Buona e Bravo

The representation of gender in Italian education

Amanda Samson

Submitted in total fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

June 2000

Department of French and Italian Studies The University of Melbourne

Abstract

Buona e Bravo: The Representation of Gender in Italian Education

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the way in which gender is represented in educational textbooks and dictionaries in use in Italian schools in the 1990s. The thesis will examine the development of the women’s movement in Italy in order to understand the particular feminist philosophies and theories on which the gender issues are based. Further to this will be an extensive examination of the texts available on Italian feminist linguistic theories which have been influential in the creation of non sexist language guidelines. The educational objectives of Italian feminists and teachers working within the movements of autoriforma and educare nella differenza will also be examined in conjunction with the official directives on gender in school from il Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione.

Once the intra-cultural paradigm has been established, the methodology for the research will incorporate the aims and objectives of Italian feminists pertaining to how gender should be represented in order to accurately and appropriately represent women and men. The way in which females and males are represented linguistically and contextually in school textbooks and school dictionaries will be analysed and the results presented in the form of commentary, tables and graphs.

The conclusion of this thesis will incorporate the philosophies of the Italian women’s movement, the feminist linguistic theories that arise from them and whether the results from the analysis show any evidence of their inclusion into the educational curriculum.

ii Declaration

This is to certify that

(i) the thesis comprises only my original work except where indicated in the preface,

(ii) due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used,

(iii) the thesis is less than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices.

Signature: Amanda Marie Samson

iii

Preface

The linguistic and semantic methodology used in this thesis has followed the work undertaken by Alma Sabatini, Marcella Mariani, Edda Billi and Maria Santangelo in the 1987 report on Il sessismo nella lingua italiana (Sabatini et al 1987). The methodology used by them has been detailed in Chapter Four Forms and Formats and the recommendations can be found in Appendice One. The methodology used in the contextual analysis of the school textbooks was devised by me primarily for this study. I have used a similar examination of imagery and themes in my early study Il sessismo nella lingua italiana delle riviste settimanali (Burns 1996). I am unaware of any studies into Italian dictionaries that use the comparison of noun definitions in a similar way other than Bressan 1998. The primary and secondary sources used in this thesis are listed in the bibliography. Apart from using the work of Sabatini et al 1987 I have not knowingly used the work of other scholars without appropriate referencing. No part of this work has been submitted for other qualifications nor was carried out prior to Ph.D. candidature enrolment. This research project was carried out by myself and without the collaboration of other researchers.

iv Acknowledgments

In Melbourne I would like to thank the University of Melbourne for enabling me to undertake this research project and assisting me with a Melbourne Research Scholarship for the duration of my Ph.D. candidature. I would like to thank the Arts Faculty of the University of Melbourne for awarding me with a Travel Grant to enable me to attend the SAVAL international conference in South Africa and go to Italy. Many thanks as well to the Emma Grollo Memorial Fund for awarding me with their annual scholarship in 1997 which enabled me to carry out important research work in Italy.

I would also like to thank Professor Dino Bressan for his supervision of my work and to Professor Bressan and Dr. John Hajek for their availability to offer advice and assistance whenever I required it. Furthermore, I am grateful for the financial assistance from the DRAGS committee which offset some of the costs of the research material. I am very grateful for the opportunity provided by the Department of French and Italian studies to present some of my work at seminars and as an undergraduate course. Many thanks to Helen Hassard for her cheerfulness and ability to conjure up what was needed.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Mirna Cicioni for loaning me some important Italian feminist texts early on, her excellent advice, suggestions and willingness to listen whenever I asked her.

In Italy I would like to thank the following academics and scholars in Italy who were, and continue to be, unfailing helpful and welcoming; Dr. Chiara Zamboni and Dr. Elisabetta Zanowski (Università degli studi di Verona); Dr. Gianna Marcato (Università di Padova), who also very kindly passed on recent and pending publications; Dr. Eva-Maria Thüne (Università di Bologna) who sent me the recent edition of All’inizio di tutto la lingua materna; and Dr. Stefania Spina (Università di Perugia) for their encouragement and interest in my research. The Università La Sapienza in Rome for access to their library. I would also like to warmly thank Marcella Mariani for her information and advice and, in particular, Cristina Papa from Il paese delle donne for her great company and continuing encouragement.

Personally I would also like to thank all my fantastic friends who believed I could do this, my family, Richard for all his encouragement, belief and help with the editing! And a special thanks to Richard and Renato for keeping life in perspective.

v Buona e Bravo: The Representation of Gender in Italian Schools

Abstract ii Declaration iii Preface iv Acknowledgments v Table of Contents vi List of Tables ix

Introduction xii

Aims Objectives Motivations

Chapter One

FEMMINISMI ITALIANI - Italian Feminist Theory

1.0 Introduction – Focus on Women 1 1.1 Italian Feminism – Historically Speaking 2 1.1a Difference and Diversity 10 1.1b Dual Subjectivity 14 1.2 Present Paths and Policies 17

Chapter Two

LA DONNA E LA PAROLA - Italian Feminist Linguistics

2.0 Introduction – Focus on Difference 20 2.1 Language and Linguistics 22 2.1a The Difference Debate 23 2.1b Feminisation versus Neutralisation 24 2.1c Neutralisation 27 2.1d Feminisation 28 2.2 Women and Language 30 2.2a Early Developments 30 2.2a.1 Women’s relationship to language 33 2.2b Universality 35 2.2c Sexual Difference 40 2.2d Subjectivity – il soggetto sessuato 47 2.2e Language of the Mother 53 2.3 Il linguaggio sessuato – The Sexed Language 56 2.4 Disputes and Discussions 64 2.4a Linguistic Purity 64 2.4b Linguistic Economy 67 2.4c Precedence and Suona Male 68 2.4d Sexed versus Neutral – worldview 69 2.4e Speaking Out 73 2.4f In Summary 78 2.5 Other Research into Il linguaggio sessuato 79 2.6 Concluding Comments 89

vi Chapter Three

A SCUOLA - Italian Education

3.0 Introduction – Focus on Gender 91 3.1 The Links – Education, Europe and Italy 93 3.1a Education Now and in the Future 93 3.1b Schools as Places of Reform 100 3.2 Equality versus Difference 105 3.2a Defining Directions 105 3.2b Female Genealogy – Male Universality 109 3.2c Educare nella differenza 113 3.3 Those Who Teach 116 3.3a Schools as Female Dominated Environments 116 3.3b Resistance, Rebellion, Support, Strategies 119 3.4 Teachers and Textbooks 124 3.4a Early Research 125 3.4b P.O.L.I.T.E. 128 3.5 Concluding Comments 131

