When I’m not in class or studying for my classes, I like to educate myself about the world around me. National news can get boring sometimes. International news is even more within our reach than ever before because of the Internet, therefore making our world a lot smaller. Recently much of the other parts of the globe have been featured on my local news stations because of all of the horrible tragedies occurring in Haiti and in Chile. Believe me they are worth every ounce of media coverage and we should offer them as much aid as we can.
Instead of all of the terrible things going on in the world, I prefer to find things that Americans can relate to—it’s the American Studies minor in me. So, once I get to my point you’ll know that this blog was just bubbling to be written since I read the actual news article. In fact it wasn’t a hard news article at all; it was a New York Times Op/Ed. It was August, so I must’ve been on campus for one reason or another and picked up my free copy because of Penn State’s newspaper readership program. At any rate, I eventually flipped to the Op/Ed section and it immediately grabbed my attention because of two things that it mentioned: Italy and Women Rising Up. The actual article is titled Italian Women Rise Up by Chiara Volpato. Chiara, I learned, is one of the major female leaders for that part of the world and also is a social psychology professor at the University of Milan-Bicocca.
In my opinion, she hits the nail right on the head. Her editorial discusses not only Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi-- who’s known for making sarcastic remarks and comments about women that only a chauvinistic, patriarchal society could love—but also the “glass ceiling” that is ever present in Italy today. Prime Minister Berlusconi has held his position three times in Italy’s history, but his influence on the Italian people through the mass media has been present since the 1980s. He founded his first media venture after college in Milan. It grew from there to entire networks and cable channels. Berlusconi’s television line up reflects on his personality, showcasing beautiful, Italian women who want to become “showgirls”. When I say showcasing, this is all that they do. Very rarely do the women get to say anything as they are being judged on their looks. Berlusconi has placed a few of these showgirls into public office, including Mara Carfagna, Italy’s Equal Opportunity’s Minister.
While Carfagna is doing a lot of good, making Berlusconi look good, his mouth continually gets him into trouble. Berlusconi is quoted in a BBC article as saying, “the left has no taste, even when it comes to women.” This is coming from a man in his seventies trying to talk smack against his rival political party. The BBC also reports that he has had to apologize publicly, as per his wife, for “flirting” with other women. This is who they have lead their country? Well, America did vote for Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky scandal and all.
Enough about him. Let’s get back to the glass ceiling that Italy has but is conceivably lower than America’s. American women have fought for their rights and have come a long way. This is not to say that Italian women don’t have the same rights, but they are immersed in an “old-school way of thinking” culture that has immeasurable double standards. The Catholic Church and the Vatican have a heavy presence in Italy, almost as much as the government. Simultaneously, there still lives the patriarchal culture where “men rule” so to speak. Women work, to cite Volpato’s article, but they also are expected to be the sole keepers of the home. Birthrate in Italy is down because of the fact that men get more leisure time than women do—all the more better for Berlusconi’s bank accounts. Italy even ranks 79 on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index.
So, whether or not Italy wants to come clean about it, their society is slowly secreting anti-feminism. Women like Chiara are out there who want Italian women to aspire to be more than how their Prime Minister spends his free time. They have even rallied against these types of behaviors along with her by boycotting the G8 Summit. It is unfortunate that their voice isn’t quite as loud as American women when it comes to standing up for their rights. Many newspapers don’t let any talk of such things get published. There are a few exceptions, including la Repubblica, but it’s very few and far between.
Sure, you may be thinking this is just reminiscent of American society and the attitude of the media that sex sells. You are right, but this attitude also comes from the dark and ugly days of when America too let patriarchal views dominate their world. There is nothing wrong with males wanting to be the head of their households or good fathers even, but when it’s taken too far and women are degraded, we have a problem.
Grazie,
Nancy
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