 "Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. File Image/Reuters")
Italy’s lower house of Parliament on Tuesday approved a law introducing the crime against women as a crime of femicide in Italy’s criminal code. The law punishes one who is found guilty with life in prison.
After ages of crime against women, it now will be defined as femicide. The scale of misogynistic violence in Italy has been increasing in Italy and about 73 women were murdered in the first nine months of the year. It was found in the report shared by the Interior Ministry, that half of those who were killed were by their former or current partners. This shows the cruelty against women in the face of law.
The call for the femicide law was amplified after a 22-year old student, Giulia Cecchettin was killed by her ex-boyfriend in November 2023 marking a violent death. Cecchettin’s death led to protests in Italy as a symbol of the fight against patriarchal violence, because, feminists say, in many cases, these crimes take place in a domestic context.
Bipartisan support
The law won bipartisan support from the centre right majority and the centre-left opposition in the final vote in the Lower Chamber, passing with 237 votes in favour.
The law was headed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, after a series of killings were reported in the state making it the country facing highest violence against women.
“We have doubled funding for anti-violence centers and shelters, promoted an emergency hotline and implemented innovative education and awareness-raising activities,” Meloni said addressing the violence against females.
“Its introduction sends a strong message of social condemnation against this phenomenon,” said a lawmaker Giulia Bongiorno as quoted by The New York Times.
Italy after Mexico
Recently Mexico specified measures and people led massive country-wide protests in violence against women. After the incident with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, marks the higher intensity of risks for females.
Italy has also taken this step to vanish the deep rooted chauvinistic mindset among people. Critics still suggest that the law does not go far so the law should be accompanied with better education for women about gender issues and legal studies.
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A professor at the University of Foggia, Valeria Torre said that only by giving women greater access to the labor market, offering working women greater support and reversing one of the most imbalanced gender wage gaps in Europe, can disparity be overcome.
“Italy is one of only seven countries in Europe where sex and relationship education is not yet compulsory in schools, and we are calling for it to be compulsory in all school cycles,” said the head of Italy’s Democratic Party, Elly Schlein.