  We investigate the attachment to the labour market of women in their 30s, who
are combining career and family choices, through their reactions to an
exogenous, and potentially symmetric shock, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We
find that in Italy a large number of females with small children, living in the
North, left permanent (and temporary) employment and became inactive in 2020.
Despite the short period of observation after the burst of the pandemic, the
identified impacts appear large and persistent, particularly with respect to
the males of the same age. We argue that this evidence is ascribable to
specific regional socio-cultural factors, which foreshadow a potential
long-term detrimental impact on female labour force participation.
