Childcare and participation at work in North-East Italy: Why do Italian and foreign mothers behave differently?

This paper examines two of the decision-making processes following the birth of a child: whether a working mother should continue with her job, and whether the couple should provide the child with formal childcare. Focusing on Padova and its district, this paper discusses differences in the strategies used by Italian and foreign mothers, controlling for socio-economic status and opinions on women’s roles, according to the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition technique. Six to thirty-six months after the birth of a child, the proportion of foreign mothers who are not employed is more than double that of Italian mothers (51 vs. 21%; pre-birth 40 vs. 12). In addition, 25% of Italian women entrust their children to the care of their parents and in-laws, versus only 13% of foreign women. Although there are differences in the effects of individual characteristics on participation at work across the two groups, what matters most is the different composition of the Italian and foreign women’s groups, especially in regard to education, partners’ characteristics and attitudes towards the job market and motherhood. Regarding the maximum price a couple is willing to pay for formal childcare, intended to represent parents’ preferences for formal childcare, the differences between the two groups are also mainly explained by differences in composition.