ROME, 24 JAN – “To implement effective interventions, we need to restore social value to motherhood. It is incredible that the value of motherhood, expressly protected by the Constitution, at the level of ordinary legislation is mentioned only in the title and in the first part of law 194.”. The Minister for the Family, the Birth Rate and Equal Opportunities, Eugenia Roccella said during the hearing on the programmatic guidelines in the Senate commissions. “Put motherhood at the center – she added – certainly does not mean denying the duality of parental figures or underestimating the fundamental and precious task of the father. But although a more equitable distribution of care workloads and a broader male responsibility can be induced, it is clear that pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding are exclusive to women. And so, since, as has been said, it is unfair to treat equal people differently but it is also unfair to treat different people equally, equal opportunity also means recognizing the specificity of the maternal. At work, in welfare, in society. A child is not a private matter. A child has reflections on the life of the community, guarantees the future, intergenerational cohesion, the maintenance of welfare. Therefore, whoever generates it and takes care of it works for everyone. Motherhood is a ‘socially useful’ job, which, moreover, nourishes skills that need to be valorised. It is therefore necessary to promote – concludes the minister – those cultural changes that make motherhood a rewarding attribution, not an obstacle to personal fulfilment. And as well as political-legislative inspiration, this awareness must become common sense”. (HANDLE).
(ANSA)
