ROME — Like many working mothers in Italy, Francesca Roncetti constructed her life around a frantic, daily juggle that became more frenzied after her second child was born.

On weekdays, Ms. Roncetti, a client adviser for a multinational car rental company, took her oldest child to kindergarten and then dropped her toddler at day care. With child care costs piling up, Ms. Roncetti asked to work part time in order to care for her daughters. Her company said no, so she quit, thinking she could find work with more flexible hours.

She was told at one interview that such an arrangement might be possible — “on another planet.”

But Ms. Roncetti lives on planet Italy, where working women receive little support from the government or from many public or private employers.

[The photographer for this article had to bring her daughter with her on the assignment. Read her story here.]