The Softer Side of Resistance
Early Twentieth Century Italy, like the early Twentieth Century in the United States, was a time of promise for women’s progress. The issues forming the women’s rights platform seem basic and, especially because of our current placement in history, not too radical: the right to divorce, educational and employment rights, and perhaps most extreme, voting rights. In the early years of the Twentieth Century (although processes there were different from our concepts of democratic voting), some of these issues had even been brought to the ballot (Pickering-Iazza, Mothers, p.38). And contrary to popular perception, during the early years of Mussolini’s rule (which lasted from 1922-1943), public support for
…show more content…
42). True to its totalitarian character, this plan brought the state even further into the peoples’ private lives. The Fascist government went as far as passing into law a bachelor tax. All eligible men aged twenty-six to sixty-five paid exorbitant taxes if they chose to stay single (De Grazia, p.69). The party outlawed birth control, held national childbearing contests, created monetary incentives for having at least seven children, and campaigned for a revision of beauty standards (De Grazia, ch. 3,4). Pursuing a goal that would mean more confining gender roles, for women and men alike, Mussolini went all out to get his way.
In accordance with these ideals of womanhood, Mussolini saw to it that women’s education was tailored to their future roles as mothers and keepers of the house. Now, if wealthy enough to be in school, women were taught, even at the university level, how to keep a home (Pickering-Iazzi, Mothers p. 34).
Mussolini also eliminated the most public display of women’s potential political power, the right to vote. One would assume that from the outset of his rule, the Duce would strongly oppose this form of liberation for women. But his position wavered on this issue as much as it did in several other areas. In 1919, he answered in an interview: “I am a supporter of
A few roles of women prior to the World War I consisted of cooking, cleaning, and caring for the children. These were the basic fundamental jobs that women were expected of women to do,” (Campbell 1) .During this time men were the sole base of the household income, and the head
The Fascist attempted to influence behaviour in various ways, such as trying to ban the handshake (replacing it with the Roman salute) and ‘fascistizing’ forms of address, which included the use of uniform (p. 242). They made the Militia look like soldiers, but still distinguishable with their black shirts and a small fasci littori (depictions of bundles of rods bound with an axe that was a symbolic element, signifying unity, power, authority and justice) on their jacket lapel (p. 244-246). Woman in the Fascist party would also come to look more masculine and militaristic over the years as woman were becoming more accepted to wear a uniform. For children, a uniform was a source of pride, enhancing their sense of importance. Luisa Tamgno wrote in her memoir that wearing her Piccoa Italiana uniform made her feel stronger, braver, and overall better. She was usually in charge of a troop of girls who would act like little soldiers when she would bark a command (p. 256). This provides important insight in how the Fascist use of uniforms was transforming the youth into more militaristic individuals and provides an example of how women were also targeted in the fascist pursuit of patriotism and
An understanding of the educational background of women is necessary in discovering the female oppression of the Renaissance. Education was more than an issue of gender, especially in consideration of the consequences of wealth as well. Yet their oppression stems from their decision in whether or not they should study the liberal arts. Often was the case that women faced social stigmas and societal pressures from family members and learned men of the society for turning away from typically female activities. Lucrezia Marinella writes in her Exhortation, “Therefore, she who devotes her mind to learning – a domain that does
Life in Italy in the 1930’s caused difficulty to some Italians during that time period. During the 1930’s a large number of Italians who had opposed the fascist rule of Benito Mussolini arrived in the United States. After the news spread in Italy about the bombing of Pearl Harbour almost all Italians supported the war against Benito Mussolini. At this point, Italy was slowly becoming under the Nazi rule, the significance of a woman’s role in Italy was emphasised as they were expected to accept the fascist ideology. Girls were expected to get married and conceive lots of children. Many young women in Italy felt the pressures of politics that were dominated by men and felt that women’s rights were disappearing
In Italy the strong presence of Catholic religion and organizations influenced Mussolini’s policies concerning women. Although the fascist ideology intended to abolish class struggle by establishing a new corporative society, its ideas about the role of women in such a society remained very conservative. Hitler had similar beliefs about the role of women in a Nazi society but he never tried to force them to stay home, indeed, he supported their participation in industrial production.
