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Previous research has shown that Italian women with family responsibilities are considerably less likely to participate in the labor market compared to men. However, most studies have focused on the native population, disregarding whether in the Italian context women with an immigrant background face the same or worse difficulties in reconciling work and family. This is a relevant question, as migrant and native women may have different preferences and motivations regarding paid work, but they share the same local constraints in terms of welfare and family policies and thus face similar structural barriers to work-family reconciliation. This article uses data from two nationally representative surveys conducted in Italy to investigate: a) whether «family penalties» in labor market participation exist among migrants in Italy; b) if and how much they differ from those of natives; and c) whether these penalties can be explained by differences in attitudes towards labor market participation in the country of origin. For the purposes of this work, we rely on data from two surveys collected by the Italian Institute of Statistics: the SCIF survey «Social conditions and integration of foreign citizens» (ISTAT 2011-2012) and the AVQ survey «Multipurpose survey – Aspects of daily life» (ISTAT 2013). Our results not only confirm that being in a partnership and having young children dampens LFP among all women, but also that such associations are stronger among immigrant women than among natives. In other words, for immigrant women work-family reconciliation is more difficult to achieve compared to Italian natives, thus confirming the idea of a triple disadvantage in LFP for migrant women. Further, we find that women who come from countries with lower levels of support toward maternal employment also have lower levels of labor force participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While official science has given its answer to the question on the origin of the Coronavirus (animal to human transmission), alternative theories on human creation of the virus – purposely or inadvertently – have flourished. Those alternative theories can be easily located among the family of conspiracy theories, as they always assume some secretive activity of some groups acting on their self-interest and against the good of the many. The article assesses the prevalence of these beliefs during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, studies its development during the pandemic, and investigates its potential determinants. In particular, it analyses the relationship between beliefs in alternative theories on the origin of the virus and political orientation, by arguing that the association cannot be attributed to (politically) motivated reasoning, as the issue has not been highly politicized in the Italian context. Alternatively, the article suggests that the main factor driving beliefs in alternative accounts on the origins of the virus is institutional trust. Political orientation moderates its effects, depending on specific conditions (e.g. cue taking, position of the supported party either in government or opposition), and eventually reinforcing scepticism towards epistemic authorities for those with low trust in institutions. Data come from the ResPOnsE COVID-19 survey, carried out with daily samples from April to July 2020 (N > 15.000) to monitor the development of the Italian public opinion during the Coronavirus pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates whether a prolonged absence from the workforce after the birth of the first child is associated with mothers having a lower retirement income and whether cross-national variations in family policy and pension systems moderate the relationship between work interruptions and retirement incomes in 10 European countries. The analysis, based on five waves of SHARE data, indicates that the longer a mother abstains from work after the birth of her first child, the lower her retirement income is. However, the association is negligible in countries where mothers are historically supported by a comprehensive welfare system, namely Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands. The findings indicate that generous work–family reconciliation policies and a universally oriented pensions system are most effective in minimising long-term motherhood income penalties when they are jointly present, pointing to the importance of policy packages that combine active and passive measures to achieve dual decommodification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates whether changes in women's and men's contributions to household income in Germany and Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic are associated with changes in unpaid work. The current health crisis represents a unique opportunity to explore these topics, because the restrictive measures imposed during the lockdown are likely to have generated an unexpected shock to both domestic work and individual ability to contribute to household income. Using data from two novel datasets collected in Germany and Italy during the pandemic, this article shows that changes to both contribution to household income and unpaid activities during the crisis have been gendered, affecting women more negatively than men. In addition, we suggest that economic disturbances during the pandemic are associated with gendered changes in unpaid work that seem to be driven by changes in bargaining power in both countries. Our results also show some support for enhanced traditionalization of domestic life among German couples during the crisis, as predicted by gender display theories, albeit only regarding childcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homeownership is increasingly understood by policy makers and social scientists as a fundamental asset against poverty risks, especially in times of economic uncertainty. However, in several Western countries, homeownership among younger generations appears to be increasingly difficult to achieve, likely a result of growing employment instability and stringent criteria to access credit. This article uses multinomial logistic models and nationally representative EU-SILC data from six European countries to examine (a) to what extent precarious employment among young couples is linked to being a mortgage holder; (b) whether earned income can compensate for employment instability in being a mortgagee; (c) cross-national differences in the relationship between being a mortgage holder, earnings, and employment insecurity. Our results indicate that the higher the levels of employment insecurity, the lower the chances of being a mortgage holder in all countries. Moreover, we find that at a given level of employment insecurity, households with higher levels of earned income have higher chances of being mortgage holders than households with lower earned income. However, while earned income has a stronger effect in achieving a mortgage among couples who have secure employment in Italy, earnings are more important among couples with lower levels of employment security in France, the UK, Spain and Poland. These results suggest that the relationship between social inequalities and housing is partially mediated by the national context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maternal employment is still below the overall EU recommended level of 60% in many European countries. Understanding the individual, household and contextual circumstances under which mothers of children of different ages are likely to be employed is crucial to develop strategies capable of increasing maternal employment. This article takes a comparative approach to investigating the characteristics associated with maternal employment in the presence of children aged 0–2, 3–5, 6–9 and 10–12 years. We model the probability of being employed full-time, part-time or being a homemaker using EU-SILC data (2004 to 2007) from Germany, Italy, Norway and the United Kingdom – four countries belonging to different gender and welfare regimes. The results indicate that individual and household characteristics are more relevant in determining mothers’ employment in countries where the state is less supportive towards maternal employment: Italy and to a lesser extent Germany and the UK – for the period observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although family ties are very important to understand political socialization, few studies have focused on the transmission of political and social participation from parents to children. By using the Multiscopo survey Aspetti della vita quotidiana (Istat), this article investigates the association between parents and children's political and social participation, with particular attention to gender and regional differences. Multilevel models indicate, first of all, the presence of regional differences in the levels of participation and, secondly, a strong tendency of intra-familiar political and social co-participation. In other words, sons and daughters have higher probabilities of being politically and socially active when both parents are active as well, regardless of their region of residence. Moreover, analyzing the children's behavior compared to their mothers and fathers' separately we find that mothers' participation has a stronger effect than fathers'. This difference in the effect of parents' participation is indeed small, yet geographically homogeneous. Put differently, having a politically and socially active mother increases the probability of children's participation more than having a politically and socially active father in all Italian regions. This result is particularly interesting in the Italian context where mothers are largely absent in the public sphere while they play a very important role within households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although family ties are very important to understand political socialization, few studies have focused on the transmission of political and social participation from parents to children. By using the Multiscopo survey Aspetti della vita quotidiana (Istat), this article investigates the association between parents and children's political and social participation, with particular attention to gender and regional differences. Multilevel models indicate, first of all, the presence of regional differences in the levels of participation and, secondly, a strong tendency of intra-familiar political and social co-participation. In other words, sons and daughters have higher probabilities of being politically and socially active when both parents are active as well, regardless of their region of residence. Moreover, analyzing the children's behavior compared to their mothers and fathers' separately we find that mothers' participation has a stronger effect than fathers'. This difference in the effect of parents' participation is indeed small, yet geographically homogeneous. Put differently, having a politically and socially active mother increases the probability of children's participation more than having a politically and socially active father in all Italian regions. This result is particularly interesting in the Italian context where mothers are largely absent in the public sphere while they play a very important role within households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]