Chapter Four

LE FORME E I METODI - Methodology

4.0 Introduction – Focus on Research 133 4.1 Analysis Criteria – School Textbooks 137 4.1a Linguistic Layout 140 4.1b Contextual Categories 147 4.2 Analysis Criteria – School Dictionaries 152 4.2a Defining Details 155 4.2b Linking Language 156

Chapter Five

I LIBRI SCOLASTICI - Textbooks and Classrooms

5.0 Introduction – Focus on Books 159 5.1 Scuola Elementare 160 5.1a Introduction 160 5.1b Analysis and Data 161 5.2 Scuola Media Inferiore 175 5.2a Introduction 175 5.2b Analysis and Data 176 5.3 Concluding Comments 203

vii Chapter Six

LA PAROLA AL LAVORO - School Dictionaries

6.0 Introduction – Focus on Results 209 6.1 Talking Pictures – Introduction 210 6.1a Data and Graphs 6.1b Talking Pictures – Analysis 212 6.2 Defining Details – Listing Lexicon 216 6.3 Singular Definitions 247 6.4 Linking Language – Introduction 258 6.4a Language Trees 259 6.4b Linking Language - Analysis 279 6.5 Concluding Comments 291

Chapter Seven

ALLA FINE - Girls & Boys to Women & Men

7.0 Summary of Research – Focus on Results 297 7.1 Conclusion –Gender Representation in Italian Education 301

Appendice One – Le Raccomandazioni per un uso non sessista della lingua 307 Appendice Two – Dictionary Entries 309 Bibliography 337

viii List of Tables Table 5.6c Generic forms Table 5.6d Illustrations Il nostro tempo Il novecento Table 5.6e Themes Table 5.1a Linguistic categories Table 5.6f People Table 5.1b Semantic categories Table 5.1c Generic forms Table 5.1d Illustrations Table 5.6g Authors Table 5.1e Themes Table 5.6h Authorities Table 5.1f People Table 5.6i Grammar exercises

Table 5.1g Authors Percorsi di vita. Table 5.1h Authorities Table 5.7a Linguistic categories

La ruota delle parole 1 Table 5.7b Semantic categories Table 5.2a Linguistic categories Table 5.7c Generic forms Table 5.2b Semantic categories Table 5.7d Illustrations Table 5.2c Generic forms Table 5.7e Themes Table 5.2d Illustrations Table 5.7f People Table 5.2e Themes Table 5.7g Authors Table 5.2f People Table 5.7h Authorities

Table 5.2g Authors Imparo a studiare 3 Table 5.2h Authorities Table 5.8a Linguistic categories

La ruota delle parole 2 Table 5.8b Semantic categories Table 5.3a Linguistic categories Table 5.8c Generic forms Table 5.3b Semantic categories Table 5.8d Illustrations Table 5.3c Generic forms Table 5.8e Themes Table 5.3d Illustrations Table 5.8f People Table 5.3e Themes Table 5.8g Authors Table 5.3f People Table 5.8h Authorities

Table 5.3g Authors Imparo a studiare 4 Table 5.3h Authorities Table 5.9a Linguistic categories

Avventure tra le righe 3. Table 5.9b Semantic categories Table 5.4a Linguistic categories Table 5.9c Generic forms Table 5.4b Semantic categories Table 5.9d Illustrations Table 5.4c Generic forms Table 5.9e Themes Table 5.4d Illustrations Table 5.9f People Table 5.4e Themes Table 5.9g Authors Table 5.4f People Table 5.9h Authorities

Table 5.4g Authors Imparo a studiare 5 Table 5.4h Authorities Table 5.10a Linguistic categories Table 5.4i Grammar exercises Table 5.10b Semantic categories

Table 5.10c Generic forms Avventure tra le righe 4. Table 5.10d Illustrations Table 5.5a Linguistic categories Table 5.10e Themes Table 5.5b Semantic categories Table 5.10f People Table 5.5c Generic forms Table 5.10g Authors Table 5.5d Illustrations Table 5.10h Authorities Table 5.5e Themes

Table 5.5f People Questa grande umanità Table 5.5g Authors Table 5.11a Linguistic categories Table 5.5h Authorities Table 5.11b Semantic categories Table 5.5i Grammar exercises Table 5.11c Generic forms

Table 5.11d Illustrations Avventure tra le righe 5 Table 5.11e Themes Table 5.6a Linguistic categories Table 5.11f People Table 5.6b Semantic categories Table 5.11g Authors

ix Table 5.11h Authorities Table 5.17e Themes Table 5.17f People 0044 A direct call to English Table 5.17g Authors Table 5.12a Linguistic categories Table 5.17h Authorities Table 5.12b Semantic categories Table 5.12c Generic forms I territori dell’uomo 3. Table 5.12d Illustrations Table 5.18a Linguistic categories Table 5.12e Themes Table 5.18b Semantic categories Table 5.12f People Table 5.18c Generic forms Table 5.12g Authors Table 5.18d Illustrations Table 5.12h Authorities Table 5.18e Themes Table 5.12i Grammar exercises Table 5.18f People Table 5.18g Authors Chronos 1. Table 5.18h Authorities Table 5.13a Linguistic categories Table 5.13b Semantic categories Dire Fare Capire. Table 5.13c Generic forms Table 5.19a Linguistic categories Table 5.13d Illustrations Table 5.19b Semantic categories Table 5.13e Themes Table 5.19c Generic forms Table 5.13f People Table 5.19d Illustrations Table 5.13g Authors Table 5.19e Themes Table 5.13h Authorities Table 5.19f People Table 5.19g Authors Chronos 2. Table 5.19h Authorities Table 5.14a Linguistic categories Table 5.19i Grammar exercises Table 5.14b Semantic categories Table 5.14c Generic forms La lampada di Aladino 1. Table 5.14d Illustrations Table 5.20a Linguistic categories Table 5.14e Themes Table 5.20b Semantic categories Table 5.14f People Table 5.20c Generic forms Table 5.14g Authors Table 5.20d Illustrations Table 5.14h Authorities Table 5.20e Themes Table 5.20f People Chronos 3. Table 5.20g Authors Table 5.15a Linguistic categories Table 5.20h Authorities Table 5.15b Semantic categories Table 5.15c Generic forms La lampada di Aladino 2. Table 5.15d Illustrations Table 5.21a Linguistic categories Table 5.15e Themes Table 5.21b Semantic categories Table 5.15f People Table 5.21c Generic forms Table 5.15g Authors Table 5.21d Illustrations Table 5.15h Authorities Table 5.21e Themes Table 5.21f People I territori dell’uomo 1. Table 5.21g Authors Table 5.16a Linguistic categories Table 5.21h Authorities Table 5.16b Semantic categories Table 5.16c Generic forms La lampada di Aladino 3. Table 5.16d Illustrations Table 5.22a Linguistic categories Table 5.16e Themes Table 5.22b Semantic categories Table 5.16f People Table 5.22c Generic forms Table 5.16g Authors Table 5.22d Illustrations Table 5.16h Authorities Table 5.22e Themes Table 5.22f People I territori dell’uomo 2 Table 5.22g Authors Table 5.17a Linguistic categories Table 5.22h Authorities Table 5.17b Semantic categories Table 5.17c Generic forms Alla scoperta del cristianesimo Table 5.17d Illustrations

