Skip to content

Letter to Senator Pietro Ichino

This letter was sent to Senator Pietro Ichino at the e-mail address on his site in response to his letter published on Corriere.it.

Dear Senator Ichino,
I read in the pages of Corriere.it your proposal for “a selective tax deduction of women’s work income, as a ‘positive action’ aimed at producing that drastic increase in the regular employment of women that the European Union is asking of us and so far we have not been able to achieve.”

As a woman and worker, I have always been interested in the issues of unequal treatment at work and the problems concerning the care of children and the elderly, which have always been entrusted to the care of women without any real recognition.

As far as I know, the wage disparity between men and women for the same tasks is currently around 3%. The main problem of inequality is not so much in the salary received. However, 3% may be the difference between making ends meet or not, but rather in the fact that women hardly ever occupy senior positions in the public or private sector and find it difficult to achieve even the single manager role.

This analysis fully corresponds to my concrete experience.

I have been in my profession in the IT field for about ten years now, and I am still a clerk, whereas men who have the same training and experience as I have had for some years now, at least the position of cadre, with all that this entails, but above all with a higher salary.

However, I have always believed that this kind of problem is not solved by giving something to women. I have always argued, and still do, that early retirement changes absolutely nothing and is sometimes even harmful.
I am glad that we have been forced by the European Commission to change this, and I understand that you are of this opinion too.

But as to the question of taking ‘vigorous measures to promote effective equality’, we can only totally disagree: selective de-taxation is nothing more than taking something out of the door to let it back in through the window.

Senator, if you had listened to women, you would never have come up with such a solution. If you had ever stopped to look at how women live today, you would know clearly what the real problems are, and you would also know what solutions have been proposed.

Senator, I am not, however, going to list them for you because if I did, I would be replacing myself in your job. It is his job to listen to people, understand what they need, and understand and study possible solutions in detail.
And since that would be doing your job, gent. Senator, I am careful not to do so. I know you will understand me: as a woman, I work harder than you do, and you know it too.

What is not yet clear to you, however, is the reason why this long letter of mine: women do not need any gifts.
Keep this in mind, Senator, and you will see that everything else will become much more straightforward.
But please, no more discrimination. Because what you are proposing, once again, is just more discrimination.

Good work (you have a lot to do)
Best regards

Previous article

Next article

Thread

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.