This document summarizes the results of interviews conducted with 30 female psychologists who are members of the Lombardy Psychologists Board. It finds that the psychologists have diverse professional paths and roles, often adapting to changing contexts. Both marriage and motherhood are seen as meaningful life events that impacted their careers. While income inequality exists in some organizations, psychologists have more flexibility to set their own rates. Representation in the board is seen as distant, though having a female president could provide symbolic recognition of women in the profession. Overall, the interviews show that the women psychologists are capable of adapting to different work environments and filling diverse roles.

1. ORDINE DEGLI PSICOLOGI DELLA LOMBARDIA
Roberta Cacioppo*, Cristina Contini*, Giovanni Levoni, Chiara Marabelli*, Adriana Nannicini
(Psychologists Board of Lombardy)*
BACKGROUND
• To promote and realize the principles of gender equality, as envisioned and sanctioned by the Constitution of the Italian Republic and by the
law 11/4/2006 n.198 – Code of equal opportunities for men and women
• The equality between men and women constitutes one the fundamental principles sanctioned
by the EU law —> Strategy for equality between men and women 2010-2015
• —> Actions for role and income • —> Actions for representation • Objectives of the Research phase
The objective of the qualitative phase of this project can be described as following:
‘to reconstruct the formative and professional paths of the female colleagues, members of the Board,
in order to collect experiences and points of view related to the representation of their own identities
as women and psychologists, particularly in reference to role, income, and representation’
METHODOLOGY AND SAMPLE
• In order to reach the goals mentioned above, a qualitati-
ve research has been conducted. This method is appropriate
to enquire on both the symbolic and the rational level of the
these thematic subjects, as well as on those emerging from
the dynamic relation between interviewer and interviewed
• A number of 30 individual in-depth interviews have been
conducted with female colleagues, member of the Lombar-
dy’s Board of Psychologists, whose age ranges between 27
and 74, as follows:
√ 9 whose age is between 25 and 35
√ 13 whose age is between 36 and 50
√ 8 whose age is between 51 and 74
—> of these women, 17 have children (1 or 2)
• The sample of female colleagues has been stratified on the
basis of their prevalent professional field, as following:
√ 13 psycho-therapists
√ 5 social workers/educators
√ 3 school psychologists
√ 6 work psychologists
√ 3‘top level’(management/leading roles)
• The interviews have been geographically distributed as
following:
√ 23 in Milan and hinterland
√ 1 in Lodi
√ 4 in Varese
√ 1 in Brescia
√ 1 in Como %
EXPERIENCES AND PROFESSIONAL PATHS
• What emerges is a series of formative and pro-
fessional experiences, most often prompted by
a decision, an idea, a strong desire to become
psychologists
“it is a natural inclination, the ‘devotion to the other’- I en-
rolled at the university and I immediately understood that I
did not want to become the classic psychologist working in
a clinic”
“since my childhood I have been fascinated by a relational
profession, used as I was to listen, the others felt well with
me…”
“I decided when I was 14 years old, after reading Freud, I
also had a grandmother practicing as a psychiatric nurse”
• The usual professional environment is presented
as a place where changes may occur, but stable
and well known à the interviewed share a profes-
sional path whose length is usually a few years
long, sometimes a bit longer or more structured
• Only while practicing begins to emerge the awa-
reness of how professional fields are numerous
and, above all, varying, as well as the awareness of
attractive opportunities at hand à what emerges is
the perception of a profound change in the profes-
sion, still in the making
• Sometimes, the beginning of this profession can
be occasioned by the opening of a second profes-
sional phase
• In fewer cases, practicing begins as a result of a
condition of great uncertainty, sometimes due to a
geographic relocation or because uncertainty is
the rule in the chosen professional field (for exam-
ple, in school psychology)
“I am a freelance practitioner and patients reach me throu-
gh a list of psychologists where I paid in order to appear
among the search results… I pay by hour for my studio, and
I have an expiring contract as an educator in a mom-child
community which I don’t want to renew because I don’t
share their point of view… it feeds me, but this is not my
job…”
• In each path
of personal
and professio-
nal develop-
ment emerge
two crucial
moments —>
marriage and
maternity
• Both are lived
as two meaningful thresholds for every woman:
the timing, the place, the relations, the support
and, obviously, new income dimension appear as a
priority. The following statement (in which prevails
a critical tone towards the disadvantages that
f e m a l e
practitioners
have to face)
c l e a r l y
explains this
point of
view:
“You are a
woman, you
are less avai-
lable, when
yougobacktoworkyouareabitmad…whenIbecameco-
ordinator they kept my contract as an educator, giving me
benefits which they took off once I became pregnant… I
could have suited them!”
