Paving the way: women’s first steps in Lombardy politics

Her achievement has a significance that goes beyond simply being a first: Lombardy’s first female mayor does not come from a major city or a national government building, but from grassroots politics, where decisions are directly shaped by the needs of the community. And the fact that her election preceded the vote on 2 June by almost two months serves as a reminder that women had already begun to exercise their political rights within local institutions before taking part in the constitutional referendum and the election of the Constituent Assembly. Municipal democracy was one of the first arenas in which the new right to vote translated into the opportunity to assume governmental responsibilities.

Here, too, it is important to bear in mind how the institutions of the time functioned: citizens elected the Town Council, which in turn elected the mayor. The achievement, therefore, did not lie in direct election to the post, but in the opportunity for a woman to win the confidence of the assembly and take the helm of the local government.

In the general election of 18 April 1948, the first held under the Republic, five women were elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the Lombardy constituencies: Erisia Gennai Tonietti, Gina Martini Fanoli and Giuseppina Re in the Milan-Pavia constituency; Laura Bianchini and Irene Chini Coccoli in the Brescia-Bergamo constituency. This collective first brought together women with different personal histories and political affiliations.

Alongside the communists Martini Fanoli, Re and Chini Coccoli were the Christian Democrat Gennai Tonietti and Laura Bianchini, a teacher from Brescia, an anti-fascist Catholic, a leading figure in the Resistance and a former member of the Constituent Assembly. For some, the path to Parliament had been through the struggle against fascism and their involvement in the post-war reconstruction; for others, it had been through teaching, work and political and social organisations.

The significance of her presence is also evident from her parliamentary initiatives. Erisia Gennai Tonietti, elected in the Milan-Pavia constituency, focused primarily on welfare and rights. In 1950, she tabled a bill to introduce new legislation to protect abandoned children and pregnant women in situations of neglect; in 1951, together with Filomena Delli Castelli, she tabled a proposal to allow women to serve on lay juries in the Assize Courts, which she presented to the Chamber of Deputies. This latter initiative particularly highlights the significance of this achievement: citizenship could not be limited to the right to vote, but had to translate into the opportunity to participate in the administration of justice.

Another path was that of education and learning, pursued by Laura Bianchini, who brought to the Chamber of Deputies her experience as a teacher and a Catholic intellectual involved in the Resistance. Irene Chini Coccoli, who was arrested and deported during the Fascist era, also came from a teaching background and was involved in educational matters. Their stories show how democratic reconstruction also depended on the education system: not merely a service to be restored after the war, but a tool for shaping citizens and reducing inequalities.

There were only a few female MPs in an assembly that was overwhelmingly male, but their presence helped to bring crucial issues to the forefront of parliamentary debate: social protection, education, motherhood, work and equal rights. These were not exclusively women’s issues, but concerned the way in which the new Republic intended to organise society.

Whilst women were elected to the Chamber of Deputies from Lombardy constituencies as early as 1948, Lombardy had to wait until 1963 for the Senate. On 28 April of that year, in the elections for the 4th Legislature, two women were elected from the Lombardy constituency: Lea Alcidi Boccacci Rezza, born in Milan and a member of the Italian Liberal Party, and Tullia Romagnoli Carettoni, a member of the Italian Socialist Party. During that parliamentary term, Alcidi Boccacci Rezza served on the Justice and Authorisation to Proceed Committee and the Public Education and Fine Arts Committee.

The time gap speaks volumes: fifteen years separated the first women elected as members of the Chamber of Deputies in Lombardy from the first women elected to the Senate. This was not merely a numerical difference between the two houses of Parliament, but represented a further hurdle to gaining access to the halls of representation. The 1963 election marked women’s entry into this sphere as well, demonstrating that their presence should not remain confined to the Chamber of Deputies.

With the establishment of the ordinary-statute regions in 1970, a new level of political representation emerged. In Lombardy, a significant milestone came in 1980, when Maria Paola Colombo Svevo joined the regional executive as Councillor for Social Services. Her appointment was not merely a first: her work on social welfare policies contributed to the development of the regional welfare system and to the integration of social and health care. At this level, too, therefore, the presence of women meant they were able to influence public policy.

In December 1992 Fiorella Ghilardotti became the first woman to serve as President of the Lombardy Region, a post she held until June 1994. A teacher and trade unionist with the CISL, she had been elected as a regional councillor in 1990. She took the helm of the Region at a time of profound political crisis, in the midst of the Tangentopoli scandal. Ghilardotti remains, to date, the only woman to have held this role in Lombardy, whilst the list of vice-presidents includes Letizia Moratti (2021–22) and Viviana Beccalossi (2000–2005). As regards the presidency, the situation is different in the Regional Council: since its establishment in 1970, no woman has held the office of president of the assembly.

This, too, tells us that the journey is not yet over. These ‘firsts’ must be remembered because every breakthrough paved the way for the next, every appointment broadened the scope of what a woman could aspire to do, and every proposal brought issues requiring answers onto the public agenda. From the mayor of a small town to the first female senators from Lombardy, right up to the regional president, each has blazed a different trail. Eighty years on, remembering them also means asking ourselves which doors still remain to be opened.