Stthey passed sixty years since women have seen finally recognized the right to access the judiciary. With the law 166 of 9 February 1963. Foreclosure on entry was based on a 1919 law. The same one which, by abolishing marital authority, opened up a series of professions to women. But ne forbade others, such as being a magistrate, which implied the recognition of women’s political rights.
How could this law survive a Constitution that in Article 3, he proclaimed the equality of all before the law without distinction of sex, race, etc…? This ambiguity was made possible by the “circumspect” attitude not to mention the sexist of many Founding Fathers, who they shared some of the prejudices about the excessive emotionality of judgements of women and therefore on their being unfit to judgeto confront the subtleties of legal thought, not even now that they had the right to vote.
Rosa Oliva’s appeal
It took Rosa Oliva who in 1960 resorted to the law that prevented her from participating in the competition to become prefect to set the revision mechanism in motion. Which brought women into the judiciary and gave formal fulfillment to the principle of equality enshrined in the constitution in Article 3.
1965: the first eight magistrates
In 1965 the winners of the first judiciary competition were announcedthe sixteenth in the history of the Republic, the first in which women could immediately participate by right. There were 8 women to win. They enteredhe recalled Eliana Di Dear which he just posted Finally magistrate. The first judges of Italy. when in Italy there was the honor killings, abortion and divorce laws were yet to come, as were family law reform, the workers’ statute, and rape was still a crime against morals.
Today (data are from 6 March 2023) among the Mots ordinary magistrates who, having passed the competition for access to the judiciary, carry out an internship, women exceed 70 percent. Women overall of all age groups, from newcomers to retirees, are 5321, 56 percent of the total.
2023: many women at the top
Since 5 March, the president of the Court of Cassation has been a woman for the first time, Margaret Cassanothe latest justice reform was written by the former judge and then first president of the Constitutional Court and then Minister of Justice Marta Cartabia. President of the Constitutional court – where Marta Cartabia had already been – is Silvana Sciarraat the helm of the state attorney there is Gabriella Sandulli.
A conference to celebrate 8 March
The Attorney General of Milan Francesca Nanni
So have women in the judiciary broken the glass ceiling? No, how was reiterated by many of the conference participants 60 years of women in the judiciary, which took place in Milan on 8 March 2023 in the Aula Magna of the Palazzo di Giustizia. Starting with Giuseppe Ondei, President of the Court of Appeal of Milan, from Francesca Nanni, Attorney General of the Court of Appeal of Milan, also the protagonist of one of the umpteenth firsts of this story of empowerment. who kicked off the day.
Running 3 out of 4 men
Margherita Cassano first woman president of the Court of Cassation.
The numbers speak again. 75 percent of those who carry out managerial functions are men. In the requesting offices, that is, those where investigations are carried out on the imbalance between those with managerial or semi-management positions it is even greater. In the juvenile court the ratio of men to women in the judiciary is back to 50 per cent.
Motherhood is not a whim
At the same time the massive entrance because higher in the rankings of the competition, than young women in the judiciary, it makes it more likely that those who play a role in a judicial office or prosecutor will remain absent on maternity leave. Concomitant leave, especially in small offices, i.e. the size of Varese or Lecco, for example, can impact on the speed of celebration of trials, on the conclusion of the investigations etc etc… Not to mention that today, the speakers recalled, many leave is taken by those who have to look after elderly parents.
«The choice of parenthood cannot be considered a decision or a private whim” stated Giuseppe Ondei, President of the Court of Appeal of Milan, and labeling it this way or emphasizing how the massive participation of women in the judiciary translates into an organizational problem it is a serious fact, because it makes the sense of guilt grow and does not allow solutions to be brought to a sensitive issue” has continued. “We need a cultural evolution of the whole society because equality concerns everyone”
The solutions inside and outside the judiciary
It takes a cultural shift to transform formal parityachieved in 1963, with the substantial one, which makes women and men free to take advantage of the various parenting leaves, without this puts the judicial offices to which they belong in a crisis. And you violate the right of citizens to prompt and just justice. We need many more magistrates on a flexible basisi.e. available to the offices to cover the duties of those who are in some way on leave, many other participants also underlined, such as Ilaria Perinu, deputy prosecutor of Milan, and Isabella Farini, ordinary magistrate in traineeship.
The words of Maria Gabriella Luccioli
Maria Gabriella Luccioli, in 2008, on the occasion of her election as the first woman to section president of the Court of Cassation.
Above all, we need a cultural revolution, which makes it normal to share childcare responsibilities between mothers and fathers, that supports families with a network of nursery schools, full-time schools, etc… so as to facilitating women who want to compete for non-tenured positions, those that open up to semi-directive and managerial positions. The judiciary, awaiting the Copernican revolution, can change from within the rules and mechanisms for accessing top positions. And there was no shortage of offers. But the impasse that the organization of justice experiences due to the imperfect application of the parity mechanism to magistrates, equal in access and not in the provision of mechanisms to continue their career, it is a mirror of the situation in the country. “But without substantial equality, democracy is also wounded,” he pointed out Maria Gabriella Luccioli, former president of the section of the Court of Cassation, one of the eight pioneers of the 1965 competition.
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