, vice-president of Pangea Onlus, "are still the same: women forced into involuntary part-time work due to the difficulty of reconciling motherhood and career, and an imbalance in family care work that continues to weigh almost exclusively on women's shoulders, forcing many women to reduce their working hours, renounce opportunities for professional growth or, in the most extreme cases, abandon the labour market altogether. These are not free choices, but the result of a chronic shortage of childcare services, inadequate family policies and a work culture that is still strongly unbalanced. We see this trend every day with the women who come to our Active Labour Policies Desk: their lives oscillate between lack of work, compulsory renunciations and stereotypes that penalise them'.

The missing business organisation

Another central point concerns the organisation of companies. Professor Roberto Rizza explains: 'Going back to Nobel Prize winner Claudia Goldin's analysis, we know that careers are built on obsolete criteria: they reward physical presence and extended hours, rewarding those who are always available - typically men - and penalising those who have care responsibilities'. A model that creates figures perceived as irreplaceable and who are then rewarded. There is therefore a need for a thorough revision of work organisation, including the management of teams and operational uncertainty, to prevent the costs of flexibility from systematically falling on women.

In summary, for women to really play the career game on an equal footing, according to Professor Rizza, education is a decisive factor, but not sufficient. The real game is played on work organisation, care services and a real rebalancing of family responsibilities. Only by intervening on these three levels is it possible to reduce inequalities and come closer to real conditions of equal opportunities. "The real turning point," echoes Matilde Marandola, president of Aidp, "lies in building organisations where people's results and value are assessed, creating flexibility and welfare policies that allow anyone, mother or father, to express their potential to the full and ensure the well-being of the family. Only when merit is freed from stereotypes will we be able to value it in its purest form, making work a place where personal life enriches professional life'.

Finally, one last fact that should not be underestimated: 'Women today are on average better educated and often more productive than men. Not making full use of them represents an economic and social cost that the country can no longer afford," says sociologist Roberto Rizza.