Insurance a must for Italian housewives

A new Italian law requires every housewife and maid to pay $17 per year for disability insurance, The Times of London reported Monday.

The law affects every woman between 18 and 65 who works at home, although men who are "house-husbands" are exempted.

By Sunday, Italian officials said fewer than 2 million of Italy's estimated 6 million housewives had signed up for the insurance. The other 4 million face a statutory annual fine of $35, backdated to 2001, but Marida Bolognesi, a left-wing member of Parliament, said it was unclear how the authorities intended to track down housewives who evaded the payments.

To win compensation, claimants have to prove the accident occurred while they were carrying out a domestic task. "It is not enough to say you slipped on the floor -- you have to prove you were mopping or (vacuuming) it at the time," one Italian official said.

There are 3 million domestic accidents a year in Italy, resulting in 8,500 deaths, of which the government said 40 percent were the result of incorrect use of equipment or failure to read instructions properly.

© Copyright 2005 by United Press International