The second area that saw the littlest change for women in the Renaissance was the expectations that came with their social status. Overall women were deemed to be a lower class in terms of gender, and men often treated them with less respect as a result. Within social classes, stereotypical beliefs regarding women and their role were held. Lower class women were expected to be housewives and take care of everything to do with the house. The expectation of working-class women, however, was slightly different. They were expected to work for their husbands and help them run their business, although they couldn’t partake in any of the work by themselves or outside of the house. However, this different expectation wasn’t necessarily new and was upheld from previous times, supporting this idea of women not receiving a Renaissance in the area of social class. Some women in the elite were able to become slightly more independent from their husbands and gain more responsibility, but the vast majority of women in the Renaissance continued to be used for the sole benefits of the men; as providers of a dowry, homemakers
Molinari, professor of statistics in his report for the Central Institute of Statistics in 1932 said, “the search for a better life and the desire for economic well-being are the primary and most important reasons the the voluntary limitation of childbirths…” Being that the desire to live a better life limited family size, many people would much rather care more for themselves and increase their lifestyles than have larger families than they do. This shows how unsuccessful the population policies were because as Molinari also said “even if one could eliminate poverty and other economic disadvantages, the desire to improve one’s economic standing and rise above circumstances will have an effect on the decision to have children.” (Document 3) This meant that even if people were well off monetarily, there would still be talk about how many children to have and what life style they should choose because of the more children you have, the more money gets taken away from what can be spent on yourself. The more money spent on the children, the less luxury you can have for yourself. Having children is choosing a completely different life style than not having them at all. Another reason why Mussolini was shown to be unsuccessful was when a letter was sent to Edda Mussolini Ciano (his daughter) in 1940. This mother had eleven children and did not realize what she was getting herself
• In 1922 Mussolini became prime minister of Italy. He outlawed all political parties and established a secret police that could arrest anyone for political or nonpolitical
Italian Fascism is an authoritarian and nationalistic system of government and social organization, it was the political result of the relationship between socialist and nationalist rhetoric. It is a form of governance which employs intolerant views and practices, advocating traditionalism, interventionism and sameness rather than individualism. In order to promote their totalitarian ideals during the 1930s to 1945 fascist politicians such as Benito Mussolini, who had previously been a socialist newspaper editor, employed propaganda that included virtually all modes of media: the press, posters and film. The widespread dissemination of totalitarian ideals infiltrated into the school system where young Italians born from 1910 to 1935 were taught to “obey and fight.” The purpose of this paper is to analyse the diffusion of the Italian Identity through fascist propaganda from 1922-1943 and the identity that was diffused as a result of the exploitation of Mussolini’s various propaganda mediums. Did fascist propaganda contribute to the diffusion of an Italian identity? If so, what identity was diffused?
During the Second World War, Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was the leader of the Italian Nationalist Fascist government. He was head of the Italian government from 1922 till 1943. The significance of Mussolini is that he played a key role acting as the Italian Prime Minister and established a totalitarian regime, during this time, as the unchallenged supreme leader, known as ‘Il Duce’. Fascism consisted of many contributors of which Mussolini with all his quirks was the key to most of its failures and successes, making him the most significant player that is worthy of being investigated. This topic is worthy of being investigated as Mussolini made a lot of decisions that lead to the death of many, but the question as to
In Italy the strong presence of Catholic religion and organizations influenced Mussolini's policies concerning women. Although the fascist ideology intended to abolish class struggle by
Overall, the fascist experiment in Italy was a failure. Benito Mussolini aimed to make the world safe for the middle class, small business owners, property owners, and people in the agricultural area. Through this, Mussolini gained support of the majority of the population. There is no doubt that most of the support was actually the work of propaganda and rhetoric rather than the real thing'. The government made desperate attempts to significantly increase the birthrate in Italy. In 1927, Mussolini launched the "Battle for births". The task of young women was to get married quickly and have a lot of children. And the more children they get, the more benefits they get from the government. Mussolini's population policy failed to produce
Benito Mussolini outlines several essential characteristics of his preferred political ideology, Fascism, in what has become known as the Doctrine of Fascism. In this paper, Mussolini outlines his vision of the ideology, and explains the major issues that Fascism will address once it becomes the leading political system in Italy. Mussolini’s major points as outlined in the Doctrine included an extreme emphasis on nationalism, organization and modernization of the state, persistent focus on religion, life as a struggle, and the notion that individuals exist only for the improvement of society as a whole. Wolfgang Schieder, after reviewing the Doctrine of Fascism, explains Mussolini’s success based on it and
Since World War II, Italian society has profoundly changed, with a significant impact on daily life. One of the main elements of change is the more visible role women play in society outside the home, such as increased participation in higher education and various professions. One aspect of this changed role is that Italy records one of the lowest average numbers of children per woman in the world, as well as some of the lowest birth and fertility rates. (Brittanica Online Encyclopedia)
The economic instability of Europe developed totalitarian goverments that began rising during the depression in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. Germany, Italy, and Japan all became countries subjected to the rule of dictated military rule leaving no room for opposition. Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy in 1922 (Calvocoressi, Wint, p 777, 1999). Mussolini had his own philosophy that his destiny was to rule over Italy as Caesar in a more modern version while re-creating the Roman Empire. In his attempts in