“Encyclopedia of women”, the feminist publishing house

“THEnow of the mirror of the brames that obsesses many girls, we offer a “mirror of the ladies ”that helps them to be freer». Margherita Marcheselli, 61 years old, and Rossana Di Fazio, 62, founded the encyclopedia of women, “Feminist publishing house “ who has just celebrated his first 15 years.

Born as an online encyclopedia dedicated to the biographies of women who only until a few years ago did not find space in the “normal” ones, did it soon began to publish books, because the stories of women needed more amplitude and depth. It is a project that developed out of necessity: of Fazio and Marcheselli, who worked together with Encyclomedia under the direction of Umberto Eco, first tried to propose it to traditional publishing houses. Without feedback.

And then they decided to do it alone, online. “When we searched the encyclopedia name of women to understand whether to use it – recalls Di Fazio – we found only two things: a collection of boobs, or the encyclopedia of the woman and that of the girl” “We think that instructions should be wary, all, and learn freedom,” says Di Fazio.

Independence and right to work

In the 15 years of life of the women’s encyclopedia, feminism also changed: when the publishing house was born it was still a taboo. “The common phrase was:” I am not feminist but “…” Remember Fazio with a smile. Today the younger generations on social media – even males! – They willingly define themselves as feminist, of a feminism that you want to be intersectional, that is, aware that the battles against gender discrimination cannot be separated from those against racism and homotransphobia.

«Intersectional feminism is the one that now touches the life of young people and young people. It is the context in which they live, in which the issues concerning sex, race and gender are intertwined. But there is not only one feminism and we as an encyclopedia do not adhere to this or that feminism, but we tell the different perspectives that articulate the thought of women on reality “adds Di Fazio. “Rather we do a historical reconstruction work that highlights how there are transversal themes Over time for all women: individual freedom, economic independence, the right to work and to follow one’s vocation, the awareness of being discriminated against.

And together the ability to circumvent obstacles to achieve one’s goals. At the center of our project there is the idea of ​​the master history of life. We have chosen to write biographies because the life of individual women is the unity in which history is reflected ». It is the idea of ​​the “mirror of the ladies” to reflect.

A world celebrity unknown by us

Of the lives to tell had many. Among the 2,200 voices of their women’s encyclopedia there is Adelaide Ristori, an nineteenth -century actress and entrepreneurship today almost forgotten, who was a world celebrity and the symbol of our Risorgimento.

When he arrived in England in 1856 he was welcomed by the public who shouted “Viva l’Italia” and waved ribbons with the tricolor; Between 1874 and 1876 he brought the Italian theater where he had never been, thanks to The tour of the world, A tour that led her to Australia from the Magellano Strada and then through the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea again in Europe. He recited in four languages ​​(Italian, French, English and Spanish) in 334 cities, 33 states, 5 continents and 3,546 shows.

Had he was a man, it would be in all history books. Instead his name today is unknown to most. Or there is Christine De Pizan, an Italian emigrated to France at the end of the 1300s, where he became “the first writer of French history capable of providing with her work for the family”. With his The city of the ladies (1405) He collected and handed down the biographies of other remarkable women. An example for the work of the publishers. «Today women are continually” rediscovered “because they are continuously forgotten. There is an enormous removal of their presence in public life. We will show that they have always been there, “adds Di Fazio. “Telling the stories also means spreading awareness of how things could go differently,” Marcheselli echoes them.

Encyclopedia of women: reconstruct a shared memory

The world of women is still largely not seen. Bringing it to light is in itself a feminist gesture. «We usually spoke of women only for exceptions, when they were out of the ordinary. We want to show that they have always contributed to the common good, despite the enormous limits that were imposed on them, gnawing areas of freedom even in the most difficult situations “explains Marcheselli. One of the first books published by the two publishers is Miss Kores.

The Milanese thus called the neon profile of a girl who beat on the keys in the advertisement of coal paper and homonymous ribbons for writing machines. Until 1989 he remained on the facade of Palazzo Carminati, in front of the Duomo, while the other signs changed over time and became the symbol of women who – under the eyes of everyone and yet anonymous – contributed with their daily work to the economic miracle in post -war Italy.

Cards relationships, reconstructing a shared memory is an integral part of the feminist company of the women’s encyclopedia. Fifteen years ago, Di Fazio and Marcheselli wanted to keep the presentation of the publishing house in the women’s bookcase, space and central association for the elaboration of the thought of the difference that belongs to the philosopher Luisa Muraro (see box next to). There, a few days ago, they celebrated their 15 years. “We come from other experiences, but it is one of the places we want to give value even if we are not an expression” explains Di Fazio.

Study groups for boys and girls

Finally, feminist, the women’s encyclopedia is also in the method, which is based on the collective work of women. «Encyclopedias, historically, are works of collection and sharing of a knowledge that has already been produced. We gather, illuminate and disseminate research on and women made by documentation centers, bookstores, associations, libraries, archives, universities, houses. Also thanks to our “Noe”, the operational nuclei of the encyclopedia “.

It is something that Marcheselli and Fazio hold a lot: they are study groups that, coordinated by a teacher or a volunteer, write voices for the encyclopedia doing research on women’s biographies. Often act as a connection with younger generations. “We have Noe in universities (a very active is in Trento, thanks to Professor Lucia Rodler) and in high schools, we also had one in middle school”. Boys and girls participate in the construction of shared feminist knowledge. And indirectly to give birth to the books of the publishing house: “Taking care of the voices, we realize when too little was written on a topic: there is a need for a book”.

The other half of the history books

He helped the girls feel freer. And it remains an important cultural reference point in Milan. In 2025 the women’s bookcase made half a century (in via Pietro Calvi 29), founded in 1975 in Milan by a group of feminists who headed Luisa Muraro and Lia Cigarini. Space dedicated to books written by women-who were very difficult to be published-, the magazine via Dogana prints, organizes political discussions and becomes the place of elaboration of the thought of the female difference. «Our greatest success, in these 50 years, is that today young women feel freer. It is the males who have problems, because they discover contradictions that they do not know how to solve, “says Mirella Maifreda, sociologist and book.

“But feminism is still threatened: just think of the restrictions imposed by Donald Trump to the freedom of women,” says Maifreda. However, which also sees an “internal” danger: “the loss of the will to negotiate between women, the risk of perceiving in the belief of holding an absolute truth”. The reference is to the fractures that divide historical feminists and the youngest, lined up for an “intersectional” feminism based on the alliance with the LGBTQ+ community and non -white minorities. «We as a women’s bookcase we are contrary to prostitution, drugs for trans teenagers and gestation for others. The young people, on the other hand, are in favor of the original feminist slogan “The body is mine and I manage it”. But they do not understand that they lend themselves to the mercantilization of the bodies ». The debate is (still) open.

I woman © RESERVED REPRODUCTION