THE PRACTICE OF PROTECTIVE LEGISLATION FOR PREGNANT WORKERS IN ITALY - LIMITS, PROBLEMS, AND CONTRADICTIONS

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