x Table 5.23a Linguistic categories Table 5.23b Semantic categories Table 5.23c Generic forms Table 5.23d Illustrations Table 5.23e Themes Table 5.23f People Table 5.23g Authors Table 5.23h Authorities

Guida all’educazione sessuale. Table 5.24a Linguistic categories Table 5.24b Semantic categories Table 5.24c Generic forms Table 5.24d Illustrations Table 5.24e Themes Table 5.24f People Table 5.24g Authors Table 5.24h Authorities

xi

Table 5.25 Total number of textbooks containing asymmetric linguistic or semantic categories Table 5.26 Total number of textbooks containing asymmetric contextual categories

Table 6.1a Prime Parole – Illustrations Table 6.1b Dib – Illustrations Table 6.1c Daic – Illustrations Table 6.2a Prime Parole – People Table 6.2b Dib – People Table 6.2c Daic – People Table 6.3a Prime Parole - Roles Table 6.3b Dib - Roles Table 6.3c Daic – Roles Table 6.4 Totals of First Stem Nouns – Female and Male pairs Table 6.5 Differences in referent types for Ragazza – Ragazzo Table 6.6 First stem noun categories for females Table 6.7 First stem noun categories for males Table 6.8 Order of Frequency Table 6.9 Linked Language Stem Categories – Female Table 6.10 Order of frequency comparison

xii

Introduction

This thesis intends to explore the ways in which linguistic and extra-linguistic symbols can effect gender perception. The beginnings of the second wave of feminisms in Italy, as in other countries, clearly incorporated the need to examine language and gender. It was not until the 1980s, however, that the focus on language and gender was more closely explored. Parallel to this began an investigation into the different ways education manifests itself and how it may change to include some of the theories and premises of the Italian women’s movement. A number of philosophical and practical works appeared that explored the interdependent nature of language and social reality. They were closely followed by a small collection of shorter articles that either dismissed the relevance of linguistic change to feminist ends or supported the concept that language had a role to play in the achievement of a society that was less hostile to women. In the following years the language debate diversified, incorporating issue regarding neologisms and language in the public and political arenas. It was not until the middle of the 1990s that work returned to the topic of discriminatory and asymmetric linguistic representation. The result is feminist linguistic theories that base themselves on a philosophy of difference. Italian feminists’ call for the ‘feminisation’ of the language rather than the ‘neutralisation’ that is more prevalent in Anglo American countries.

xii The study of disparate gender representations in Italy requires the careful consideration of a number of important factors. Primary among which is the development and theories of the present expression of Italian feminisms. It has been previously noted (e.g. Birnbaum 1986) that much of what constitutes Italian feminism is relatively unknown outside of those with the linguistic skills and interest to read the primary sources. While in its early stages it borrowed heavily from French feminist authors such as Luce Irigaray, Italian feminisms have developed a distinct and personalised style that reflects the aspirations of Italian women. Discovering and applying the tenets of Italian feminisms to a gender analysis of their language requires an understanding of the idiosyncrasies that determine it and identify it as such. While it is possible and useful to compare similarities of style and objectives on a cross-cultural level, the study of the linguistic repercussions on gender identity must begin as an intra-cultural study. It is of primary importance to be aware of the philosophy and theoretical practices of those concerned with gender in relation to their cultural expectations and historico- cultural experiences in order to understand the rationale behind their chosen direction(s). These issues will be presented in Chapter One Femminisimi Italiani – Italian Feminist Theory.

It has only been since the second wave of feminisms that work has been done on examining and presenting the possible links between language and the social position of women and men (Cameron 1987, Irigaray 1985, Violi 1986). In Italy there has been a small but consistent attempt to explore the ways in which the language perpetuates gender disparity. Italian feminist linguistic theories will be reviewed and examined predominately through the works of Sabatini and her colleagues, Violi and Magli in the late 1980s and the more recent concepts presented in later publications (Diotima, Marcato etc.). Included in Chapter Two La Donna e La Parola – Italian Feminist Linguistics will also be some of the criticisms that have been leveled against these theories and recommendations.

Most of this work’s attention will be focused on the language presently identified as Standard Italian. Italian is derived ultimately from Proto-Indo European and

xiii belongs to the romance family of languages that includes French, Spanish and Portuguese. Until Italian unification in 1861, the peninsula was as fragmented linguistically as it was politically. Since that time, however, major changes have occurred in the development of a Standard Italian. Its acceptance and spread throughout the peninsula and its ability to encompass change and incorporate dialect diversity is well documented. The manner in which this phenomenon occurs may assist in the identification of possible ways in which linguistic change may be approached and therefore accepted in the future. Internal migration, military service and the increased ease in tourist travel, both internally and abroad, were key factors in these changes. These activities have brought people from diverse regions and consequently different dialect backgrounds together. The necessity to communicate in a language commonly understood by the newcomers and the inhabitants was vital. Another significant factor has been the Twentieth Century’s rapid technological advancements: national radio and television programs, for example, demanded a standardised language form. One of the more significant factors in the phenomenon of standard Italian was the introduction of universal education standards: schools were required to teach Standard Italian.

Aims

The aim of this thesis will be will be to establish the way in which gender is presented to children during their formative years of schooling in order to ascertain how they perceive themselves, each other and the development of their worldview and what they learn about gender roles in their society. Schools are generally regulated and standardised community structures. They are also one of the primary socialising factors that shape the younger generation. Children spend much of their formative years in some form of structured education. In Italy they attend scuola materna, scuola elementare and scuola media (inferiore e superiore). For the most part they attend school five and half days a week with various after-school activities offered as well.

xiv It is at school that they learn the literacy skills that contain the linguistic symbols that form the basis for this research. Given this, the major part of the language and contextual study will focus on the school texts used during the compulsory years of schooling in Italy. The major analytical research will be to assess the extent of parity found regarding gender representation in school textbooks by means of linguistic and contextual analysis. The second part will look at the way women and men are described in dictionaries, ranging from the earliest Prime Parole (first words), through the years of primary and secondary education, to the general reference of adulthood. This study will compare the way females and males are represented both individually and comparatively and how these descriptions develop with the maturing child.

