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Controversies around educational projects for gender equality in Italy

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Ludovica Anedda

Chapter 5. Moving forward: strategies and further developments

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1The following chapter constitutes the conclusion of this investigation. The first part provides a synthesis of the research and outlines the main findings. In relation to the main findings, I provide possible strategies to engage with them. The second part proposes possible ways to further develop this research, by pointing out different aspects that would be interesting to explore in depth beyond the scope of this book.

Key findings and potential strategies

2The main question I initially intended to discuss is: to what extent have educational projects that tackle gender issues been successfully implemented in the Italian context? Already at the beginning of this investigation, when simply articulating the conceptual and contextual framework, strong opposition to these projects became evident. This research fundamentally engaged with this opposition and the way specific obstacles were posed to these projects and were represented and reflected in the public opinion in Italy, especially between 2013 and 2016. Throughout Phase 1 and Phase 2, three inter-related aspects in relation to this “anti-gender” movement could be identified: (a) general confusion of issues and lack of awareness; (b) political dynamics; (c) Catholic and ideological opposition. In the course of this chapter, I explore each theme and attempt to provide relevant possible strategies to tackle each of these aspects.

3The first issue entails a certain general confusion about the issues at hand and a lack of awareness. Phase 1 and Phase 2 showed the presence of profound misunderstandings, which take different forms and are expressed at different levels of society. First of all, there is a strong misunderstanding expressed by the “anti-gender” movements themselves, through the work of associations such as Difendiamo i nostri figli and the Sentinelle in piedi. This became evident in the course of the interviews with the projects’ coordinators analysed in Phase 1 and when specifically analysing “anti-gender” initiatives meant to shape public opinion in Phase 2. However, this lack of awareness became evident also among the people who are in a position to defend the educational projects and the gender-responsive initiatives, both at a macro (political) level and at a micro level (in educational establishments).

4A distinction must be made between three notions that come into play: lack of awareness, misunderstanding and misinformation. There is a general lack of awareness concerning gender issues: the notion of gender itself is particularly complex. As shown in chapter 1, it entails a multitude of questions and is often perceived as complicated to understand. This lack of awareness gives rise to a number of misunderstandings, for example concerning the distinction between issues such as gender identity and sexual orientation. This is true on a broad scale: this research showed that a certain confusion is also expressed by people who intend to defend specific educational projects for gender equality. On one hand, this lack of awareness is evidenced by the lack of a strong block of people in defence of these projects. On the other hand, this room for misunderstanding is then exploited by the leaders and proponents of the “anti-gender” movements, who have often purposely twisted existing information to influence the public and particularly to kindle fear and instil scepticism.

5This misinformation then appears to be strongly reinforced by the media, for example through newspaper articles. This is true not only for newspapers with a specific affiliation, such as the Catholic Famiglia Cristiana and Tempi, but it was also clear when looking at mainstream newspapers such as la Repubblica and Il Corriere della Sera: in fact, even when attempting to provide neutral information about educational projects, they have used inaccurate terms that can then contribute to reinforcing certain stereotypes.

6As a result, it is possible to identify in Italy an actual “block” of misinformation, where a term like gender has acquired a completely different connotation than what it actually means and entails. In fact, as previously outlined, il gender is now perceived as an extensive ideological project that involves feminists, LGBTI activists and gender studies researchers, together with the movements defending abortion, sexual education, contraception, etc. (Paternotte, et al., 2015, p. 14).

7This ideology is perceived as a “top-down” imposition originating from international organisations such as the UN or the EU, coming to destroy the “natural society” (Avanza, 2015, p. 219). Additional proof of the misinformation is the intensity of this opposition against projects that simply intend to tackle stereotypes, without, for example, engaging directly with issues of sexual orientation and gender identity, which are generally the issues considered delicate especially by Catholics.

