S.ofia is a very talented little footballer. Since she joined Libertas, the team has started to win. But it is one thing to play, another is to aspire to become assistant coach. A female? You have never seen each other. There is not even a name to say it. A coach is a coach. A coach, or deputy, as it will be called? The disappointment is strong, the anger even more. But Sofia is not there and from here she leaves – with her partner Leone – for hers Equality mission (Garzanti), fighting for gender equality, on and off the pitch. And thanks to the help of the teacher Violetta and the magic book, there will be many changes.
The new book by Maria Scoglio, screenwriter and TV author, and by Cristina Sivieri Tagliabue, journalist, director of the online newspaper, tells it in a light, entertaining way but rich in content and references to in-depth analysis. The turning point. Equality mission (Garzanti), is the second volume to tell the adventures of Sofia and Leone, two fifth grade children, close friends. In the Democracy Mission they went to meet Nilde Jotti, who had told them the key principles of our Constitution and, based on the application of those principles, they had managed to defend the public park and their favorite team.
The cover of Missione equality by Maria Scoglio and Cristina Sivieri Tagliabue
Equality mission is also to say “coach”
This time we start again from the team, and from the need to find a deputy coach. Sofia’s self-candidacy is rejected, as she is female. Grandma will remind her that precisely in the Constitution there is talk of gender equality, in marriage and in workand to talk to her about 8 March, Women’s Day.
But when the class will go at the Wax Museum, there will be another disappointment: among many statues, only one is dedicated to a woman, Rita Levi Montalcini. Why so much disparity, and is it possible that many women still fail to fulfill themselves and give up a responsible job as did the mother of their partner Tommaso, a skilled researcher? So many questions are whirling in the minds of Sofia and Leone, and the answers are not simple (maybe they were). Because it is a question of questioning stereotypes: in Tommaso’s house it is the mother who washes and cooks, while the father does not lift a finger.
Cristina Sivieri Tagliabue and Maria Scoglio, authors of Mission parity (Garzanti). In the center, the illustrator Barbara Oizmud. Photo Claudio Porcarelli.
Equality mission is not to think that there are “feminine things”
«We left with the idea of making novels for girls and boys that dealt with civics issues»Says Cristina Sivieri Tagliabue. “Not school books, but which can also be used as educational tools. Gender equality is a very important and current issue and in our opinion you have to start talking about it with children, before gender stereotypes take root ». Helping children understand that there are no “female things” and “male things”, that a dad can cook and look after his children while the mother is at work: you can do and tell without moralizing, in a fun and light way .
For the writing, work was also done on language, on the fact that sometimes words fail: if there is a coach to coach, what will a coach be called? The problem is very topical and the news these days is that in the new edition of Treccani the female forms of names will finally be reported alongside the male ones (from notary to doctor, architect, mayor …), and it is an important novelty. “We too have tried to give the right names, declining the professions to women, because it is part of the path towards equality”, say the authors. In the book there is a child with two dads. A strong choice these days. “Simply reality,” they argue.
But the missions of Sofia and Leone do not end here. Maria Scoglio and Cristina Sivieri Tagliabue, who are leaving to meet children in schools and talk to them about gender equality, are already working on the next one. This too, very topical.
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