Un step forward for all women is the title with which Unity the October 14, 1973 announced the approval by the Chamber of Deputies of the law n. 877 which established new rules for the protection of home work. An achievement for all those workers, many, who had contributed to the economic development of Italy, but were condemned to “underground”, paid with meager wages without any social security rights.
Filippa Pantano, the embroiderer who fights for rights
To get a change, the women took to the streets. From Veneto to the towns of the southern provinces. And it was from one of those small towns that a wave of protests arose so strong that it reached the decision-making places in the life of the country. TO Filippa Pantano thought about turning discouragement into a tenacious struggle, one of the embroiderers of Santa Caterina Villarmosa, in the province of Caltanissetta. She was born in 1910 into a peasant family, his parents were enlightened, they had in fact given her an education by sending her to school, an uncommon choice for those times.
Women embroidering in the street, in Palermo, in a photo from 1910. The rights of embroiderers and of all home workers were protected by law in 1973. (Alamy)
In 1938 she married Liborio Rotondo, a farmer and man with whom to share principles and ideals. Filippa was one of the girls with golden hands, this was the name of the town’s artisans who had the precious talent of light and strong fingers at the same time, capable of giving life to real wonders.
The German lesson
In 1966 Filippa left Sicily, joined her husband in Germany, who had gone to work as a worker in a German factory, because the land of Santa Caterina paid little And money was no longer enough to guarantee a peaceful existence to little Pina and Orsola, the girls the couple had had.
Filippa too found a job in a mushroom farm. After five years of sacrifice and hard work, he decided to return home. In Santa Caterina, women were not fully aware of their rights. Filippa, on the other hand, has a strong experience in a country where the protection of female workers was more advanced than in Italy in terms of salary hours, just wages and social security, when she resumed embroidering she realized that it was no longer possible to remain silent. The embroiderers were subjected to the harassment of what has been called the racket of looms and labor.
They stayed in their houses for hours and hours with aching backs and a view that had to be steadfast to create luxurious outfits, authentic treasures that often and willingly ended up in the hands of intermediaries, unscrupulous people who came to the town on behalf of clients, wholesalers from large Sicilian cities, but also from northern Italy. The artifacts were purchased at negligible costs, in exchange the workers received clothing or starvation wages, while the creations were resold at exorbitant prices.
United in manifestation
Filippa Pantano understood that to obtain adequate wages and decent working conditions it was necessary to break the loneliness and join forces. Together with his daughters Pina and Orsola he began to involve neighbors and acquaintances. Thus was born the League of embroiderers, thanks to the support of the Udi, the CGIL and the PCI which helped to sow the desire for freedom and emancipation. 875 female workers answered the call. First isolated and scattered, thanks to Filippa Pantano and Pina Rotondo, who became the young leader of the movement, they formed a compact front and struck on the streets of the town without being stopped by those who pointed or mocked them. Their example extended to all of Sicily.
The protest of the home workers arrived in Palermo and then in Rome where they waved the white flags with the effigy of the embroiderers: the red rose symbol of anger and rebellion. The national press talked about the courage of those women, compared their gesture to that of Franca Viola and her no to the shotgun wedding. The workers claimed not only independence, but also the urgency of being considered as free and skilled artisans, capable of managing themselves.
The law and deception
In December 1973 the law regulating home work was definitively approved. It established control bodies, assimilated the figure of home workers to that of employees, prohibited the figure of intermediaries and also included the right to protection of maternity. The embroiderers asked for the application of the new legislation. The response of those who exploited them was a lockout, the job denied. In 1976, however, they managed to drag some of those who had enriched themselves to court by speculating on the specialization of thousands of workers throughout Sicily. Intermediaries and clients were sentenced to prison terms and fines.
In 1977 the embroiderers, headed by Filippa, founded a cooperative, a tool of work and women’s liberation, which they called, as their symbol, “The Red Rose”: however, it had a short life, in 1980 it ceased activity. Because the intimidation, the threats continued, the companies after the trial had no longer given them work, the law was difficult to apply and the orders from private individuals were not enough to move forward.
It was a defeat that however did not affect the awareness and desire for emancipation in many women. In Spain, it is still a model This story, told for the first time in the book The embroiderers by Ester Rizzo (Navarra Editore), relives in The thread of hope (ed. Settenove) by Guia Risari which traces the events of Filippa Pantano and the embroiderers of Santa Caterina Villarmosa: «They are women – says the writer – who have broken prejudices and stereotypes. They tell us after some time not to abandon our struggles, to believe in sisterhood and not to forget those who claim their rights. As they do now in Spain the aparadoras, home workers in the footwear sector who fight exploitation, tying their battles to a thread that they unravel every day: the strong one of hope ».
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