Further reflections on the DEI proposal

Further reflections on the DEI proposal

PG, June 14, 2025

To clarify the ultimate goal of the proposal we are advancing with DEI, we borrow a phrase from Rita Palidda: “[r]evolutionizing our societies' conception of the relationship between productive and reproductive work is the most effective tool for working deeply to overcome gender inequalities, as well as for a more free and supportive society.” (in Palidda, R. (2020) Free Work and Gender Inequalities, SocietàMutamentoPolitica 11(22): 129-142).

The angle of attack we propose centers on time and its modulation across the infinite “domestic” activities, with the declared desire to increase men's time in order to reduce women's time.

Palidda, citing data from the ISTAT survey on daily life, indicates that the average time spent by Italian residents (over 15) on unpaid work is 3 hours 46 minutes, with a very clear difference between the female (5 hours 9 minutes) and male (2 hours 16 minutes). We don't need to compare our data with other European countries to conclude that the burden of family work in Italy is greater and falls primarily on women.

In the capitalist system, work is considered productive not because it produces use values, but because it produces goods, the price of which covers both production costs and the surplus that fuels profits and investments. Production for self-consumption, activities performed unpaid in charitable organizations, neighborhood or community networks, and the enormous work done within families become irrelevant, and the interdependencies between these activities and production for the market are invisible.

Over the years, the evolution of the capitalist production system has led to a series of characteristics typical of social reproductive work becoming an integral part of wage labor. This shift from the "private" to the "public" has affected relationality, emotional involvement, identification, the willingness to ignore time and place constraints, the ability to self-organize, and responsibility. Alisa Del Re speaks, in this regard, of the transition from labor of love (typical of "domestic" work) to the love of work, transcending the boundaries of time, place, and practices that separated unpaid labor from wage labor" (Del Re A. (2018), From Workers' Inquiry to Feminist Inquiry: The Emergence of Reproductive Labor, Euronomade, Sept. 19).

Why did we embark on this journey that led us to the proposal of a Domestic Equality Index (DEI)?

If we had to prioritize the many reasons, I'd say the main one is linked to the emergence of the myth of the professional housewife, the perfect wife, mother, and consumer, a myth created in post-World War II America, when consumer society invaded even our prairies. The most striking example is that of Marion Cunningham, Ritchie's (the legendary Ron Howard) mother in the series my generation grew up with: Happy Days. Completing the idyllic picture of the professional housewife was her father, Howard Cunningham, the breadwinner of the situation, who guaranteed well-being and security. For several decades, thanks to the struggles waged by the feminist movement, even backward Italian society made progress, with the divorce law, the reform of the civil code, the abortion law, and so on. Political parties, as well as more left-wing movements, have had to make room, despite themselves, for a new female protagonism, the foundation of which can be found in Mariarosa Dalla Costa's 1972 booklet, "The Power of Women and the Subversion of the Community."

Times change, and history doesn't necessarily point to a better future, and so in recent years we've witnessed the return of the myth of professional housewives under the aegis of the Trad Wives movement.(see: https://www.restartrivista.it/lo-tsunami-trad-wives-e-la-cecita-della-sinistra-italiana/restartadmin/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3VUqj5GbKDCJ5Uz2etlDYNEf1TdnDvB_Vg4T0ZcpVzNXn_T68er9Kxazs_aem_S3jfDV649okncw7IGoNcJg).

In the academic field, reflections on the topic of paid and unpaid labor have continued; the most important aspect for us has come from the reflections of American sociologist Parsons on the complexity of family work. Let's take Palidda, when she writes: "Family work cannot be reduced to exclusively emotional services, nor to the most basic domestic tasks. In fact, the simplest and most unskilled tasks of domestic work are intertwined with specialized tasks that require medical, psychological, and pedagogical knowledge. Above all, it is based on the ability to solve the myriad problems of daily life, to build relationships, and to connect the family to other social institutions."

This complexity has led us to a direction that, in our opinion, was missing from the debate: how to create an advocacy mechanism that, starting from scientifically measured knowledge of the internal imbalance between women's and men's work in the domestic sphere, could serve to encourage the latter to invest a greater portion of their time, thus freeing up women's time.

We are confident that, as has happened in previous decades, Italian society is globally ahead of political parties and public institutions, and that, despite the times indicating a return to a grim conservatism, the hope that the new generations will be more sensitive to these issues seems plausible to us.

We are also aware that the greater commitment proposed by younger men is currently concentrated on less demanding tasks, as Palidda reminds us, citing the Istat survey: "The activity that engages fathers most is playing with children, and to a lesser extent helping with homework, reading, and accompanying them.

It can be said that, even when they collaborate in domestic and care work, men choose the less burdensome and routine activities: doing the shopping, taking care of the housework, playing with the children or at most (and to a much more modest extent) having them do their homework, while their partners wash, iron, clean, physically care for the children and supervise them.”

An adequate quantity and quality of care are crucial for society to ensure the reproduction of individuals physically and intellectually capable of carrying out productive activities, respecting rules and moral norms, and cooperating with their peers and institutions.

This is why the DEI proposal aligns with one of Palidda's work plans: an institutional one, allocating resources that highlight its social relevance and the obligation of the state and businesses to shoulder the costs, through the quantitative and qualitative improvement of services; an individual plan, creating the conditions for everyone to assume caregiving responsibilities, as a valued and responsible choice (and this is where we come in); and a third, social plan, encouraging experimentation with shared forms of care management.

For this plan to work, choosing the right partners is crucial. This is why we are focusing our research on parties, movements, and unions that have already expressed interest in this issue, thus facilitating internal awareness-raising efforts. In this regard, the first ongoing collaboration, with the Communist Refoundation Party of Sardinia, confirms the wisdom of this choice. Other initiatives are under consideration, both with other partners to test the iPad in real-world situations, and with individuals and think tanks that will allow us to advance the analysis and improvement of the proposal.