(Re)Presenting Women: gender and the politics of sex in contemporary Italy

This chapter looks at women’s political representation in the context of the Italian Second Republic. Specifically, the chapter looks at the position of women in the Berlusconi IV government. By the time Berlusconi resigned as Prime Minister in November 2011, there were five women in the cabinet. Largely holding marginal portfolios, and much criticised for simply augmenting Berlusconi’s masculinity, they remain largely under-studied as a political phenomenon. The focus of the debate on Berlusconi’s velinismo only serves to further marginalise the role these women played in Italian politics. It should be noted that this particular gender paradigm is not supported by every party on the Right, as highlighted by the 2009 controversy with Fini’s think tank. Unpacking the idiosyncrasies of conservative values (as appropriated by the Popolo delle Libertá), this chapter seeks to evaluate whether at this particular historical moment women of the Centre Right can meaningfully appropriate a “feminist agenda” based on the politics of emancipation. The challenge for scholars of women’s political representation in Italy is to assess the nature (and quality) of political representation provided by women in position of leadership in the since 2008.