The Double Discrimination Against Women with a Migratory Background in the Labour Market

ISMU Foundation ETS, in collaboration with the Cariplo Foundation, assesses the working conditions of women with non-Italian citizenship and migratory backgrounds in Italy.

The data from the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) ranks Italy thirteenth among other European countries, with 68.2 points out of 100 in the Gender Equality Index during the 2021-2022 period. Italy’s score is below the European average, which corresponds to 70.2 points, and the main domain in which gender discrimination is most apparent is the working environment, with 65 points, classifying Italy in 27^th and last place among European countries, although there has been a slight improvement from 2020 onwards.

Moreover, Italy also shows an important data point of disparity in the areas of political, economic, and social power, with 62.7 points. The ISMU Foundation’s processing of Eurostat data in 2022, reported in the Twenty-ninth Report on Migration 2023 and concerning participation in the Italian labour market and levels of unemployment according to citizenship and gender, signals a strong penalization of women with non-Italian citizenship (CNI) Third Country National, with levels of unemployment estimated at 15.2%, compared to just 9.6% for men.

It is evident that there is a gender disparity regarding presence in the labour market, where there are mounting obstacles and discrimination that women with non-Italian citizenship – and in general, women with a migratory background – are forced to overcome. These obstacles are tied not just to strong and notable segregation in the working environment – which sees a significant presence of women with a migratory background, especially in the Personal Care sector – but also to the prejudices that these women have to face in the recruitment process. As highlighted by the GRASE project, even professionals within the system of job orientation and recruitment  – both in the public and private sectors – are not immune to the conscious and unconscious biases that have been culturally rooted when it comes to women, such as believing that they have lesser linguistic competence, that they are less available to do certain work because of their religion (in particular for Muslim women), or even that they are not able to do more qualified jobs.

The factsheet was edited by Emanuela Bonini, Anna Facchetti, Livia Elisa Ortensi.

April 2024