GENI · Gender, emotions and national identities: a new perspective on the abortion debates in Italy (1971-1981).
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2019-09-16 → 2022-01-11
- EU contribution
- €178,320
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Gender, emotions and national identities: a new perspective on the abortion debates in Italy (1971-1981).
My project focuses on a very important issue in our society: the decriminalization of abortion in Europe. In order to stress the correlations between abortion and gender equality, women's reproductive rights and sexual self-determination, my research analyzes the Italian case and the public debate around law 194 (which decriminalized abortion in Italy in 1978). The project identifies second-wave feminist groups and women's associations as crucial actors in the struggle for the decriminalization of abortion in 1970s Italy, reconstructing their demands and actions. GENI’s host institution has been Université Libre de Bruxelles. It has been supervised by professor Cécile Vanderpelen and implemented by Dr. Azzurra Tafuro – a specialist of women’s history in 19th- and 20th-century Europe. The project has been carried out in two of the countries most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic: Italy (where archives and libraries essential for the research are located) and Belgium (the country of my Host Institution). As a consequence, the main challenge was to deal with the limitations imposed on freedom of movement and research by containment measures. In particular, Italian archives and libraries were closed from March 2020 until May/June 2020. Afterwards, in order to regulate and limit access to them the Italian government introduced very strict measures, making reservations compulsory and reducing both the opening hours and the number of documents one can request. In Italy, these measures are (at least partially) still in force today. The project has therefore evolved to deal with these difficulties, without ever losing sight of the main objective: analyzing the public debate around Law No. 194, stressing the role of second-wave feminist groups and women’s associations and reconstructing their demands and actions.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The proposed project focuses on the public debate (1971–1981) around Law No. 194, which liberalised abortion in Italy. It reconstructs the demands and actions of feminist groups and women’s associations, and analyses the discursive practices implemented by the various political cultures involved. The project aims to go beyond the parliamentary debate, and in doing so it will examine the social and cultural impact of an epoch-making law, as well as study the use of emotions and the elaboration of gender models and national identities. To reach these goals, the ER will resort to a classical methodology (cultural history of the political) but will apply it to an entirely new set of sources and to actors hitherto neglected in historiography. This innovative research project will allow the Experienced Researcher (ER) to engage in an international research network, to expand her expertise and plan the next steps of her career.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITE LIBRE DE BRUXELLES · Bruxelles / BrusselCoordinatorBelgium
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union