8It is necessary to study how to oppose this block of misinformation. The first method, as also outlined by the experts interviewed for Phase 1 of the analysis, is to carry out awareness-raising campaigns prior to devising and implementing projects. This can take place in the form of numerous conferences and initiatives, meant to spark discussion and to clarify the terms and issues central to a gender perspective in education. Moreover, issues of gender equality may need to be discussed in another framework. One way could be to follow the example of Denmark, which works to implement school programmes to develop empathy. Working to develop empathy could already be an interesting step towards understanding inequalities. In line with this strategy, perhaps it would be interesting to focus on gender-based violence, and act specifically against bullying. However, as the reactions to the National Office against Racial Discrimination (UNAR) booklets showed, this is particularly complex since it is also perceived as an imposition and as one of the issues that only parents should discuss with their children. Moreover, speaking of gender-based violence can often be particularly delicate for another reason as well: the risk of reinforcing certain stereotypes and a hierarchy between men (as the strong actors and as the abusers) and women (as the weak victims).

9Another way could be by inserting issues of gender equality under a framework of Human Rights Education. However, this could be problematic since human rights can be complex to define and since Italy, specifically, seems to be particularly sceptical towards anything that is perceived as coming from outside and, even more so, if it comes from international organisations.

10The same problem is true if these issues are inserted from a health-based approach. In fact, this would inevitably engage with the issue of sexuality education, which still appears to be a taboo in the Italian reality. In the course of this investigation, in fact, it was possible to see how sexuality education was brought into the picture even when not relevant, simply to create a “shock effect” to scare parents and families.

11A more effective way of integrating a gender perspective to fight a lack of awareness would be to invest in teacher training. As shown by the almost complete lack of opposition to the SAVE project, this could perhaps be considered an effective strategy. In fact, since children would not directly be involved in the projects, there might be less opposition and fewer obstacles. Moreover, working on teacher training would definitely have a lasting impact and it would allow for the implementation of an inclusive pedagogy. Overall, such an action could involve not only teacher training but also the introduction of gender equality courses in different fields at university level. These actions, in my opinion, then contribute to providing the public with means to better distinguish and understand the issues at hand: if this is achieved, the campaigns of misinformation often led by “anti-gender” associations would find less space to impact the public. In fact, ideally, this type of initiative would then lead to the construction of a stronger block in defence of gender-responsive policies.

12However, none of these strategies can be successfully implemented without a political commitment to fund these projects and defend them. This brings us to the second fundamental issue found in this investigation: the political dynamics. These educational projects often tend to be proposed and implemented by left-wing political parties and opposed by right-wing ones. As we saw in Phases 1 and 2 of the investigation, sometimes the projects appear to meet with particularly strong opposition simply because a specific political party has shown its support.

13These educational projects are not enough: they are easily stopped at different levels and the strong block of misinformation limits their impact. It would be necessary to integrate a gender perspective in all aspects of education, both through an inclusive pedagogy and in all other aspects of planning and implementing an educational policy. In particular, at an international level, actions have been taken to operate in the context of gender mainstreaming, which entails integrating a gender perspective into all aspects of education and all policy areas. Even if education is one of the main actors in the construction and reinforcement of stereotypes and social structures, it undoubtedly does not stand alone. Therefore, it is necessary to act at different levels. In order to do so, however, civil servants need to be effectively trained and aware of the issues at hand.

14This is clearly not the case in the Italian context. There are a number of issues with an effective implementation of gender mainstreaming. First of all, coming once more from international organisations and the European Union, it might be received with scepticism. Moreover, at an international level gender mainstreaming mainly engages with issues of inequalities between men and women but does not go in depth with issues of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. However, I believe that operating at a political level through gender mainstreaming has the potential to be an effective means towards the achievement of gender equality. Further research should be developed in this direction, to understand what it entails at a practical level and how to successfully implement it, for example in a reality such as the Italian one.

