Family or work, that is the question

Finding time for both your work and your family is a cunundrum that most Europeans find hard to solve. In Lombardy, Italy’s richest and most populous region, local government is leading the way in finding and promoting solutions that help mothers, fathers and carers improve the quality of their family lives without compromising their careers.

“We started from a single fact: women in Lombardy want to be free to choose, to be free to choose to work as well as to have children,” explains Anna Roberti, who is in charge of the operational unit of the Region’s “Family, Conciliation, Integration and Social solidarity” department. But women are just the beginning, because family and work involves more than just young children and mothers. There are the elderly, people with disabilities, health issues or who need the help of social services. “These needs need to be tackled constructively, existing services need to be improved, networks need to be developed and new services need to be designed,” explains Roberti.

The Lombardy Region has moved ahead full-force, creating the legislative framework between the State and the Region in April, in August the action plan was decided upon and in November, following ministerial approval, the first local agreements were signed that will enable the creation of conciliatory networks. The first places that will be part of the plan are Mantua and Monza Brianza, both localities have until January 2011 to come up with a map of existing services, to cross -analyse their data, create a work plan and finally create the conciliatory networks.

“Our aim is to create a replicable model, and the premises are good,” says Roberti. “It may sound like a paradox, but the economic crisis has liberated a creative energy that was unthinkable a few years ago. Today we find ourselves the position to be able to face a real problem with real solutions.”

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