Italy confronts its toxic culture of violence against women – POLITICO

ROME — The killing of a 22-year-old student in Italy, allegedly by her ex-boyfriend, has triggered a national outcry.

Now even the country’s most entrenched political rivals — hard-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and left-wing opposition party leader Elly Schlein — have put aside their differences to campaign for change. 

This weekend, thousands of people are expected to gather in Rome and other major cities as part of what organisers say is a “revolution” under way in Italian attitudes to masculinity and violence against women and girls. A woman is murdered about once every three days in Italy.

The national soul-searching followed the killing of Giulia Cecchettin, an engineering student at Padua university and the arrest of her former boyfriend Filippo Turetta. Tens of thousands took to the streets this week protesting Italy’s “patriarchal” culture and demanding the government improve women’s safety.

Schlein extended an olive branch to Meloni over the issue, calling her on Tuesday, and offering to set their differences aside to work together on prevention of domestic violence. As a result, a vote on legislation strengthening tools such as restraining orders was passed unanimously on Wednesday — an extraordinary result in what is normally a fractious political arena.

Cecchettin’s body was found on November 18 near a lake, with multiple stab wounds, following a search that received blanket media coverage. Meloni wrote on X, formerly Twitter “We all hoped in recent days that Giulia was alive. Unfortunately, our greatest fears have come true … Every single woman killed because she is ‘guilty’ of being free is an aberration that cannot be tolerated and that pushes me to continue on the path to stop this barbarism.”

Male jealousy

In the aftermath of the killing, Cecchettin’s family has blamed a patriarchal society that gives clear rein to “unhealthy” male jealousy, and the apathy of the state. More than 100 women have been killed this year in Italy, half by their partner or former partner, according to the government’s own figures. 

Activists blame a culture in which violent jealousy is seen as normal. Until 1981 the country’s penal code mandated extreme leniency to the killing of “spouses, daughters and sisters caught in illicit sex,” and media personalities still commonly refer to “crimes of passion.”

Cecchettin’s sister, Elena, told local media the state was responsible because it “does not do enough to intervene.” She said: “It does not adequately finance training courses or sex and emotional education in schools. It is complicit because it does not clearly condemn these episodes. It does not make women safe.” 

As the first two women in their respective roles, Schlein and Meloni are well-positioned to spearhead decisive change. 

Schlein, who is in a relationship with a woman, made feminism one of the pillars of her successful campaign for the leadership of the Democratic party. She has pledged to improve access to abortion and fight discrimination against LGBTQ+ and immigrant women. 

As Italy’s first female premier, Meloni has demonstrated through her career progression that women can rise to the top in Italy. But she divides feminists. She has rejected arguments for female quotas in boardrooms or in politics, saying that women have to prove themselves on a level playing field to gain respect. 

She has received criticism for introducing a law to criminalize surrogacy and for her party’s family planning policies. Meloni does not claim to be a feminist but emphazises that she was raised in a family of strong women. 

Some campaigners have welcomed her views on surrogacy and her opposition to the idea that people should be allowed to identify with a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth.  

Meloni was also praised when she very publicly ended her relationship with her partner of ten years, after he was recorded making lewd comments to female colleagues.

While Meloni and Schlein are normally at odds, the killing of Cecchettin prompted Schlein to call for bipartisan efforts “to eradicate the toxic patriarchal culture of possession and control over women’s bodies and lives.” 

Meloni vowed to step up protection for women, improve education and raise public awareness of the issue. Ministers also held a press conference on Wednesday to present new initiatives, including relationships education in schools. 

Machismo and violence

“The intention is to address the issue of male chauvinism, machismo and psychological and physical violence against women,” Education minister Giuseppe Valditara said. 

Minister for Equal Opportunities Eugenia Roccella said the change must come from men. “Violence is the symptom of the inability to accept women’s freedom.”

Demonstrations are expected in Rome and other Italian cities on Saturday to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. 

Elisa Ercoli, president of Differenza Donna, a feminist group that is helping to organize the protests, told POLITICO Cecchettin’s death struck a nerve because “Giulia was from a small village but was about to graduate as a engineer, and would almost certainly have left home.” 

“This was clearly intolerable, an offence to the man in the relationship, and during the long search we all knew what the result would be … The younger generation of women, naturally, expect absolute freedom and not all men in Italy have caught up.”

The reaction to this murder could make a difference, she said. Awareness of the horrors of domestic violence is growing in Italy, which she attributed to feminist groups working together and correcting “every single incidence” where possessiveness or abuse is excused or minimised. “Something has changed,” Ercoli said. Italy is on the cusp of “a cultural revolution that we must complete.”