Women and the work place

Published: Sunday, July 10, 2011

Eskimos don't actually have hundreds of words for snow. In fact, it's the Lapp people of northern Europe who do.

Likewise, in Italian, there's no direct translation for the term 'politically correct'.

True, the Italians will sometimes wrap their tongues around the phrase 'politicamente corretto', but more often they just invoke the English.

That probably comes as no surprise in the land of Berlusconi, bear banquets and bunga bunga parties.

Occasionally it's nice to be in a country where the gender roles are so clearly delineated. (I'll mention this once and then I won't go on about it: I'm in Italy for a few weeks.) In the afternoon, the bar in the sleepy Tuscan village where I'm staying fills up with elderly men who sit around playing cards and sipping grappa or limoncello, while their wives tend to the vegetables, clean the house or tackle the epic task of preparing the family dinner.

It can be oddly reassuring to spend time in a place where things happen exactly as they always did.

Except, of course, when it extends to the workplace. Last week's newspapers revealed that an engineering firm near Milan was forced to lay off 13 of its 30 workers, but chose to make only its female employees redundant.

When asked why, the owner of the family run Ma-Vib explained that it was ''firing the women so they can stay at home and look after the children. In any case, what they bring in is a second income''.

Click here to read the full article by Jennifer O'Connell.