The Covid-19 Pandemic in Italy: With Special Reference to the Effects on Women and Families

The Italian Government implemented different containment measures at the various phases of the pandemic. This has profoundly transformed people’s lives, both from the point of view of family and significant relationships, and at work, substantially modifying the relationship between these two significant areas. In this chapter, we will first present an overview of the containment measures implemented to tackle the spreading of the virus and outline their main policies, their contents, aims, and underlying focus. Then we will focus on consequences for women. With the emergence of the Covid 19 emergency in the early 2020s, the media immediately started to highlight the likely future increase in cases of violence against women in the home due to the increased risk of lockdown and the difficulties for victims living with their abuser to report and seek support services. A second theme is the impact on family and work responsibilities integration. Several studies in Italy, including a longitudinal survey conducted by the authors, have shown how the emergency and containment measures impacted both personal/parental and work spheres, producing adverse effects on the specific group of working parents, especially women. Using a longitudinal approach, with data collected in three waves (April, July, and December 2020), we assess the consequences of the Working From Home policy, showing that wellbeing decreased and work-life conflict increased with time and that working parents found the first lockdown particularly challenging