Women and fascism Flashcards
Explain the difference between M’s wife and his main mistress
M’s mistresses and wife were all very different women. Wife was a typical fascist woman; main mistress was well-educated and sophisticated (not the typical fascist woman)
What do the differences between the women in M’s life reflect?
Fascism didn’t have a clear idea what it wanted women to be like. There were contrasting ideals for women, proven by the fact that M had three mistresses
What was the fascist saying about women at this time?
‘War is to the man what motherhood is to women. Wives and sardines are best kept in sealed tins’ (Fascist saying)
What did M say about the role of women in an interview with a female journalist in the late 1920s?
‘Women’s place in the present as in the past is in the home. Women are the tender, gentle influence that represents a pleasant parenthesis in a man’s life that helps him forget his trials and fatigue, but that leaves no lasting trace. Women are a charming passtime, when a man has time to pass, but they should never be taken seriously, for they are rarely serious. My wife and family are my dearest possessions, but so greatly do I treasure them that I keep them apart from my duty’ (M in an interview with a female journalist in the late 1920s)
List some of the phrases M said about women in the 1930s?
‘Women must obey. In the state she does not count’
‘Intellectual women are a monstrosity’
‘Higher education for women should just cover what the female brain can cope with e.g., household management’
‘Childbearing is women’s natural and fundamental mission in life’
‘Women should be exemplary wives and mothers, guardians of the hearth, and subject to the legitimate authority of their husband’
‘Women’s work distracts from reproduction, if it does not directly impede it, and foments independence and the accompanying physical-moral styles contrary to giving birth’
What had Italian women begun to do in the late 19th century?
In the late 19th century, as in other industrialising nations, some mainly middle-class women had begun to organise to try and secure their political and economic rights
What was the fascist attitude to female employment?
WWI had increased female employment opportunities, but afterwards measures were taken to restrict their employment, especially after the rise in unemployment from 1927
What careers were the fascists most keen to drive women out of?
The main target was women in ‘unnatural occupations’, like school teachers, office workers and professionals
What did women begin to be excluded from in the mid 1920s?
From the mid 1920s women were excluded from certain teaching jobs
Why did fascism have to accept a certain level of female employment and what did they do as a result?
The fascists did not challenge women’s traditional importance in agriculture, and had to accept that million worked in industry. To help combine this with their child-rearing function, several laws were passed protecting women at work
What was education for women seen as doing?
Education for women was seen as training to stay at home and become effective mothers and housekeepers
What were female teachers forbidden from teaching?
Women excluded from the most prestigious posts in secondary schools – Latin, Italian, History and Philosophy – and so mainly taught maths and science instead
What did women hold firm views on in terms of women?
The regime held firm views on what women should look like
What type of build did fascism think women should have?
Well-rounded and sturdy women were preferred over thin elegant women
What did Salvemini say about this expectation?
Salvemini sardonically described the fascist pressure on women’s appearance as ‘the battle for fat’
What style and lifestyle influences on women did the regime dislike?
The state criticised cosmetics, high heels, trousers for women and negro and rythmn dancing
Describe the fascist attitude towards women in sport
Fascists had a confused attitude towards female sport; it could promote health, vigour and national pride, but also might distract women from their main role of reproduction and encourage lesbianism and female liberation. M feared female involvement in sports like riding, skiing and cycling because he believed they caused infertility
Why was their inequality in the extension of the franchise under the liberals?
When the franchise was extended to all men in 1919, women could still not vote
Why were fascists movement in giving women the franchise meaningless?
In 1925 the fascist dominated parliament gave women the right to vote in local elections, but then ended such elections
Why did the fascists look down upon female political involvement?
Mobilising women politically might have distracted them from their primary role in the home
Describe female fascist political groups
Some women set up female Fascist groups. An attempt by their secretary, Elisa Rizzioli, to increase their influence was blocked, and the Fasci Femminili remailed a vehicle for spreading the socially reactionary policies of male politicians, under the slogan ‘women in the home’
Why was the fascist views on women in line with that of the church?
This was reinforced by Pope Pius XI in his 1930 Casti Canubi, where he criticised the decline in paternal authority and stressed the role of women as caring mothers and obedient wives
Describe the opportunities fascist women had for political involvement?
Despite this, there were still opportunities for women to widen their political involvement. Women served on committees of ONMI, a state organisation created to help mothers, particularly disadvantaged ones. They were encouraged to engage in charity work and run home economics classes for women workers
What did women do in 1935 in support of the Abyssinian war effort?
Women were enlisted in the campaign against the League of Nations’ 1935 sanctions against the Abyssinian war, exchanging their gold wedding rings for tin bands so that the rings could be donated to the Abbyssinian war effort
