Progress or regression? Are women in Italy and the USA more independent than they

were 100 years ago?

Silvia BiondaroSerena Zaniolo12th May 2011

EXPLANATION

• Compare how Italian women and American women rebelled against gender limitations, and how they conquered their rights

• Example: the film “The Color Purple”• Review of forum 6 and forum 7 for evidence of

students’ view of women in their respective countries

• Is the state of women regressing?

“THE COLOR PURPLE”

by S. Spielberg (1985)

• Based on a novel by Alice Walker• Tells the story of a young African American girl

named Celie and the issues of sexism for African American women during the early 1900s

• Celie was sexually abused, and had two children by her father who forced her to marry a widower named Albert. Albert treats Celie like a slave and beats her

• Albert's old flame, the jazz singer Shug Avery comes to live with Celie and Albert, and she helps Celie raise her self-confidence. Celie and Shung have an affair

• Celie also finds strength in Sofia, who marries Albert's son. She has also suffered abuse from the men in her family, but she refuses to tolerate it

• Celie decided to leave with Shug, and despite Albert's attempts to verbally abuse Celie into submission, she stands up and rebels against him

RIGHTS CONQUERED BY WOMEN

ITALIAN

• 1945 – Women obtain the right to vote

• 1974 – Referendum on the right to divorce

• 1975 – Law passed regarding abortion and family right

• 1978 – Law passed regarding motherhood

USA

• 1920 – 19th Amendment giveswomen the right to vote

• 1961 – Birth control pills are first made available

• 1969 – California is the first state to adopt the "no fault" divorce law

• 1973 – Women‘s obtain the right to safe and legal abortion

COMPARISON OF FORUM 6 WITH FORUM 7

SE NON ORA QUANDO

• “[…] io non mi sento rappresentata in nessun modo da quello stereotipo di donna-oggetto che si fa sfruttare dall’uomo pur di apparire[…]”

• “[...]il percorso da fare è ancora in salita, perché purtroppo molte donne credono che per emanciparsi basta avere delle doti fisiche esagerate[...]”

• “[…]le figure di riferimento femminili che appaiono nei mass-media sono solo figure di donne-oggetto che possono portare a una visione collettiva distorta della donna[...]”

• “[...]certe donne d’oggi pur di apparire in TV o su una copertina sono disposte a fare di tutto, quindi il problema centrale forse è una mancanza di valori e di dignità[...]”

WOMEN IN THE USA

• “[...]I don’t think women are viewed as entirely equal in the US […]”

• “[...]today in the US women and men do have equal opportunity[...]”

• “[…] we still have a way to go but it is impossible to deny that women are making progress[...]”

• “[...]the woman is the main breadwinner of the family while the man takes more of a backseat role and tends to the house cooking, cleaning and organising it: this is very common in the USA[…] ”

COMMENTS ABOUT FORUMS 6 AND 7

• Italian students believe that Italian women are seen as objects

• Italian women behave wrongly: they think that in order to be free, all they have to do is to show their bodies

• Italian students don’t identify themselves with this type of women

• Two different views of the position of women: according to some, women are equal to men. According to others, women haven’t yet reached the same level as men

• An unusual occurrence in Italy: men who do house work

CONCLUSION• American students never mentioned that women are seen an

objects, while Italian students always pointed out this issue• “[…] this kind of extreme freedom can hide new ways of

submission by mixing up freedom and commodification of the body and using it to receive favours. Women often forget to be owners of rights and they don’t compel respect […]”

• It is common for American men to do house work, while in Italy this is rare and quite strange

• Italian women have a vision of their ideal freedom but this has yet to come true in real life

• In the past, women fought together fortheir rights. Now they fight alone