In order to achieve this aim it is necessary to present a comprehensive examination of the philosophies and theories behind the concept of gender in Italy. A secondary aim, therefore, will be to discuss the development of Italian feminisms, education practice and policy at a formal and informal level and the specific theories of Italian feminist linguists. . Chapter Three – A Scuola Italian Education – will present some of the formal and informal trends in the Italian education system. This chapter will begin with the contemporary directives from the European Union and the Ministry of Education in Italy. The activities of the European Union have also manifested in the recent formation of the group P.O.L.I.T.E. (Pari Opportunità nei Libri di Testo). This group was formed in 1999 to lobby for changes in textbooks and has published two journals detailing its work and those of its European partners. It will also look at other publications issued by groups such as gruppo della pedagogia della differenza. The aim will be to clearly present the varied approaches and ideas presently circulating in Italian education.

Objective

The objective of this thesis is to gain a clear picture of the way gender is represented in Italian education and, more specifically, in school textbooks and reference books. In doing so a number of factors will be considered. These include:

xv • how representations of gender are manifested in Italian education • what and how children learn about their imposed gender role by way of linguistic and extra-linguistic factors • how Italian society perceives/transmits gender through its portrayal in reference books • what the present state of gender representation in school textbooks and reference books suggests about the influence and effectiveness of the Italian women’s movement

Motivation

The motivation for this study is founded on three basic premises. The first premise is found in the presentation of the theories and philosophies of the Italian women’s movement as they have developed in the last thirty years. The scarcity of Italian feminist publications directly relating to sexist language necessitates this overview.

The second premise is based on the forthcoming implementation of substantial changes to the present school system. Some of these changes correspond with the directives issued by the European Union. Changes include the extension of the years of compulsory schooling and the continuing decentralisation of the school system. In conjunction with this decentralisation, there is also the intention to overhaul the curriculum and syllabus. The result of these changes appears to have its end in making schools more aligned with the desires of market forces.

According to a Romualdi (1997) there is no indication that moves or even guidelines for parity between the genders has been incorporated in any of the new initiatives. Given, therefore, that this right is in the constitution (ref. Article 3) one must assume that schools are not in need of particular change in this are – a view certainly not shared by the Italian women’s movement. A comprehensive analysis of textbooks from a contextual and linguistic basis is thus considered necessary in order to ascertain the actual state of gender presentation in the school environment.

xvi The final and perhaps least controversial premise has its origins in Article 3 point number 5/7 on the governmental program of the ninth of August 1983 which reads:

Punto 5/7. Grande importanza dovrà essere annessa al problema della parità tra i sessi, che ha trovato idonee soluzioni di principio nella legge cosiddetta sulla parità del 1977, ma esige ora strumenti concreti e operativi per meglio combattere le tante discriminazioni di fatto che, soprattutto per quanto riguarda gli sviluppi di carriera, colpiscono le donne impegnate nel mondo del lavoro rendendole artificiosamente minoritarie nelle posizioni di maggiore responsibilità.

Idonee iniziative legislative erano state già presentante nella trascorsa legislatura e il Governo dovrà fare quanto è in suo potere per promuovere la sollecita approvazione di una nuova legge in argomento. Nel frattempo è intenzione del Governo costituire presso la Presidenza del Consiglio una commissione che anticipi, nei limiti consentiti dalla legislazione vigente, gli indirizzi a cui si informano le indicate proposte [...]

One of the results of this point, and the second premise, was the commissioning of a report entitled Il sessismo nella lingua italiana by the Commissione Nazionale Per La Realizzazione Della Parità Tra Uomo e Donna. The study looked at the ways in which the Italian language reinforced disparity between the genders that disadvantaged and disenfranchised women. While the main study offered a series of recommendations that focused on precise linguistic elements, it also incorporated recommendations particularly aimed at schools in a smaller report entitled Raccomandazioni per un uso non sessista della lingua Italiana - Per la scuola e per l’editoria scolastica (Appendice 1). It is a combination of the two sets of recommendations that will form the foundations of this study’s analytical research. The Methodology is set out in Chapter Four Le Forme e i metodi. Methology; and results can be found in the last three chapters of the thesis: Chapter Five – I testi scolastici. Textbooks and classrooms– presents the results of the textbook analysis. Chapter Six – La parola al lavoro. School Dictionaries – which contains a study of the types of words and their associated meanings used to define women and men in the latest editions of dictionaries used in school settings. The final chapter – Alla Fine. Girls and Boys to Women and Men – will contain the conclusions and recommendations that are the result of this doctoral thesis.

xvii In order to determine the ways in which the linguistic and extra-linguistic symbols found in school texts and dictionaries may or may not impact on the establishment of gender identity it is necessary to link cultural expectations, feminist and linguistic theory. Language cannot be examined in isolation and recent comments regarding linguistic study have pointed out that the field of linguistics has often overlooked the very constraints that it is attempting to explore. It is important to clearly establish the parameters within which this study will operate and the influence of what are external and/or historical factors and how they impact on language and gender in contemporary Italy.

The role of the educational setting lends itself to a study of this sort, as it is the socially recognised place for literacy and cultural learning. Furthermore, given its compulsory nature, all children experience learning in this environment and are therefore exposed to similar stimuli. The way in which language is linked to humanity and social construction is of primary importance. It is accepted that the acquisition and use of language is of fundamental importance in humanity’s ability to function in societies. What has been more recently explored are the links between language itself and the ways in which a person perceives the world, given the language they speak. The linguistic studies that have looked at this approach have not always agreed on the relevance or influence of language in the matter of worldview. It is perhaps not surprising, given the androcentric nature of society, that these studies have rarely connected the theories that link language and world view to the experience of gender in society. Often they have been focused on issues of class, race and occasionally age, with only small sections on the way in which women may use the language differently. They have certainly not focused on how the language structure and usage may affect women differently. What these studies do offer us, however, is a more complex understanding of how language may (or may not) affect the way we think and the way we perceive ourselves and the world around us.

xviii Chapter One FEMMINISMI ITALIANI Italian Feminist Theory

1.0 Introduction – Focus on Women 1.1 Italian Feminism – Historically Speaking 1.1a Difference and Diversity 1.1b Dual Subjectivity 1.2 Present Paths and Policies

