ROME: In a rare show of unity during Silvio Berlusconi’s five years in power, politicians from Italy’s right and the left joined forces to block the introduction of quotas giving more women access to government.
To whistling and foot-stamping, some unfurled banners in the lower house of parliament that read “Women Get Out”. Even some who had agreed publicly to support the bill later torpedoed it in a secret ballot.
“It was a show of true provincialism, revealing just how little they believe women can be of value,” Rome’s centre-left Deputy Mayor Maria Pia Garavaglia recalled ahead of Italy’s April 9-10 general elections. “In Italy, we have learnt that men prefer their own kind. One more woman in politics means one less man.”
The past year has seen women gain political power in several countries — Angela Merkel in Germany, Michelle Bachelet in Chile and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in Liberia — making even more stark Italy’s lack of female heavyweights as the election nears.
Unlike Segolene Royal, who looks set to be a serious contender for France’s presidency, Italian women have yet to win widespread support for political roles that do not smack of tokenism.
They say that to achieve this, they will have to change the rules of what is almost exclusively a man’s game. They argue that those outside the corridors of power would gain, too.
“Politics is the mirror of a country,” said Emma Bonino, a former European commissioner and one of two leaders of the ‘Rose in the Fist’ party that is part of the centre-left coalition.
Women make up just 11.5 per cent of Italy’s parliamentary representatives, putting it in last place in the European Union and in 30th place in the world alongside the Philippines, Ecuador and Bulgaria in the latest classification by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
In the wider workplace, the figures are hardly better.
“Look at the banking sector,” says Bonino. “Go into any bank and there are lots of women, but only at the counter. There are lots of female journalists, but few beyond a certain level.”
Women account for 45 per cent of Italy’s workforce, 45th in a global ranking by the World Economic Forum. On average, they are likely to earn 30 per cent less than men.
Perhaps not surprisingly with the scales so tipped against them, just one Italian has appeared in the ranks of recent classifications of the world’s most powerful businesswomen — fashion desig-ner Miuccia Prada.—Reuters
