Careers: the gender gap is widening to the detriment of women

From 2 per cent of industrial engineers to 84 per cent of psychologists. If we look at the world of professions from a gender perspective, the diversity across different professional fields is striking. It ranges from just two women in every 100 industrial engineers to 84 women in every 100 psychologists. Employment consultants and solicitors come closest to gender parity, with 47 women and 53 men. Apart from psychologists, the only other professions where women are in the majority are veterinary surgeons (57 per cent), nurses (71 per cent) and biologists (75 per cent). Among the most ‘testosterone-dominated’ sectors are (in addition to industrial surveyors) agricultural surveyors (91 per cent men), quantity surveyors (90 per cent) and engineers (84 per cent). Among technical professionals, architects have the highest proportion of women (41 per cent). The data can be found in Confprofessioni’s report on ‘Intertwining divides: gender, region and generations among the self-employed’, presented in Rome on 11 March at Confprofessioni’s Second Youth Forum, organised by the confederation’s young members.

But the most worrying finding of the Confprofessioni study is not so much the ‘gender gap’ as the ‘gender pay gap’. Indeed, the study has identified a worrying trend regarding the pay gap between men and women. ‘Gender gaps are structural and are getting worse,’ the document states. Although the number of women in the liberal professions has increased, the pay gap has widened. The IPRP – that is, the income parity index for professionals – has fallen from 61.4 per cent in 2010 to 53.7 per cent in 2024. This means that a female professional now earns just over half the income of a male colleague, whereas 14 years ago the figure was much higher. Looking at the INPS separate pension scheme, the trend is positive: 72.2 per cent in 2024 compared with 68 per cent in 2014. In any case, ‘the gap remains significant’.

It should not be forgotten that the predominantly female professions mentioned above are also those that are ‘systematically less well-paid than male-dominated ones’, such as engineers, surveyors and technical experts. There is also a geographical gap which, regardless of gender, sees professionals in the North earning ‘incomes consistently 20–24 per cent higher than the national average, whilst those in the South stand at between 67 per cent and 71 per cent of the national average’. Here too, the situation appears more favourable when considering the INPS separate pension scheme, with the South having closed the gap by around 12 percentage points compared with the national average. The final gap analysed by Confprofessioni is the age gap. ‘The age gap is not narrowing and poses a problem of generational sustainability’ amongst the professions, the study states. Between 2014 and 2024, the average age rose from 45.8 to 47.9 years, with a median age of 48 years. The 51–60 age group is now the largest. Not only are there fewer professionals under 30, but their income is also just 31 per cent of that of a colleague in the 51–60 age group.

“In the private pension schemes,” says Confprofessioni, “the generational gap has remained largely unchanged over the past decade; in the Separate Scheme, however, it has narrowed by 12 points.”All these ‘three axes of inequality overlap and reinforce one another’ to the extent that ‘a young female professional living in the South faces all these disadvantages simultaneously, in a situation of multiple deprivation’. Confprofessioni points out that, according to Adepp data, ‘in 2024, a female professional in the South will have an income equal to 31 per cent of that of a male colleague working in the North’. The situation worsens as women get older: ‘a woman in the 31–40 age group earns 33 per cent of the income of a male colleague at the peak of his career, that is, in the 51–60 age group’.

Also on 11 March, lawyer Giulia Maddalena took up her post as head of the Youth Council, the body that represents young professionals within the Confederation, with the aim of promoting the contribution of the younger generation to the development of the liberal professions.