The treatment of politicians Laura Boldrini and Cecile Kyenge highlights the persistent problem of the abuse of women in Italy's public sphere. This cannot be dismissed as just a debate about censorship. Italy’s gender question is a wound left unhealed.
When a country spends the last two years of its democratic life recovering from decades of social and economic decomposition, any renewal of its political capital should be welcomed with a huge sigh of relief. But Italian politics have long been known for defying the laws of logic. So when new faces enter the political arena, the initial reaction tends to be, at best, moderately sceptical. But when the new faces are those of women, people in their own right and not the fetishised tools of a man-tailored society, the scepticism turns into fear – if not outright hatred. Laura Boldrini, Italy's Lower House President, and Cecile Kyenge, the country's Minister for Integration, have both been victims to a system that fails to recognise the consequences of a rhetoric in which women are still treated as silent subalterns.
The treatment of politicians Laura Boldrini and Cecile Kyenge highlights the persistent problem of the abuse of women in Italy's public sphere. This cannot be dismissed as just a debate about censorship. Italy’s gender question is a wound left unhealed.
When a country spends the last two years of its democratic life recovering from decades of social and economic decomposition, any renewal of its political capital should be welcomed with a huge sigh of relief. But Italian politics have long been known for defying the laws of logic. So when new faces enter the political arena, the initial reaction tends to be, at best, moderately sceptical. But when the new faces are those of women, people in their own right and not the fetishised tools of a man-tailored society, the scepticism turns into fear – if not outright hatred. Laura Boldrini, Italy's Lower House President, and Cecile Kyenge, the country's Minister for Integration, have both been victims to a system that fails to recognise the consequences of a rhetoric in which women are still treated as silent subalterns.