html css background z-index stacking-context

hover effect not working on element with lower z-index

I have a problem with the z-index. I have simulated my problem in this jsfiddle . I have two siblings div inside a container. one of them works as a background of the container and has a hover effect on its elements so when you hover on its elements , the color of the elements changes. to place it behinde the second div I used a negative z-index , but the hover effect doesn't work on it. any solutions to this proplem? I have seen some questions about this subject but without any valid answer...

Thanks in advance.

<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
    <title>Document</title>
    <style>
      * {
        margin: 0px;
        padding: 0px;
        box-sizing: border-box;
        text-decoration: none;
        font-family: "Gill Sans", "Gill Sans MT", Calibri, "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;
      }

      .container {
        width: 1000px;
        height: 600px;
        position: relative;
      }

      .div1 {
        position: absolute;
        z-index: -10;
        top: 0;
        left: 0;
        bottom: 0;
        right: 0;
        background-color: lightgreen;
      }

      .div2 {
        width: 200px;
        height: 200px;
        background-color: rgb(245, 189, 116);
        margin: 0 auto;
      }

      .div1 p:hover {
        color: red;
      }

      .div2 p:hover {
        color: red;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div class="container">
      <div class="div1"><p>div 1 doesn't work</p></div>
      <div class="div2"><p>div 2 works</p></div>
  </div>
  </body>
</html>

Solution

See the edits I made to your CSS. It will work better if you set div1 with the background limegreen as z-index: 0; which is the default layer for elements and use z-index: 1; for div2 so it's on the first layer above the default one. See below.

* {
    margin: 0px;
    padding: 0px;
    box-sizing: border-box;
    text-decoration: none;
    font-family: "Gill Sans", "Gill Sans MT", Calibri, "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;
  }
  
.container {
  width: 1000px;
  height: 600px;
  position: relative;
}

.div1 {
  position: absolute;
  z-index: 0;
  top:0;
  left: 0;
  bottom: 0;
  right: 0;
  background-color: lightgreen;
}


.div2 {
  position: relative;
  width: 200px;
  height: 200px;
  background-color: rgb(245, 189, 116);
  margin: 0 auto;
  z-index: 1;
}


.div1 > p:hover{
  color: red;
}


.div2 > p:hover{
  color: red;
}

<div class="container">
    <div class="div1"><p>div 1 works now</p></div>
    <div class="div2"><p>div 2 works</p></div>
</div>