Post-War Changes in Italy

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21396, 20 October 1934, Page 6 (Supplement)

Post-War Changes in Italy

Until the Great War Italian women were the most backward of all European women, says an English journalist. Since, the beginning of. time they have been the keepers of the home, which they have run well, and they have many children,'whom they bring up well. All other problems were left to their- men.

The war changed everything—the war and the influence of the late Queen Mother, who in 1914 was the most emancipated woman in Italy. Margherita of Savoia, first queen of United Italy, very early in her reign attempted to awaken the women of her country to duties outside the home by organising various institutions for women, governed* by women. But unfortunately .for her the women had too long been sunken in tradition to have much ambition to emerge from it, so her example received slight encouragement. With the war came the need for workers of all kinds. There were courses in nursing and supply workrooms, usually in the'homes of Court ladies. With so many men.going to the front there were many posts that had to be filled by women in order to keep things going, which meant that women who had never thought of doing anything useful found themselves in jobs that at one time had been considered undignified. For the first time in the history of the country Italian women were learning something about life outside the home. They liked being independent; they found it pleasant to earn their own money, to be able to spend without the permission of husband or father; it was a new experience, and a pleasant one. Having worked for three years, relatively few women were afterwards content to return to the humdrum existence of pre-war time, and owing to the number of men killed in the war there was still considerable work for the women who wanted it. Those who gave up their jobs were discontented. Young girls growing up began insisting upon higher education. Universities that had never taken %omen students were one by one beginning to open their doors to - them. Girls began in great numbers going to finishing schools in Switzerland, France, Germany, and a very few managed to get to England. In all these countries they found greater freedom- than at home, and so when Mussolini came to power they were ready to join the Fascist, party, to become as much a part of the national life as their fathers and brothers. To-day the young Italian women, even the most aristocratic, are all doing something apart from their social

FEMININE STATUS UNDER MUSSOLINI

duties. At an early aye Italian girls now join the Fascisti feminile ; and wear uniforms on all State occasions. They are taught to, cook, to do menial housework, to sew, dance, drive a car, and even to fly; they play tennis, bridge, swim. In secretarial work they are the equal of their "brothers, and in journalism they are keen and exact. They are extremely feminine, and yet they can do almost any man's job. Their mothers are good housekeepers and homemakers, so the girls learn all about the running of a house, and when they marry they are not afraid to begin in a little flat with one maid, or, if fate decrees it so, they are capable of managing a. large establishment, bearing as many children as Nature wishes to give them.

In the past Italian women were, as Mussolini so ably expressed it, "agreeable parenthesis," something soft and clinging to go home to; but never wpre they companions and friends to their husbands. The proof of that was to be found in the cafes, restaurants and theatres, where there were always three times as many men as women. Heretofore men left their wives at home whenever possible, seeking their companions among the men. Now, finding that wives and daughters can be quite as companiable as men, wives and daughters go where the husbands and father's go. At the beginning of his dictatorship, Mussolini, knowing their character, was very much against the emancipation of the Italian women, and until a few Lad the temerity ,to show him that they were capable of handling practically every business as well as men, he kept them at home.

Women, he said, belonged in the home, where they had plenty to do bringing up a family, which, in many cases, is true; yet, so well do they manage their daily affairs that in all classes they are able to make their homes far more attractive than those in which they were brought up, to watch with great care over their children's health and education, to keep up with political and social doings, and still to be of material help to their husbands, and to take an active part in the life of the nation. Considering that all Latins are indolent, and that the Italian womeil are reputed to be less intelligent than the men, I consider that their present advancement along all lines is the most commendable development of this Mussolinian era. Much of their men folk's advancement during the past ten years is due to the encouragement, not to say assistance, and to the rivalry of their women.