15Lastly, the third issue that became evident in the course of the analysis is the nature of the opposition as mainly Catholic, with very specific ideological concerns. The opposition certainly proved itself to be dominated by large amounts of false information. While some of this opposition was indeed misguided, it is possible to argue that there are, at the basis of it all, very specific conceptions and understandings of the world that do not leave room for the subjects explored by gender studies.

16This raises a different question for researchers in gender studies, mainly related to communication. How can gender studies researchers effectively communicate their main research findings? First of all, I believe it is particularly important not to dismiss the opposition. As the experts interviewed in Phase 1 also pointed out, there are often two spontaneous reactions to the statements and actions of “anti-gender” initiatives: laughter and anger. Neither reaction is ultimately constructive. It is necessary to find common ground in order to move forward in future discussions. It is important to find ways to communicate effectively, not only with the people who are aware of gender issues, but also with those who see “il gender” as an enemy. If “il gender” acquired this connotation and if this block of misinformation was so successfully reinforced, perhaps there are some problems within the field of gender studies itself and some gaps that need to be filled.

Further developments

17In order to further develop this research, I believe it would be particularly useful to consider issues of intersectionality. In fact, when speaking of gender in education, especially depending on the context, there are a multitude of other factors that come into play, such as race, socio-economic background, country of origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, among others. Ward and Robinson-Woods (2006) highlight an example:

There is increasing awareness of the myriad influence on girls’ developing self-concept and the importance of integrating one’s multiple identities (racial, gender, social class and sexual orientation). For Black girls, obstacles to academic success are multiplied by the effects of colliding pressures and challenges, ranging from lack of access to resources to race, gender and class biases.

18Although this remark is specific to the context of the United States, it raises issues that are relevant to other realities, including the Italian one. Moreover, it would be interesting to investigate the intersection between gender and disability, as well as gender and students’ socio-economic background, in relation to their performance and experiences. Unfortunately the scope of this research did not allow to dive further into these intersections, as well as into issues related to sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics (SOGIECS). It would be important to develop this research further by taking these dimensions into account. In fact, gender is at the centre of a system where sexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, racism and classism interact with each other through an “epistemology of domination” (Dayer, 2014, p. 46).

19It would be interesting to further develop Phase 1, by specifically investigating the nature of the projects and actually analysing their content and planning. The projects need to be always carefully designed and need to take into consideration many aspects and factors. People who carry out these projects should always be trained. That is one of the reasons why it is important to have a centralised approach to the matter and why support should come from political institutions and trained policy makers. Phase 2 of this investigation also has the potential to be further developed independently, for example through an analysis of paper copies of newspapers and a look at TV news outlets.

20Furthermore, it would be fascinating to analyse the opposition in more detail, by engaging with the specific arguments and the specific discourse, which was not possible because of the limitations posed by the language barrier and the need to carry out translations from Italian to English for the purpose of this book.

21Finally, it would be interesting to further research the strategies suggested in the first part of this chapter, in order to explore whether they could be successfully implemented at a national level. In this context, I believe it would be particularly interesting to further study how to effectively communicate and how to constructively frame gender studies research so as to combat and go beyond the block of misinformation that seems to dominate the public scene on gender issues in Italy.

22It is fundamental to continue moving forward, to develop new strategies and evaluate the existing ones. Situations are most likely developing in different forms now compared to the time when educational projects were implemented between 2013 and 2016. We can identify positive efforts in children’s literature (e.g. examples of the publishing houses Settenove and Lo Stampatello); efforts in children’s movies (e.g. “Frozen” [2013] and “Moana” [2016]); a general interest in speaking of gender studies at a governmental level and in making it one of the priorities in the context of education; efforts by media to provide accurate information (e.g. the articles and reports by L’Espresso and Internazionale); and especially the constant efforts of civil society, through associations, non-governmental organisations, research institutions and social cooperatives to raise awareness, to inform the public and to engage directly with educational institutions, among which Agape, SNOQ and Menabó constitute only some of the many examples.

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