Topic: 2024-Gender Equality in Rural Areas
Country: Italy
Delegate Name: Abigail McKinney
In rural areas, there is a significant gender gap in the opportunities available, with women having much less chance at employment or running a successful business out of agriculture. In addition to being less likely to be employed, women also get paid on average 25% less than men for the work they do in rural areas. In these areas, women are often relegated to domestic roles due to the unavailability of positions willing to hire women, as well as the typical gender roles in place pushing them into these roles.
The Italian Republic is very concerned with equality. It is committed to taking measures to ensure that women have the same choices as men as to what to do with their lives.
There are already policies in place which are targeted towards closing the gender gap in the amount of inequality in rural areas. In Italy specifically, there is the National Code of Equal Opportunities between Women and Men, which was established in 2006. This code was a crucial first step in lowering the gender gap in rural areas when it came to work. It includes both paid opportunities and unpaid domestic labor. In 2021, Italy furthered their efforts towards reaching this goal by requiring a “gender equality certification” for employers to have before running their businesses. This introduction makes it so that women have more opportunities available in the workforce, and is primarily targeted towards jobs in rural areas, such as agriculture.
The ILO has a variety of projects which work towards promoting gender equality in rural areas, such as the Women’s Entrepreneurship Development Programme, which targets women who want to start their own businesses. In Italy, the amount of women’s start-up businesses in agriculture only makes up 0.9% of the total field. This program is working towards improving those numbers. Throughout Europe, the EU Rural Action Plan has been implemented, aiming to increase female entrepreneurship and economic participation in rural areas. In 2021, Italy adopted its first national strategy for gender equality, a plan which will carry on through 2026, and has been pouring funds into the Department of Equal Opportunities. In early 2024, Fabrizio Petri, President of the Inter-ministerial Committee on Human Rights of Italy, along with the rest of the delegation of Italy, shared their report on gender equality to the UN The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women’s. Part of this plan is currently focused towards equal opportunities in the economy as a concern.
The Italian Republic is prepared to start putting in the work to allow for women to have equal employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in rural areas. It is recognized that women are equally capable of working in agriculture, and steps must be taken to demonstrate this. Negative stereotypes are currently blocking women from being employed or being paid as much for their employment, and Italy believes that rural areas need to be targeted as problem areas. Internationally, more protections should be put into place to ensure that women are being provided with equal opportunities and pay. Italy believes that member states should work together to find ways to put these measures into place. Italy also believes that more support should be put towards NGOs which are working to promote gender equality, and that each government individually should work towards fixing their own system.