1.0 Introduction – Focus on Women

The Italian women’s movement is a vital component in the study of gender representation. It is critical to understand the philosophies, theories and practices of Italian feminist history in order to discover the ways in which gender disparity is envisaged by Italians and more particularly by those interested in gender issues. As one discovers upon studying the circumstances surrounding the development of Italian feminist theory there are certain idiosyncrasies and notions that characterise and distinguish the Italian philosophy from other cultures. It is necessary to avoid transposing concepts of feminisms from other cultures onto Italian culture. What becomes apparent to a student of both Anglo-American feminisms and Italian feminisms is the fundamental difference in approach. Anglo-American feminisms revolve primarily around the concept of equality and to some extent androgyny. The issues regarding language and social place tend towards an individualistic liberalist theory. The ultimate aim is a genderless language and a society where gender is irrelevant. Italian feminisms on the other hand are quite different and the concept femminismi occurred in the earliest writings. The fundamental philosophy, however, that underpins the activities of Italian feminisms is the unequivocal demand for recognition as women. Italian feminists wish to reclaim their sex, their female subjectivity or soggettività. In doing so the myth of universality is debunked

1 and men must take on their own male subjectivity and no longer see themselves as the universal norm. Italian feminists are not interested in a sexless society or the continuation of men as the universal sex. What motivates them is the ambition to render their society sessuata – gendered – with equitable treatment of women and men. Alessandra Mecozzi (1989) states:

When the universal is not one and neutral anymore, but is defined in dual and sexed terms, women are no longer an anonymous, amorphous mass in the eye of the other. On the contrary, they acquire identity entirely their own, be it individual or collective. (Mecozzi 1989, p. 278)

This logically transforms itself into the desire for a sexed language, un linguaggio sessuato, rather than one that absorbs women or negates their sex in other ways. This dichotomy is quite interesting from a linguistic point of view. Ethnolinguistic theories link the creation of worldviews to language; is the fundamental diversity of approach between the feminisms of English speaking nations and the feminisms of a highly gendered language such as Italian partially (if not entirely) linked to the language they speak?

This chapter will introduce the various elements that constitute Italian feminisms and Italian feminist linguistics by giving an overview of the history of the Italian women’s movement. Italian feminisms have developed within culturally specific paradigms, though this is not to say that they are not of global interest. In fact the very diversities found within Italian feminisms suggest alternatives to the mainstream Anglo-American theories. For the purposes of this thesis it is necessary to be familiar with the philosophical, theoretical and practical activities of Italian feminisms in order to create and conduct a culturally relevant study into gender representation. A comparative look at Italian and Anglo-American theories of feminisms and language and an examination of the philosophies and theories by those presently working in areas relating to women and the Italian language will be incorporated in Chapter Two: La donna e la parola

1.1 Italian feminism - Historically Speaking

2 The present state of Italian feminisms is one of decentralisation and diversity. Women concerned with feminist issues work at local, national and international levels. After initial conflict between what were called political feminists (i.e. politically affiliated) and cultural feminists (i.e. anti-institutional) a move towards a more collaborative approach emerged over global issues. Italian feminists are not confined to a ‘master narrative’, which is discussed by Bono and Kemp (1991) in their introduction to Italian Feminist Thought.

This enables them to focus on concerns that have relevance to all women rather than just certain factions. It was also seen as necessary, in a movement that truly placed value on diversity, to recognise individual difference and view this as a strength and a gift (Muraro 1985, p. 127). Diversity also translates into a concept of separateness, in order to remain as autonomous as possible, many Italian feminists have chosen to distance themselves from existing male dominated institutions such as political parties. Self-determination and autonomy are fundamental tenets of Italian feminist theory and thus Italian feminists are very cautious about aligning themselves with established entities that often seek to exploit or absorb them. This is the fruit of an historical experience where women’s efforts and value have been constantly negated. This separateness has also proved to be a fundamental advantage as it allows women from differing political, social and religious opinions to come together on issues that transcend party politics or social myopia. These larger groups are able to exert greater pressure on political parties or other social institutions in order to achieve change (Muraro 1985, p. 11).

The early legislative changes and indeed victories of the Italian women’s movement during the seventies demonstrate this success. Italian feminists initiated changes in many areas that directly concerned women and the Udi (Unione donne italiane) formed in November 1943, was particularly active in terms of support and direct political actions. Some of Italian feminisms legislative successes were in the areas of birth control and the availability and distribution of information (1971) and the opening of family health clinics which included birth control counseling (1975). Abortion was also a central issue with a referendum campaign to repeal the

3 punitive law (1971) followed by the availability of therapeutic abortions (1975), approval of the abortion bill (1977) and its legalisation (1978) as well as the successful campaign to defended legal abortion when it was challenged in 1981. Italian feminists also worked to bring in divorce (1970) that was later reconfirmed by the defeat of a referendum to repeal it (1974). In the area of family law they lobbied to repeal the punitive law against unfaithful wives (1968) and equal family rights (1975). They were also very active in creating and maintaining laws regarding working mothers (1971), women in cottage industries (1973), equal pay (1977) and violence, including sexual violence against women (1979, 1980) (see Birnbaum 1986, pp. 89-90). Various groups continue to discuss, lobby and agitate in a variety of areas that concern them such as the developing legislation on bioethics, the status of same sex couples and the plight of women around the world.

The examination of Italian feminisms and the activities of Italian women over the last century are indispensable in tracking the development of what are now the theories and philosophies of the various Italian women’s groups. The late part of the nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth saw a rise in women’s political activities. These activities have been loosely gathered under the historical term of la questione femminile. In the 1890s Anna Maria Mozzoni (president of Lega promotrice degli interessi femminili) and other women involved in socialism were part of its initiation. Overall, la questione femminile was ignored by all the political parties of that time. Mozzoni herself was branded as ‘extremist, abstract, anarchist or bourgeois’ for her stance on women’s issues by supposedly egalitarian socialists (Hellman 1987, p. 29).

Italian women in general were not deterred by their marginalised social position. In 1908 the first conference was held by women referred to as ‘bourgeois suffragettes’ in Rome - a small group of middle and upper class women in influential social positions (Hellman 1987, p.29). While women’s activities were still regarded as of little value the significance of the meeting was not lost on Italian women and, eventually, on the political parties that had previously ignored them. World War One saw many Italian women becoming more active in socio-political issues.

