The practice of protective legislation for pregnant workers in Italy

Protective legislation for pregnant workers is well established in Italy; yet little is known about how it works in practice. In this article, I present the results of two studies, both carried out in an Italian town, Trieste, and concerned with the implementation of this regulation and with some of its social effects. Results show that women who are employed in the official labour market generally benefit from protective legislation, but that inequalities exist among them: Manual workers and those employed in the private sector are far less ''protected.'' Noneligible workers are not protected at all. Moreover, this regulation fails to protect women from domestic work; in some cases, it is even used to allow the future mother to fully assume her caring duties.