WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE IN ITALY

 Women's Suffrage in Italy

The Italian Constitution guaranteed formal gender equality, but there was still legal discrimination. Since 1924 women could vote only for local elections. On 1st February 1945, women suffrage was granted in Italy for the first time. 

The emancipation process took to the year 1963, when women could be part of Politician parties and hold all offices. Until then, women could only occupy posts rejected by men. 

The topic was introduced during the Laws and Rights lessons by explaining the historical period and the Italian constitutional article concerning gender equal right and the universal suffrage, whose meaning was explained.

After clarifying the context of 40’s Italy and, in particular, Italian women, we tried to make girls think about how girls of those years felt: the woman didn’t have the same rights as men and had to conquer a place in society.

 

Article

SPANISH RECREATION of this Italian historic period

Article made by Spanish Participants

Today we talked about another fundamental fact in modern Italian history: voting open to all women. 

First elections in which women were called to vote took place in March 1946, while the first election (it was the institutional referendum monarchy-republic) were held June 2, 1946. We received some general information about the subject and then we tried ourselves to get some information and we all created a power point explanation. During the research we thought about the importance that took this step, the possibility for women to vote, not only in Italy but all over the world. We have taken for granted to vote and have rights, but we realized that some years ago it was not a freedom that they all had. 

This lesson was really important, because now we are sure that we can take an active part in the decisions of our country, no matter if we are male or female.

Participants’ opinion

It was strange thinking that women can’t vote, can’t decide about the development of their country- Patricia

It’s a part of history that every country has, women vote later than men…- Eduardo

 

GERMAN RECREATION of this Italian historic period

Article made by German participants

To start with the topic we first discussed about equality of men and women, e.g. with regards to freedom, society, euqality, discrimination, inequal situations of men and woman, own experiences on it, etc. A lot of prejudices still exist and sentences as “women are not accepted in jobs which are typical for men; women might shorten their hair and dress like men to be accepted; sometimes men treat their wifes as housemaids. We researched about the different events in history and in which countries things have changed in which way.

When thinking about how to visualize it, we wanted to draw a positive picture between men and women and did not wanted to focus on the things which are not working. 

We wanted to show symbols of equality and of the right and freedom to live how you’d like to live, so we developed a picture of harmony and a peaceful living together as things are possible to be discussed and equalized only in a peaceful way.

Participants’ opinion

Of course, the inequality still exists as men have better jobs and earn more money, but women want this as well.” Anonymous

I think men earn more money because they have more difficult jobs than women.” Anonymous

 

ITALIAN RECREATION of this Italian historic period

Article made by Italian Participants

This year, we as a class took part in an intercultural proj¬ect, which involved Italians, Germans and Spaniards. For this project, we dealt with two historical periods that had marked Italy: 1948 and 1968. 

As we all know, in 1945 the law which established the right to vote for Italian women was passed. Since then, women have been able to vote. At 18 years old they can elect the “representatives of “representatives of the Senate”. Another important year was 1965, also called the “year of the hippies.” Hippy clothes were characterized by bright colors and were decorated with flowers. Their ideal of peace and freedom can be summed up in the slogan “put some flowers in your guns” and “make love, not war.” 

This movement greatly influenced the public opinion, such as with artists’ films and music; fashion and hippy values had a significant impact on the culture.

We decided to perform these two important moments for our country.

Participants’ opinion

It was surprising seeing the involvement of pupils during the production of the video.”- Manila, teacher 

I understood thecultural and political context in which my grandparents lived.”- Anonymous. 

Visual Results

Spain

 

Germany

 

Italy

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