4 Thousands of women across Italy demonstrated in the streets as the restrictions of the war affected their families. In Sicily they marched under the banner of Pane e Pace - Bread and Peace – emphasising the immediacy of their concerns. The end of the war did not bring the end of these new trends.

The inter-war period and the formation of the Communist Party caused the Left to take more notice of women’s activities. Even for Party intellectuals such as Antonio Gramsci, who was a fervent advocate of the recognition of women’s autonomy, la questione femminile was restricted to a simplistic economic rationale: emancipation of women was still envisioned in terms of financial independence. Those who looked to a more comprehensive and realistic consideration of the state of women in society were effectively silenced. Hellman (1987, p. 29) notes:

Female leaders like Mozzoni, who offered a more sweeping and, as such, a more radical analysis of women’s condition, were systematically excluded from real power or influence within the worker’s movement.

The emphasis placed on women’s roles as mothers and wives was, at times, extreme. The views of early twentieth century writers, such as Otto Weininger and Paul Julius Moebius, became the basis for the growing fascism. Cacciari and Lamberti (1981, p. 59) discuss Moebius:

Non a caso Moebius riduce tutta la tipologia al solo tipo della donna-madre. Gli individuali diversi sono eccezioni da sottovalutare, degeneri << modern style che partoriscono male e sono pessime madri>>.

Fascist propaganda placed the family unit as the central pillar of a successful society and thus initiated many laws explicitly designed to restrict to women to domestic duties, which the women, as good fascists, would find completely fulfilling. This move was based on the fascist belief that women were naturally inferior to men. Or, as fascist theoritician Ferdinando Loffredo (1938), put it; La indiscutibilmente minore intelligenza della donna. A fascist slogan during the 1930s clearly reinforced the roles assigned to gender: “War is to man what motherhood is to women”.

5 Given the fascist ideal of woman as mother/wife, education outside these areas was considered to be superfluous. Loffredo (1938, p. 259) also said:

non è esagerato affermare la necessità che si organizzino dei corsi di istruzione femminile non solo elementari ma anche medi, e persino universitari, che, nell’interesse della nazione pongano la preparazione domestica della donna in armonia con il progresso realizzato nei vari campi della scienza che possono alimentare il perfezionamento dell’economia domestica.

Or, in the words of Ellevì (1939, p. 266), dangerous to the continuation of the race:

La donna intellettuale, che l’aurea mediocrità ancor predilige, è una fra le figure meno necessarie alla saldezza dell’istituto familiare e al potenziamento della razza.

All of these attitudes reflect the early thoughts of Moebius who said:

L’uomo deve costringere la donna nella natura, deve impedire che la sua individualità si esprima e riveli tutta la sua <>.(Cacciari & Lamberti 1981, p. 58)

These attitudes were combined with the emphasis placed on the dogmatic teachings of Augustine and Aquinas in religious education, which served to perpetuate the subordinate role of women. Other changes to the school syllabus were based on the ideas of Loffredo, as mentioned by Birbaum (1986, p. 36):

It was necessary to supplement laws that removed women from employment with propaganda censuring women who left the home to work outside. Female subordination to males, said Loffredo, meant ‘spiritual, cultural and economic inferiority’. To organise this changes were made to educational materials in the schools.

Little more than fifty years ago boys and girls were actively instructed in this manner. Educational changes are slow in manifesting and these philosophies and ideas, which were promoted by both church and state, would have remained in some form or another within the educational ethos, until challenged by the activities of the second wave movement.

The overt anti-feminist (or, more accurately, anti-women) stance of the fascist government drove feminist activities underground. The fascist regime decreed mass sacking of women workers and discrimination regarding employment

6 opportunities. The aim was to keep women in the home, reproducing more good fascists. In writings attributed to Mussolini and others, the fascist preoccupation with a falling birth rate and their paranoia concerning the dangers of the emancipated woman is clear. Emancipated or independent women were seen as unnatural and a direct threat to the success of the fascist government and society itself. Fascist theoreticians were also well aware that in order to successfully implement their misogynist laws it was necessary to convince the public of the necessity and rightness of such moves (Meldini 1975). The results of such a massive indoctrination project still echo in Italian society today. This can be seen in the advertising material which perpetuates the idea that the role of mother and wife for women is ‘natural’ and sufficiently satisfying as well as the continuing frustration Italian women feel as they continue to encounter resistance and restriction in many social areas (see Burns & Bressan 1998).

The constant bombardment of fascist propaganda regarding the roles of women caused some deep divisions within the women’s movement. This break, while not formal, was primarily on politico-religious grounds. Catholic women formed a separate organization, the CIF, in 1947, to the women who were more inclined towards socialist and communist theories. The politico-religious nature of this division can in part be attributed to the late political unification of Italy. A lack of centralised power and state authority meant that for a long time the Catholic Church held sway on issues such as morality and other social constructs with little or no tempering from secular bodies. Hellman (1987, p. 140) notes:

[..] in Italy, the influence of the Catholic Church and its doctrine - which narrowly restricted women to the roles of wife and mother - was neither tempered nor restrained by a strong central state.

The rising power and influence of fascism combined with the misogynous message of both State and Church, and were promoted by Catholic women’s organisations. Ironically this fragmentation ultimately had a significantly positive influence on the way in which the Italian women’s movement and Italian feminist theories developed as it formed part of the basis for later directions that would look for ways of accepting diversity.

7

There was also widespread and significant rejection of the narrow definition being peddled by the Church and State. Women’s resistance to fascist ideology took on a myriad of forms. Some Italian women passively resisted by not reproducing ‘good fascists’ or by actively joining the resistance. In 1943 networks of groups committed to fighting the Nazis and fascists and for women’s emancipation began forming. These groups and the female partisans that fought in them have strong links with present day feminism.

Until the spread of feminist consciousness in the 1970s the activities of women in the resistance were often presented in a paternalistic if not amazed tone: exposing the historical tendency to ‘stress “normal” female traits of: patience, tenacity, helpfulness and concern for others’ as the explanation for women’s acts of bravery and fortitude (Hellman 1987, p. 114). As Hellman also points out: ‘What was inevitably underplayed in these earlier analysis was the fully conscious and mature quality of women’s decisions to participate’. Consequently the traditional view of women as dependent and suited only to home duties has greatly influenced the way history has presented or rather absented them.1 At the end of the World War Two, as with the First World War, women desired to continue being politically active. La questione femminile was again raised; political activism and/or participation in the resistance had politicized women from all over Italy.