• Finally, the exploration of the ‘end of career’ of
colleagues who reached the ending phase of their
professional activity
•This shows a very rich and dynamic picture à to be
a female psychologist seems a role that does not
end with ‘retirement’ but continues to inform the
most profound identity of these colleagues
√ all remain interested and attentive to the deve-
lopments in the profession
√ some open spaces devoted to volunteering (in
which they employ their knowledge and skills)
√ other devote themselves to the formation of
people with lesser financial resources (applying
lower rates), and make available their experience in
formation, in contact with the others
ROLE
• Role appears to be a very meaningful theme for all the interviewed subjects; even at the practical level, it covered
a relevant part of the interview
• In fact, this concept:
√ resumes the complexity of a profession that is practiced under diverse circumstances and conditions
√ has its own‘classic’space within the profession: psychotherapy
√ but also reaches out to contexts overlapping other professions (schools, business, non-profit, hospitals, tribunals)
√ has diverse contractual frames (freelance, dependent worker, collaborator, consultant… diverse labels line up to
confirm its resilience to definition)
√ is shared across practitioners, clients, patients, costumers —> these female colleagues work alone, together with
other colleagues they share an office or a project, scientific views or methodological procedures
The link between role and being a woman
• The proposed theme has made emerge possible relations between role and being a woman —> metaphors have
been collected, together with suggestive, linguistically relevant terms
“at the beginning, having different roles in different contexts was to me as: wear that dress, take it off and put on that other one”
“female passivity is now recognized as female hospitality!”
•The variability of roles is a durable trait that remains even when reaching
professional satisfaction and a rela- tive success
•The interviewed show that
√ ‘variability’develops parallel to new‘working tools’allowing the
practitioner a‘technical’continui- ty across diverse contexts
√ practitioners are capable of establishing connections and of re-
sponding to social needs by adapting to the context
• Relationality appears as the main and most evident fundamen-
tal feature
”this is such a relational job, centered on care and hospitality, one expects to find
women”
• Some transversal stereotypes remain
√ women are still seen as schoolmasters for male engineers: stereotypical but true –
caretaking professions: schoolmaster, nurse, psychologist, these are professions for women
• Some paths privilege professional growth, a greater and harmonious interaction between the diverse parts con-
stituting of one’s life: what is called a horizontal career development
“career is earning a lot making what I love to do, but is above all to become more flexible”
• A distancing from power roles often emerges, sometimes against the idea of the‘woman with trousers’
“It does not mean that having power is not interesting, but rather that there is a different conception of it… there are some things
which my men colleagues covet, for which I wouldn’t do literally everything…”
• Some stories are told of obvious and evident discrimination, cases in which a colleague could not work“because
she is a woman”
• More frequent are the references to cases in which a masculine presence is declared as necessary in a working
group
“the masculine dimension belongs to women as well, but sometimes with these rough adolescents, the presence of a man is needed;
then it is not a certainty or a guarantee, but we need some men in the group…”
INCOME
• The income inequality reported by our colleagues is often associated to an individual reason
• Often, the reasons that are brought up in these cases are based on the management of the relation with the patien-
t/client according to parameters, modalities, and styles based on subjective and dynamic variables
• We gathered some synthetic reflections on this theme à only those who work for organizations (such as research insti-
tutes or as consultants for business firms) find evidence of a salary gap related to gender, whereas in other situations it
appears as less evident and related to the management of the working time
• In particular, among psychotherapists the definition and management of rates are crucial
for the production of their income
• In other professional fields (business firms, universities, regional agencies, research insti-
tutes) the logics of negotiating rates are bound to the availability to work out of town (u-
sually preferred by men) and fixed rates are rarely negotiable, particularly in the case of
agencies and institutions
REPRESENTATION
• A distancing emerges, particularly when related to professional
politics
• In fact, rare references are made to the Board of Psychologist, and
little familiarity is shown with
the Board’s head-office and its
activities
• Representation also seems to
be more associated to the ma-
sculine world, and lesser close
to the‘feminine’
• Those who declare themselves
favorable to a female president valorize the symbolic value of
this position, as a way to reinforce and legitimize the presence
of women within the profession, maintaining and authorizing
a desire for more recognition
KEY FINDINGS
• The fieldwork has allowed us to point out some evi-
dence
√ the interviewed colleagues work in diverse professio-
nal contexts and fields
√ the practicing of the profession results as an – adapta-
tion to a changing market and to a changing society
√ capability of adaptation and fluidity
have been recognized as distinctive
feminine features
√ our colleagues attribute
the partial social recognition
they enjoy to both
autonomy and utility —>
a social process still in progress