Time to choose for Italy: Will the appointment of far-right leader Giorgia Meloni as Prime Minister be a long-awaited victory for women or a new setback?

Time to choose for Italy: Will the appointment of far-right leader Giorgia Meloni as Prime Minister be a long-awaited victory for women or a new setback?
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09-09-2022

Idil Igdir

Women's Rights Researcher,

Global Human Rights Defence.

Another critical general election is looming in Europe, and this time all eyes are on Italy, or rather on Giorgia Meloni. However, there is one question that needs to be answered first: why is the country set to hold a general election months before its natural term? 

Mario Draghi, an unelected former central banker who led the coalition for 18 months, resigned as Prime Minister on 21 July after his key right-wing coalition allies snubbed a confidence vote (Aljazeera, 2022). In response, Italian President Sergio Mattarella immediately dissolved parliament and called for a snap election, scheduled for September 25th (Euronews, 2022). While Italians expected the election to be held in early 2023, as it should have been, and thus Draghi to remain as PM until the end of his term, the government has shown itself to be more disunited and unstable than the people themselves. It could also be argued that the 2022 government crisis has plunged the country into yet another political deadlock in the midst of a war on Europe's doorstep. 

Nevertheless, according to opinion polls, Giorgia Meloni, a 45-year-old single mother without a university degree, is emerging as a “new favoured leader” above all other candidates in the country (Guissani, 2022). If Meloni becomes Prime Minister as leader of the far-right, post-fascist party, Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia), she would not only be the first female head of government in the country since the re-establishment of the republic in 1946 after World War II, but also the first far-right leader (Euronews, 2022). Yet, one must think of more than the history she could make in Italy, to prevent falling into a further dangerous political game that would put the country in a more volatile position. 

It is, of course, promising and indeed exciting to see the increasing presence of women in politics, that is, to see the fruits of the many years of work for gender equality. But to blindly support a woman on the basis of her gender alone, ignoring the dangers her policies may pose for other women, only creates the opposite of what we have been trying to achieve for years.

​​Looking at Meloni's previous discourses and her campaigns for women's rights, it becomes clearer how "traditional" her view of women and the family structure is. Meloni, who admires Victor Orban and his model, poses a great threat to abortion rights and LGBTQ+ communities by declaring herself pro-life and chanting slogans: “Yes to natural families! No to LGBT lobbies! Yes to sexual identity! No to gender ideology!” (Euronews, 2022). Meloni's party also voted against proposals to protect women from discrimination and violence in Europe and Italy due to its opposition to gender ideology (Roberts, 2022). 

Moreover, just when it was thought that women's rise to high positions in politics would help women's empowerment, Meloni once again sidelined women, this time by saying that she "is against female quotas in professional contests" (Tadeo, 2022). ​​In Italy, unfortunately, this is not only a political issue, but also a social one, as the country has the lowest number of female labourers among the rich countries. That is, only 55 per cent of Italian women who are able to work are actually working (Tadeo, 2022).

In this context, Valeria Valente of the centre-left Democrats said that “Meloni plays on the novelty factor [of being a woman] but does not represent and work for women. [Her premiership] is not an opportunity for women” (Roberts, 2022). Thus,  just because Meloni is a woman does not mean she will be the long-awaited victory that will give women in Italy what they need.

Sources and Further Reading:

Aljazeera. (July 21, 2022). Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi resigns as crisis deepens. Retrieved September 9, 2022, from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/21/italy-prime-minister-mario-draghi-resigns-as-crisis-deepens

Euronews. (July 21, 2022). Italy's President Mattarella dissolves parliament, new election set for 25 September. Retrieved September 9, 2022, from italys-president-mattarella-dissolves-parliament-orders-new-election 

Euronews. (August 16, 2022). Italy election: Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni rides wave of support. Retrieved September 9, 2022, from https://www.euronews.com/2022/08/16/italy-election-far-right-leader-georgia-meloni-rides-wave-of-support

Guissani Camilla. (September 1, 2022). Far-Right Leader Giorgia Meloni To Become First Italian Female PM. The Organisation World Peace. Retrieved September 9, 2022, from https://theowp.org/reports/far-right-leader-giorgia-meloni-to-become-first-italian-female-pm/

Tadeo Maria. (August 23, 2022). Feminist or Not, Giorgia Meloni Has a Duty to Italy’s Women. The Washington Post. Retrieved September 9, 2022, from 18c1ea52-21d8-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html

Roberts Hannah. (September 2, 2022). Will Italy’s first female prime minister be bad for women?. Politico. Retrieved September 9, 2022, from https://www.politico.eu/article/italy-first-woman-prime-minister-giorgia-meloni-mario-draghi-brothers-abortion-feminist-levante-chiara-ferragni-elodie/