La storia delle donne

La storia delle donne or the "history of women" in any country is a remarkable thing. This is especially so when they rise up (to reference my previous post) and overcome their societal preconceptions. Since March is Women's History Month, I figured that I would keep the ball rolling.

Now women flying airplanes in World War II in Italy is a highly doubtful occurrence, how many actually fly planes in Italy today would be something that I would be interested in doing more research on. I came across this article by the Associated Press entitled, Female WWII aviators honored with gold medal, and was compelled to read more. First of all, I had never heard of women during that era do such a thing. This immediately made me proud of these women for having such strength and for our country for not doubting them. It made me sad, however, to read that some of these women were of course in their late eighties and early ninetys, therefore not being able to share the Congressional Gold Medal with their comrades. This story also upset me because the women were the last to get an honor, as biased as that sounds and is. The Women Airforce Service Pilots or WASPS as they are called, are something for our country to be proud of in spite of the disregard for females that the U.S. has shown in times past.

Completely un-relative to this story, but having everything to do with a country coming together in spite of it's differences is Italy's freshly formed "Purple People". As silly as their  name sounds, they are every bit as serious as the small band of female leaders that gathered together to boycott the G8 summit because of Berlusconi's presence. Il Popolo Viola as they are called have banded together against Berlusconi's government, rumored through Facebook, to put an end to a government that "is not doing its job". The purple color, they say, is only because no other political group uses that color. I think it is very smart of them, it will attract attention to their cause, if people didn't know about them already.
 

I can't think of two better occurrences, in my two favorite countries, that could've made this Women's History Month any better. As long they remain anti-violent, I hope they succeed in finding a better leader. As for the WASPs....YOU GO GIRLS!

Grazie,

Nancy