Modelli di organizzazione del lavoro e politiche di parità

The female occupational rate in Italy is still among the lowest in Europe, in spite of the progress that has been achieved over the las 15 years. Horizontal and vertical segregation continue to characterize the presence of women on the labour market. A longitudinal research carried out in Piedmont on about 300 firms that have over 100 employees has obtained the following results. From 1996 to 2001, the majority of these firms have not changed their internal gender set-up in significant way. There are, however, quite a few that have definitly improved their gender balance. But the situation in other companies has worsened. Case studies on 12 companies (2 in the textile sector, 5 in the electric-electonic sector and 5 in the metal-mechanical sector) have found a parallelism between policies aware of equal opportunities and organizational policies aimed to improve employees’competences, encouraging participation and stimulating organizational learning processes. These above mentioned firms have taken advantage of public incentives provided to realize equal opportunities policies. The risults obtained from many public programs aimed to promote equal opportunities confirm the outcome of this research. Two types of companies have taken advantage of the incentives: i) public and private enterprises that are not affected by internationa competition; ii) companies where equal opportunities dipend on an overall policy intended to improve personnel competences and ameliorate company performance. Therefore, if the aim is to conciliate daily life and work, equal opportunities togheter with an innovating strategy within the entire economic system, we have above all to watch these second type of companies with grate attention.