After the Second World War, la questione femminile could no longer be reduced to mere economic parity. The Udi (Unione donne italiane) was formed in 1944, by a coalition of women who had actively resisted during the war as well as members of the Communist Party, in order to reach women outside work places and political institutions. Noi Donne was the women’s magazine produced by this organisation, although most of its early articles focused on education and child rearing, leaving

1 Changes to this have possibly begun with the 1997 publication by La Luna of a book primarily aimed at schools titled Desiderio e diritto di cittadinanza. Le italiane al voto edited by Maria Antonietta Selvaggio

8 the more political aspects to the ‘official’ communist and socialist newspapers (Hellman 1987, p. 32).

In effect the Communist Party differed only slightly from the more conservative elements of society. It regarded the family as the ‘natural cell of society’ and relegated the issues of health, welfare and children under the rubric of la questione femminile. This simply reinforced the belief that women should only concern themselves with such things. While, after so many years of enforced restriction to this sphere, they probably were experts in this area, it did little to change the real status of women in the community. Hellman (1987, p. 113) sums it up:

the Communists efforts to draw women into full participation in political life undermined the traditional figure of ‘la donna - casa e chiesa’, that is, the woman who moves only between home and church. But it did not substantially alter the internal relations within the family.

It was not until 1945 that Italian women obtained the vote and another three years passed before the Italian constitution came into force.

The upheaval of the late 1960s and the emergence of the New Left form the backdrop to the most recent developments in Italian feminisms and illustrate the reasons for the women’s movement’s present resistance to political affiliation. In 1968 the Movimento di Liberazione della Donna (MLD), then affiliated with the Radical Party, and many other small groups of women - not all associated with political parties - began to form and create collectives and centres in which the myriad of issues relating to gender and society were examined and manifestos were produced. These discussions, called autocoscienza, were based on the consciousness raising movements that were emerging from North America. Cacciari (1981, p. 30) says:

Resta il fatto che l’autocoscienza è stata sintomo di un’insufficienza, di un fastidio generalizzato verso vecchi modi di produrre conoscenza, verso oggetti conoscitivi costruiti a partire della gerarchizzazione e dalla esclusione di altri, rigettati nell’irrazionale.

9 The Italian women’s movement attempts to keep the more philosophical or theoretical elements linked with everyday existence. The autocoscienza discussions enabled women from diverse social areas to come together and discuss their lives, experiences, thoughts and desires. The practice of autocoscienza led them to a better understand of themselves individually and collectively as Cacciari (1981 p. 31) describes:

È attraverso l’autocoscienza che la donna si è per la prima volta autorappresentata in una dimensione collettiva (è quest’ultima infatti che la separa e la differenzia da altre esperienze non certo nuove, quali le confidenze dell’amica, la chiacchiera..) si è <> la parola per dare voce a ciò che era stato muto per eccellenza.

The outcome of these groups has been the identification of the subjectivity of ‘woman’ and the diversity inherent in such a concept. Patrizia Violi (1986, p. 204), an important figure in Italian feminisms, discusses the significance of autocoscienza:

L’autocoscienza, in quanto fase iniziale di un percorso che si è poi andato evolvendo in molte diverse direzioni, ha storicamente rappresentato per le donne un momento unificante che rendeva innanzitutto possible parlare delle proprie differenti realtà per metterle a confronto e scoprire, al di là dei singoli vissuti, un trauma comune riconoscibile.

In questo senso l’autocoscienza è stata al tempo stesso un luogo fondamentale di riconoscimento per le donne e di un’esperienza storicamente delimitata. Fondamentale perché ha permesso di trovare un momento di generalizzazione e unificazione a ciò che appariva frantumato, separato, indicibile.

One of the most important theories to come out of these groups, and that time, was the difference between liberation and emancipation, which will be discussed later within the ‘philosophy of difference’ paradigm.

The results of such a fragmented and fractured history meant that politics and political and religious affiliations became major issues in the Italian women’s movement. There was an influential practice designed to keep the women’s movement autonomous of political parties and institutions in general. This practice contained echoes of the advice given in the early years of the twentieth century by women advocating social change, as Birnbaum (1986, p. 28) notes:

10 The stance to remain autonomous from political parties was formed by the Italian feminists understanding of the experiences of those such as Luxemburg, Zetkin and Kollontai.

Rossana Rossanda (1979) earlier stated:

Of all the movements, that of women has been the most resolutely anti- institutional, the most hostile to the ‘abstractions’ of the law, the most forceful proclaimer of the inalienable value of the person’s difference.

This anti-institutional stance is in line with the commitment to keep feminist and women’s activities independent and not allow them to be absorbed in established patriarchal structures. The events of the last century have emphasised the need for the MLD and other feminist collectives to remain autonomous and develop concepts of self-determination and difference. The early 1980s brought new changes that resulted in the dissolution of the Udi2.

The result is a women’s movement best described as movements and feminisms, where there is no centralised point of reference, although logically the more established centres such as Rome, Milan, etc. are still the focal points for organisation, publications and activities. The developments of the more recent years have been as diverse as the women behind them. The influence of these historic experiences and in particular the articulation of female and male social roles by the extreme right is evident in Italian feminist philosophy today. What is different is that women have looked to reclaim and redefine the concept of difference as a situation of uniqueness and strength rather than as the negative mirror of the supposedly masculine virtues. Was the creation of this negative positive opposition due to a male rejection of their own complexity? If so, it is not surprising that the last thirty years of feminist encouragement of women to explore and own all aspects of their being, have at the same time greatly threatened a male dominated culture that can only deal with difference by allocating it to the ‘other’.

1.1a Difference and Diversity

2 Hellman 1987 p.133 ‘even the most enthusiastic activists felt obliged to abandon the old patterns of delegation, of authenticity and ‘mediation on behalf of others’ that had always been the organisational model of mass movements of the left’

11

Does a girl perhaps aspire to become the dull and submissive grown up woman, the physical and psychological appendix of man who is his companion in the patriarchal world and is only proud of redeeming her passivity by mythical and voluptuous agreement. Is this not the goal a girl would reject heart and soul? And when she eventually achieves it has she not actually realised the final stage of a conditioning rather than of a development of her own autonomy. (Rivolta Femminile 1971, p. 217)

The conundrum that Italian feminist theory has tackled since the advent of the autocoscienza groups of the 1960s is twofold. The first is equality versus difference. For Italian feminists the concept of equality is merely a red herring designed to coerce women’s implicit consent in the rightness of the male worldview. Italian feminists do not want neutrality; they do not want to be included in some arbitrary generic (masculine) form. They do want separate recognition, separate terms. Bono and Kemp (1991, p. 15) explain:

For Italian feminism, in the equality versus difference debate, the conceptual opposite of difference is not equality.

