Mattarella celebrates women: "On June 2, 1946, they built Italy"

“This year the celebration has a special meaning: the eightieth anniversary of the Republicborn on June 2, 1946when the Italiancall at vote after the first time in the municipal elections a few months earlier, which restored the democracy in the Municipalities, suppressed by the dictatorship, gave their decisive contribution to the construction of the new Italy“. The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, said this while celebrating at the Quirinale International Women’s Day.

“I thank Minister Roccella, Malika Ayane, Benedetta Porcaroli, Giulia Galeotti, Caterina Banti, Amalia Ercoli Finzi, Cristina Cassar-Scalia. We were able to appreciate, in their interventions, the commitment of successful professional women in their different fields of action. Congratulations and best wishes to all of them”, said the Head of State, “These stories of commitment and success also have their roots in that distant 1946after years of suffering, war and struggle for freedomthe donne they were finally called at urns. An authentic one revolutionwhich put an end to a centuries-old history of discrimination e di marginalization and marked the beginning of a new season, where responsibility, opportunity, rights they were valid for women and men, finally on a total level equality“. “After centuries in which women were considered in a subordinate position and their role in society was confined to the family and domestic sphere, the vote for women it represented the goal for which so many had worked”, he added.

Equality enshrined in the Constitution

L’article 3 of the Constitution sanctioned “theequalitythe dignity and the women’s freedom not as a concession from above, but as fundamental right of every person”, said Mattarella “It was not yet the achievement of the effective equality. But the Constitutionby affirming it, laid the foundations of the Republic’s duty to realize and develop it, paving the way for progressive legislative achievementsachieved above all thanks to the commitment of women in Parliament and in society. Some of them should be remembered: the ban on exploitation of prostitution in 1958; the law on protection of working mothers in 1971, the family law reform in which, in 1975, it was sanctioned, among other things, the effective equality between spouses; the liberating, even if belated in its obviousness, abolition of honor killing and the so-called shotgun wedding in 1981; there equal opportunities lawwhich paved the way for achieving equality in workplaces and in accessing decision-making roles; the fundamental law 66 of 1996 on sexual violencefinally a crime against the person and no longer against morality, which allowed women to report their tormentors without having to feel shame or loneliness”, he added, “Completed, more recently, by law against stalking and the rules against gender discrimination and for the contrast to feminicide“.

The transformation of the Italian state

“During the republican historythe growing presence of donne in the different ones professional fields scored one profound transformation of Italian state. For a long time it was taken for granted that top positions were held by men”. According to the President of the Republic, “women were recognized as having a role confined to the executive, administrative and support levels. The Italians have progressively conquered, often ranking first in competitions, increasingly important spaces in the judiciaryin the diplomacyin the prefectural careerin universityin the field medical and scientificin local administrations: between mayors there are over eight times more women than in the 1980s. Twenty-five years passed between the first female undersecretary of state – Angela Cingolani Guidi in 1951 – and the first female minister, Tina Anselmi, in 1976. Three years later the first female president of the Chamber of Deputies, Nilde Iotti”, he stated, “We then had to wait forty years – I repeat: forty years – to have, in the space of a few years, President Alberti Casellati in the Senate, President Cartabia in the Constitutional Court, President Cassano at the Court of Cassation and the President of the Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni. Until some time ago in our country, it sport which was talked about at home and at work or in bars, was conjugated, with a large prevalence, to the masculine. Today the scenario is very different. The national women’s teams and the Italian sneakers they win, they enthuse, they solicit participation and pride. There Italian woman And scientist, entrepreneur, artist, magistrate, astronaut, champion, political and trade union leader; it’s ai leaders of the state“. “How many resources, how many talents have we lost over the past times! The institutions have offered and offer an example. But the issue does not concern individual figures of excellence. The challenge is about millions of women, workers, professionals, family mothers“. he noted, “The process can only be said to be complete when women are no longer asked to adopt, in the various areas of society, male models of behavior in order to see their own capacity e quality. Until this happens, there will continue to be a loss of values ​​and opportunity for the whole Italian company“.

The count is not even yet

“The Republic he gave a lot to donne. Women have given a lot to the Republic” but the count is not yet equal, underlined Mattarella. “Our Republic must continue to enhance the role of womenbreaking down the obstacles that still limit them potential: il wage gapthe scarce presence in the top roles of companiesthe gender violencethe work-life balance. A society that invests in women becomes more equal, stronger, more innovative, more dynamic. All factors indicate that theeconomy grows with female work and with it the overall quality of life“, underlined the Head of State, “Promote policies that favor theinclusionthe trainingthe leadership femminilesupport the maternity without career penalties, are fundamental factors for the future of our Italy“.

Countering gender violence

“It seems – and is – paradoxical to often have to deal with gender violence. Yet, unfortunately, it is necessary. The commitment of civilization to consign it to the past requires not only the strengthening of legal regulations they protection toolsbut above all it requires purifying the souls from one distorted mentalitywhich feeds on atavistic prejudices e di culpable ignorance. Educate to respect in the family first of all, a schoolin work environmentsis the most effective answer to build a society in which no woman can be afraid or left alone!”, said Mattarella.