Italy votes down equal parental leave while fathers redefine their role online

Every afternoon in a Milan suburb, Diego Di Franco picks up his children from school, manages after-school activities and prepares dinner, tasks traditionally associated with Italian ‌mothers.

The routine is unremarkable in Italy, except that he is a father and he shares it online.

Italy's parliament in February rejected a proposal to equalise maternity ​and paternity leave, but ⁠Di Franco and a growing number of so-called "dad influencers" are reshaping how fatherhood looks in a country still struggling to reconcile work, ‌family and gender equality.

In the euro zone's third-largest ‌economy, led by its first female prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, who has a 9-year-old daughter, women shoulder most care work and face one of Europe's widest gender employment gaps, a drag on long-term growth as the population ages.

Economists and activists say the situation is exacerbated by a stark policy imbalance: five months of maternity leave versus just 10 days of paternity ‌leave.

An opposition-backed proposal to introduce equal, non-transferable and fully paid parental leave for mothers and fathers, modelled on reforms adopted in countries such as Spain, was turned down by ⁠137 votes to 117 by the centre-right majority, citing budget constraints.

"If a woman wants a career in Italy, she is better off not becoming a mother," Olympic gold-medallist swimmer Federica Pellegrini, who has two children, wrote on Instagram after the bill failed, echoing what many Italians see as a trade-off between work and family life.

The parliamentary outcome contrasts with a trend playing out on social media, where Italian fathers are increasingly posting about daily childcare, turning paternal care into a visible, mainstream narrative.

"The number of dad-influencing bloggers is increasing and it's very varied. They've made a huge contribution in putting forward a different narrative about fatherhood, which is more inclusive, more equal, also fun," said ​sociologist and consultant for Children's Health Centre (CSB) Annina Lubbock.

"This is a reflection of a change that's been ongoing in Italy already for some time, ‌but these influencers are also driving this change," she added.

A prominent example is Di Franco, a 45-year-old father of two with more than 50,000 Instagram followers. He documents life as a primary caregiver while his wife Raffaella works full-time as a senior manager, an arrangement that remains uncommon in Italy.

"Around 85% of my followers ⁠are women, many asking how to encourage their partners to be more present at home," Di Franco told Reuters.

For Raffaella, Diego's presence proved decisive for her career.

"It gave me the confidence to face challenges and seize opportunities," she said.

Yet the Di Franco household remains far from the norm.

Female employment in Italy stood at 53% in 2024, with the widest gender employment gap ​in the EU, ‌according to Eurostat. Across the EU as a whole, the female employment rate is 70.8%.

Women account for around 70% of voluntary resignations in Italy, often following childbirth, ‌while involuntary part-time work remains widespread.

"It's a clear sign of the child penalty women pay for having children," said statistician Linda Laura Sabbadini.

'LAW WOULD HAVE BEEN A CULTURAL REVOLUTION'

Economists link the difficulty of juggling work and raising a child to Italy's demographic decline, warning that higher female employment is essential to sustain growth and public finances, and more help for working women ‌would encourage them to ‌have children.

"This law would have been a cultural revolution," opposition Democratic Party leader Elly Schlein ⁠told parliament.

Lawmakers from Meloni's Brothers of Italy party said they had no ideological objection to expanding paternity leave but argued it was financially ‌unsustainable.

"Furthermore, a mandatory five-month leave for fathers would require deeper analysis due to possible impacts on public administration and small businesses," Walter Rizzetto, president of the Chamber's Labour Committee, told Reuters.

Evidence from abroad suggests policy design matters.

After Spain extended paid paternity leave to 16 weeks and made it ⁠compulsory and non-transferable in 2021, uptake among fathers rose sharply and the gender pay gap narrowed, according to academic studies.

In Italy, research by think tank Tortuga ​shows that when private companies offer extended paternity leave, the uptake rate rises to 71%, compared with a 64% national average, with younger fathers more likely to take advantage of the policy.

Personal experience has made Di Franco optimistic.

"With my first child I was the only dad at kindergarten," ⁠he said.

"Six years later, there were three or four. And I thought: things are changing."

Reuters