Gender equality and female emancipation

WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT IN ITALY

The most important events regarding female emancipation and gender equality

From universal women's suffrage (1946)

1979

1950

1963

1975

1981

1970

Nilde Iotti was the first woman to hold the third highest office in the state as President of the Chamber of Deputies

1978

1958

1946

The Family law reform

Physical and economic protection of working mothers

The Italian parliament admits women to public offices and professions

The law on crimes of honour

The abortion law

The Divorce Law

The Merlin Law

Women's suffrage

“The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before.” – Albert Einstein

2006

2013

2001

2004

2007

1996

2018

National Code of Equal Opportunities between Women and Men

Law against domestic violence

Law against “feminicide”

Regulations on medically assisted procreation

Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati became President of the Senate of the Republic

Law against "dimissioni in bianco"

Law against sexual violence

"There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish." - Michelle Obama

TODAY

Female politicians

Giorgia Meloni is the first woman to be the President of the Conuncil of Ministers

Silvana Sciarra is, for the first time as a woman, the President of the Constitutional Court

Emma Bonino is one of the most important figures of Italian liberal radicalism of the Republican age, as well as a leading figure for Italian feminism.

Margherita Cassano is the first woman to become president of the Court of Cassation, the highest office in the judiciary.

Elly Schlein is the secretary of the Democratic Party

Other important women

Samantha Cristoforetti is an astronaut and aviator, the first Italian woman in the crews of the European Space Agency and the first European woman commander of the International Space Station.

Elena Cattaneo is a pharmacologist and biologist, known for her studies on Huntington's disease and for her research on stem cells, she has been appointed senator for life.

Anna Grassellino is an electronic engineer, known for her work on superconducting radio frequency cavities. In 2017 Barack Obama awarded her the "Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers".

Fabiola Gianotti is a physicist, director general of CERN in Geneva since January 2016.

Some examples of the Italian women's national teams.