Equal sharing of caring responsibilities under Directive (EU) 2019/1158. A comparative analysis of Spain and Italy

Abstract

The reconciliation of work and personal life constitutes one of the main challenges of European Union law for the effective achievement of equality between women and men. Within this framework falls Directive (EU) 2019/1158 on work-life balance, aimed at strengthening shared responsibility in care tasks and promoting a more balanced distribution of family responsibilities over time. From this perspective, the present contribution provides a comparative analysis of its transposition in Spain and Italy, highlighting structural differences in the design of care-related rights and in the conditions governing their effective exercise. The Spanish legal system has consolidated a fully paid and non-transferable leave for birth and care of the child, but still presents significant shortcomings in the regulation of unpaid parental leave. The Italian system, by contrast, maintains a differentiated structure between maternity and paternity and a longer parental leave with formal economic coverage, the design of which has proven ineffective in promoting a balanced uptake by men. The comparison clearly shows that the difficulties in ensuring the full effectiveness of work-life balance rights stem not only from economic factors, but also from broader structural elements of the care system that condition the realization of the principle of gender equality overall.