Italian women and children formed 28.5 percent of the wartime labor force by 1918

Evidence

To increase the pool of labor, Italy removed its limits on worker age and on women’s labor. By August 1918, Italian women represented 22 percent of the labor force (198,000 women), while children accounted for 6.5 percent (60,000 children). — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 170