Regional laws and policies for the participation of women in the labour market

The constitutional reforms of 2001 and 2003 empowered the Italian regions to enact legislation aimed at removing barriers to effective gender equality. The laws they have adopted in this field are often fragmented � only in a few cases do they form a consistent, comprehensive framework � and the general lack of monitoring and absence of an effective sanctioning system make enforcement deficient. Policies for employment, for entrepreneurship and for work-life balance also differ widely among the regions. With the crisis, policies for female employment have generally been subsumed under the more general framework of support for disadvantaged workers, particularly with participation in the PARI and Welfare to Work programmes. Women have benefited extensively from these programmes, albeit with differences from region to region. Policies for entrepreneurship remain more female-oriented. Despite coordination between the central government and the regions, Italy remains far from the European targets for childcare provision and the North-South gap has not narrowed.