Elly versus Giorgia? The political leadership of Elly Schlein and Giorgia Meloni between myth and reality

ABSTRACT

2023 has been a year marking a turning point, with two women in leading positions for the first time in Italian politics. Elly Schlein was elected leader of the Democratic Party in February 2023, while a few months earlier Giorgia Meloni, leader of the radical right Brothers of Italy, became prime minister. When Schlein and Meloni celebrated their victory with the identical phrase ‘They [the men] didn’t see us coming’, both leaders showed great awareness that their rise shook the traditionally Italian male dominated political environment. Will the election of the two leaders result in a more structural change? The article seeks to address this issue, focusing on three key aspects: the historical roots of the women’s exclusion from Italian politics; the distinctive political careers of Meloni and Schlein; and the success of the radical right Meloni government in defending the traditional family, while Schlein is facing difficulties to revive the party and to build a single opposition.

KEYWORDS:

• Giorgia Meloni
• Fratelli d’Italia
• elly schlein
• partito democractico
• feminist politics
• women’s and LGBT+ rights

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The Global Gender Gap Report documents annually the extent of the gender gap in the world, taking into account the four dimensions of politics, economics, health and education. Since 2006, through the Global Gender Gap Index it has been possible to monitor trends in gender equality between and within countries from a synchronic and diachronic perspective.

2. The European Institute for Gender Equality collects and periodically updates data for various European countries on gender issues, available in the Gender Statistics Database.

3. See the feminist studies on ‘substantive representation’ and the concept of women’s ‘critical mass’ [Childs and Krook (2008); Dahlerup (2006)

4. Data taken from ‘Pagella Politica’ at: https://pagellapolitica.it/articoli/parlamento-elezioni-uomini-donne-giovani-provenienza#:~:text=The%20gender%20of%20elected%20people.

5. During the congress in Viterbo, the position was contested by Giorgia Meloni and Carlo Fidanza. Meloni was supported by an alliance between Destra protagonista (the liberal faction inspired by Ignazio La Russa and Maurizio Gasparri) and ‘i gabbiani’ or ‘the seagulls’ (the name given to the community grouped around ‘the great seagull’, Fabio Rampelli). Carlo Fidanza, meanwhile, was supported by the community of the social right (inspired by Gianni Alemanno and Francesco Storace) and by Nuova alleanza inspired by Gianfranco Fini. Meloni won with 226 votes as compared to 210 for Fidanza. For further details see Boezi (2020)and 2012.

6. ‘Gender ideology’ or ‘gender theory’ are rhetorical constructs that originated in Vatican circles and then became key words in the rhetoric of ‘pro-life’ activists, reactionaries and Catholic fundamentalists to delegitimise equality policies defined as a threat to the natural social order based on the traditional family and a strict binary, biologically derived, division of roles between men and women. For further discussion, see Garbagnoli [(2014)] and 2023.

7. See, for example, S. Canettieri, ‘Inafferrabile Elly’, Il Foglio, 27 May 2023.

8. M. Sechi, ‘Giorgia Meloni ha superato la prova del 2023’, Libero, 29 December 2023.

9. See excerpt from Letta’s report: ‘Pd, Letta: «Il fatto che io sia qui e non una donna dimostra che c’è un problema di rappresentanza di genere»’, Il Foglio, 14 March 2021.

10. ‘Letta: La scelta di due donne capigruppo è solo il primo passo’, https://partitodemocratico.it, 31 March 2021.

11. G. Siviero, ‘La vittoria di Meloni e le riflessioni che impone a sinistra sulle questioni di genere’, Valigia Blu, 17 October 2022.

12. C. De Gregorio, ‘Se la sinistra dimentica le donne’, la Repubblica, 13 February 2021.

13. M. Murgia, ‘Quella donna giusta nel posto sbagliato’, la Repubblica, 28 February 2023.

14. C. Bertini and N. Carratelli, ‘Viaggio nel nuovo Pd a immagine di Elly’, La Stampa, 10 June 2023.

15. A video of the speech is available at https://www.governo.it/it/articolo/il-presidente-meloni-parlamento-le-dichiarazioni-programmatiche/20764.

16. S. Alliva, ‘Fratelli d’Italia in mano alla lobby anti-gender e pro-life per depotenziare la 194’, L’Espresso, 15 May 2023.

17. F. Amabile, ‘Chi è Eugenia Roccella, la Ministra della famiglia e della natalità che si è già schierata contro tutti i diritti civili’, La Stampa, 22 October 2022. Also of note are Eugenia Roccella’s books with Lucetta Scaraffia, Contro il cristianesimo. L’ONU e l’Unione Europea come nuova ideologia (Roccella and Scaraffia 2005) and with Assuntina Morresi (Roccella’s current deputy chief of staff), La favola dell’aborto facile. Miti e realtà della pillola RU 486 (Roccella and Morresi 2006).

18. C. Zapperi, ‘Scontro sulla maternità surrogata. Roccella: «È un mercato di bambini, può costare 100 mila euro»’, Corriere della Sera, 19 March 2023.

19. In particular, sparking deep outrage and reaction in the country was the femicide of Giulia Cecchettin, just days before 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

20. G. Vitale, ‘Educazione sessuale nelle scuole, bagarre alla Camera. Il leghista Sasso: «Una porcheria e una nefandezza»’, la Repubblica, 26 October 2023.

21. Directive published by the Ministry of Education and Merit on 24 November 2023.

22. This position had also been reiterated in the European Parliament in May 2023, when representatives of the League and FdI abstained in the vote to join the Istanbul Convention.

23. N. Urbinati, ‘La «donna madre» e la forza regressiva del programma di Meloni’, Domani, 30 July 2022.

24. Tesi di Trieste per il movimento dei patrioti, https://www.giorgiameloni.it.

25. Istat, Il mercato del lavoro III trimestre 2023, analysis published on 13 December 2023.

26. C. De Lillo, ‘Ma le donne non sono corpi al servizio della natalità’, La Stampa, 20 October 2023.

27. S. Bignami, ‘Elly Schlein: Ambiente e lavoro, ecco come battere la destra’ la Repubblica, 10 June 2023.

28. On this see the interviews collected in 2023.

29. A. Cuzzocrea, ‘Schlein e Conte divisi da Kiev e salva-Stati’, La Stampa, 24 December 2023.

30. The response was posted on her institutional account on 21 November 2023.

31. C. Valerio, ‘Meloni e l’eredità del patriarcato’, la Repubblica, 22 November 2023.

Additional information

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Alessia Donà

Alessia Dona’ is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Trento. Her research focuses on gender politics; populist radical right; women’s and LGBT+ rights; and anti-gender politics.