Discriminating Factors of Women's Employment. Using Territorial Heterogeneity to Inform Policy

We employ the dramatic heterogeneity across ItalyÕs Regions to assess the impact of selected context factors on menÕs and womenÕs employment by means of multilevel analysis. Observing that individual factors strongly interact with local policies and institutions in determining womenÕs employment, we claim that any attempt to explore solely its supply-side determinants might lead to biased estimates. Aggregate growth and tertiarisation of the economy are surprisingly found beneficial only to menÕs employment, while culture and discrimination are relevant for womenÕs. Social Assistance is found highly significant, with the provision of services being more beneficial to womenÕs employment than monetary transfers.