There were just 25 women out of 145 mayoral candidates in the 17 capital municipalities to vote on Sunday. In percentage 17%. The number becomes zero in the ballots: in the second round not even a woman. The outgoing mayor of Turin, Chiara Appendino, did not reapply. Virginia Raggi came fourth in the race to reconfirm for the government of Rome. In Bologna, the female candidate was already defeated in the center-left primary.
Even in the smallest centers, the presence of women does not reach a third of the candidates.
According to Study Center for Local Authorities 50% of the Municipalities under 5,000 inhabitants involved in the 2021 electoral round do not hit the target for women’s quotas, there is no parity in the candidacies. On the other hand, out of 13,281 candidates in the 17 provincial municipalities, the prevalence is male, 55.1 against 44.9%, but there seems to be a greater balance, even if the elected are less than men. Even the imposition of double preference does not bring more women into local administrations.
However, there are those who have won by demonstrating that women in politics are okay with it. Emily Clancy, 30-year-old Italian-Canadian, is the person who has obtained the highest number of preferences in Bologna: 3541. The manifesto of his electoral campaign was immediately clear: «The future is female». She was already in the previous city council: 5 years ago the most voted of the Civic Coalition and then the youngest elected councilor in the city, in opposition from the left to the junta led by the Pd.
«In this round I was the leaders of Civic Coalition Ecologist and Solidaland, but this (7% of preferences despite the appearance with the dem had been criticized ed) is a collective result ”, he explains. The secret of this success lies in commitment. «I spent a lot of money, I made a mandate on my stomach, dealing with all the issues and situations that existed in the city. Our way of doing politics is horizontal, we follow the municipal model and experience as in Barcelona: concentrate on politics at the local level while keeping an eye on other cities in the rest of the world ».
We think together of transnational issues from climate change to the right to housing and then act locally. “I think I got a lot of votes also for this way of doing politics. In recent years I have tried to act as a megaphone to the requests that arose from the territory ».
In the municipal council to which she belongs, the elected women are just over a third of the total. However, he is keen to point out the difference in his group that works for a feminization of politics. “We have a diarchy in presidencies by statute, we have gender equality in all offices. In the assembly, if two men intervene in succession, we give the following space to a woman even if she has booked herself later. This attention has led to more women than men on the list, “she says. “Here the first two elected are women, then a boy, then a transgender woman (Porpora Marcasciano president of the Movimento Identità Trans) and then a man”.
For the election campaign he used the holidays. She will ask for leave if there should be a greater commitment to her in the Municipality: there are those who indicate her as the future deputy mayor. “What is needed is a change in representation: lgbt, disabled, more and more women. We must close the era of the politician who goes to interest groups and makes promises to have their support. We say come and represent yourself. In the group we have activists from other fields, from the Italian transgender movement, from the Salvaciclisti collective, from social centers from those who make environmental fights. There must be a representation of what is in society ».
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