Helping while working? Women as providers of child and adult care in Italy

This article analyses self-declared help given for free to non-co-residing people in terms of adult and childcare to show gender differences and associated employment opportunity costs in Italy. Using data from the Family and Social Subjects Survey (FSS) carried out by ISTAT in 2009, extra-residential care types are regressed against individual and household characteristics. Empirical results show a clear inequality pattern in inter-household care between men and women, with this disparity being more evident in Southern Italy. Women seem to carry a heaviest burden because their employment probabilities do not differ from those of non-caregivers while providing help to non-co-resident adults. Model estimates reveal that, in general, the possible work opportunity costs associated to this type of care are mainly influenced by individual characteristics and, among women, by the presence of young children in the household.