Woman and work: source and decline of the provider father and the care-giving mother model

Abstract

The Right to Work inherited the historical, social and economical circumstances existing at the time it came to life and the later development as an autonomous branch of the Law at the beginning of the 20^th Century. Therefore, the protection granted to female and male workers is not neutral, but is related to what in this study is called an "original sin", which has caused an ongoing labor marginalization and exclusion of women, ascribing to her the almost exclusive responsibility of family care-giver. This parenting model, related to a sexist division of roles in work, still in force, limits work possibilities of women and the actual equal treatment in jobs. Therefore, this study intends to show and question the background of the archetype of the provider man and the care-giving woman, and to value the conciliation of work and family life as a new aim of the Labor Law, built from the co-responsibility between female and male workers and from the eradication of any kind of labor discrimination against women.