The absent half

According to UN data, women represent nearly half of the world's population. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted, however, that their presence in public life is far from proportional to this percentage.

July 7, 2020-Reading time: < 1 minute

In Italy, controversy was rife when the Prime Minister announced the members of the expert committees that would collaborate with the government to deal with the health crisis. The first, composed of 21 people, did not include any women.

In the second group, the female presence was reduced to 4 of the 16 members. This is surprising considering that many women have worked on the front line to combat the virus in hospitals and research centers in the country. 

Soon 80 women scientists raised their voices. Among them, Paola Romagnomi, professor of Nephrology, who claimed that in Italy 56 % of doctors and 77 % of nurses are women.

They were joined by 16 female senators, who wrote in a letter addressed to Conte: "It is clear that in this phase of reopening the country, the vision, thought and knowledge of women cannot and must not be missing." The protest resulted in the decision to include several female experts in the committees.

Senator and child neuropsychiatrist Paola Binetti recently stated that any woman, if she had had the capacity to manage the pandemic, would have been able to do so, "I would have put the concrete day-to-day and the relationship at the center."The physical distance did not lead to social distancing. Binetti is a member of the teaching staff of the diploma course. "Women in Public Life: Feminisms and Catholic Identity in the 21st Century."which the Latin American Academy of Catholic Leaders will hold from July 11-25. The organizers assure that the meeting is the fruit of Pope Francis' invitation to promote the participation of women in public life and in the Church.

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