Women are not giving up motherhood: it is Italy that is forcing them to do so
Every year, Save the Children publishes “The Tightrope Walkers – Motherhood in Italy” , a report that takes a no-holds-barred look at the condition of mothers in our country. The tenth report, published on 6 May 2025, confirms that being a mother in Italy still means facing systemic obstacles : a lack of services, poor flexibility, loneliness, and – in the case of single mothers – a high risk of poverty. We talked about it with Antonella Inverno , head of the research and analysis department at Save the Children, who guided us through data, critical issues, and prospects for change.
The gap between mothers and fathersThe employment gap between fathers and mothers with at least one minor child remains abysmal: almost 29 percentage points in 2024. It is not just one factor that weighs, but a complex network of causes: cultural models that are still rooted, weak public policies and a distribution of care work that is anything but equal. “Mothers in Italy,” says Inverno, “are forced to balance every day: work, children, home and, if all goes well, a little time for themselves. The result is that one in five women stops working after becoming a mother.”
Fathers, meanwhile, often remain on the margins of this equation. Paternity leave in Italy is not yet a tool for everyone. And although some companies are starting to introduce flexibility – Save the Children itself guarantees adaptable hours during school closures – mothers are still the ones who resort almost exclusively to parental leave. “As long as conciliation remains a women’s issue, there is no way out. We need real incentives so that fathers also feel called to concrete co-responsibility,” he underlines.
An even more critical front is that of single mothers. Single-parent families , composed largely of mothers with children, have grown by 44% in ten years, going from 2.6 to over 3.8 million . It is estimated that in 2043 there will be at least 2.3 million. And it is precisely these families that are among the most vulnerable to poverty : one woman in two between the ages of 25 and 34, if a single mother, today does not work. Without work, economic independence is lost. After a separation, then, the risk of social exclusion for women reaches 40%.
The problem, however, is not limited to the family dimension . It has structural roots and involves the entire social and economic system of the country. “We are in a phase of advanced declining birth rate . Even if today all women of childbearing age decided to have children, the trend of population aging would not be reversed immediately: the generations are already numerically reduced. And young people struggle to emancipate themselves for economic reasons, with low salaries and difficult housing conditions . In addition, there is a profound cultural change: not having children is no longer a choice to be justified. More and more women do not fulfill themselves exclusively in motherhood, although statistics show that the desire for parenthood remains very high among the young generations”.
The National Recovery and Resilience Plan should have marked a turning point, but according to Inverno the impact has been limited. “Gender rebalancing was among the objectives, as was the expansion of nursery schools . But the famous target of 33% coverage has been transformed into a national average , leaving behind the most fragile regions, especially in the South. And Europe today is asking us to reach 45%”. The risk is that even extraordinary funds will be lost along the way, without creating solid structures. “We are moving forward with bonuses and spot measures, but without a real vision”, he added.
The recipe, according to Save the Children, is clear: a long-term structural plan is needed, on which to build trust. “Families must know that they can count on stable measures , from now to the next twenty years. Today, the single allowance is the only structural intervention, but instead of strengthening it with additional resources, the choice was made to finance new measures aimed at a very small target of mothers. And there is a lack of targeted policies to combat child poverty . Minors are the poorest segment of the population. And female inactivity is not only damaging to women: it is damaging to the country system. We are losing GDP because half of our workforce remains on the margins,” he clarified.
The models to follow are not univocal, but they at least have the merit of being clear and structured. Some countries focus on women's emancipation, such as France , which invests in a wide network of childcare services and active equality policies. Others, such as the Czech Republic , adopt a different approach, encouraging mothers to stay at home with long and well-paid parental leave: 6 months with full compensation , up to 46 months with progressive protections and 3 years of job security. Germany also recognizes a subjective right to access services for all children. In Italy, however, there is no vision: neither one path nor the other is chosen . They simply raise the problems, without ever really addressing the solutions.
“Bonuses are not enough”And the conclusion is perhaps the most urgent part of Antonella Inverno 's speech: "We need the courage to plan the future." Occasional interventions , temporary bonuses or announcements that run out with the political cycle are no longer enough. We need a structural, coherent and long-term vision that puts families, women, children and young people at the center. A policy that does not chase the emergency, but builds trust, stability, prospects. Because bringing a child into the world today is an act that needs meaning, security and real possibilities . And because a country that does not invest in the well-being and equality of new generations is a country that chooses not to have a future.
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