The second is difference versus other; and all the negative connotations that implies in a society that has always construed difference as inferior and at times dangerous to the androcentric construction of the male norm. This results in women being perceived as not only different from the male norm but in fact the binary opposite and thus being allocated all the opposing values and behaviours to those attributed to men. As Braidotti (1985, p. 24) explains:

La dicotomia è risultata come fissata in un insieme di antinomie in base al quale il <> è stato individuato non solo come un contrario, bensì come il contrario per eccellenza. E’ stato articolato come l’<>, e in quanto altro dal maschile, necessariamente privo delle qualità della razionalità, della discorsività e del potere in quanto marche maschili. L’opposizione dialettica ha lavorato dunque a detrimento del <> risolvendosi nella sua sistematica svalorizzazione.

There is a profound awareness that women and men are different, that neither can be considered the norm and that equality is not the goal as it incorporates the masculinisation (loosely disguised as economic emancipation) of women.

12 Furthermore, equality disallows the expression of an individual perception, which, while based on sex or gender, can actually transcend the rather rigid notions of male/masculine and female/feminine. Diversity, on the other hand, seeks to embrace the differences inherent within and between the sexes. This philosophy of difference aims to recognise individual experience and by doing so enrich the collective. Carla Lonzi (1970, p. 41) defined difference in her article ‘Let’s spit on Hegel’:

‘Difference is an existential principle which concerns the modes of being human, the peculiarity of one’s own experience, goals, possibilities, and one’s sense of existence in a given situation and in the situation one wants to create for oneself. The difference between men and women is the basic difference of human kind.

There are obvious parallels here with the work of Luce Irigaray. Irigaray’s early association with Italian feminisms, and in particular, with the Milan women’s bookshop (La libreria delle donne), has been a relationship of reciprocal influence. Many of her thoughts and works have been translated not only into Italian but also into Italian feminist thought.

The arguments of equality versus difference, and the subsequent need to redefine the concept of difference, are central to the understanding of Italian feminist thought. The focus on difference is the primary element that separates Italian feminisms from much of the Anglo-American philosophies. Italian feminists equate equality with the complete subjugation of their diversity and value as female members of humanity. Bono and Kemp (1991, p.15) summarise the dichotomy in their introduction to Italian Feminist Thought:

Becoming equal thus means becoming like a man. But ‘being - like’ is never going to be as good as ‘being’; and, on the other hand, being different is unacceptable if it means being inferior.

This is not to be confused with the necessity for legislative and functional equality that fights for equal pay and other forms of parity in relation to social institutions. What Italian feminists are indicating is that to live as an emancipated woman means to function in a male-oriented society, to live and achieve according to their expectations. In the writings of the Milan’s women’s bookshop (1983, p. 115) –

13 More women than men (‘Più donne che uomini’) - there is a concise, if not bleak, description of this:

‘The loneliness of the emancipated woman’ Emancipation, of necessity, places an emphasis on individual talent. The most women can achieve is solidarity with their own kind as a defense. In other words, emancipation put us into a social game with words and desires which are not our own.

This is echoed in an earlier statement made at the Siena Feminist conference in 1986:

Emancipated women, endowed with an average - high degree of culture (we speak here of formal education) with jobs involving intellectual activity had discovered the importance of their own common experience as women as well as the fallacy of emancipation and the deceit of male culture.

This is ‘The Struggle for a Sense of Ease’ which occurs when women find themselves involved in social transactions, given the ‘prevalence of the male, a maleness which translates itself into money, careers, culture, politics, art and which arrogantly demands admiration and imitation’. Luisa Muraro (1987), who has been active in Italian feminist philosophy for many years and is one of the founders of the Veronese based philosophy group Diotima, wrote this in her 1987 workshop on disparity:

La donna emancipata non trova nessun senso di sé nella società. La società le concede o lei si è conquistata il diritto di operare liberamente, quindi di non avere un destino sociale ricalcato sulla sua anatomia.

This has lead to a philosophy that proclaims the necessity to reclaim ‘the discourse of difference’ and transform it into a positive and empowering discourse that leads to ‘an egalitarian society leavened by differences’ (Birnbaum 1986, p. 26).

The early manifestos raised the issues of equality and revolution and identified them as proximate steps. Appropriate strategies needed to be devised by women, as they perceive the world in a different way to men. The negation of this need, results in a society that is superficially equal, but in reality, profoundly patriarchal. Birnbaum continues:

14 Society does not deny us a position and even success just because we are women. But this is really because in terms of social acceptance the fact of being a woman is irrelevant. What a strange existence we have, creatures who are not men but who cannot come out as women. (Birnbaum 1986, p. 120)

The motivation behind the ‘discourse of difference’ also resulted in the tenet of acting in prima persona. The concept of in prima persona is related to the notion of ‘the personal is political’. Italian feminist groups emphasised the need for women to identify their own immediate and/or specific needs and act directly. This also encouraged and supported the inherent diversity among women in a positive way. This differs from the way of a patriarchal society that promotes competition and conformity and seeks to at best absorb difference or at worst punish it. Birnbaum makes the statement that because men want women to be:

fragile, dependent, masochistic, voluble and incapable eternal wards that is what women become, repressing their creativity, their desire to be autonomous and their intellectual independence. Having internalized these values women disparage other women because they deprecate themselves’. (Birnbaum 1986, p. 114)

They become ‘dull and submissive’ and thus are more easily divided and therefore conquered.

The main stepping-stone to eliminating the unacceptable definition of different as inferior is the reclamation and re-creation of the feminine by women. Birnbaum identifies this in her discussion of the female body:

The point is that the body itself needs to be signified and reconstructed, rather than negated. Women have to take upon themselves the task of signifying it, instead of negating its significance merely because thus far, it has been interpreted to their disadvantage. (Birnbaum 1986, p. 16)

It is from these ideas about the necessity of recognising difference and diversity that the ‘philosophy of difference’ was conceptualised. This very notion significantly affects the ways in which the Italian language is perceived as being sexist and the ways in which it could be modified to incorporate and reflect the concept of dual occupancy.

1.1b Dual Subjectivity

15

The generation of non being into being; not questioning the possibility of subjecthood and identity, but generating a feminine subject and a feminine identity that as of yet has not been; nor the interrogation of how the language and culture of patriarchal or phallogocentric power works and what it does, but the generation of a language, of a culture, of a conceptuality of and for women, of a social-symbolic practice among women that has not yet been (Holub nd, p. 244)

Not being into being; a generation of language, culture and conceptuality of and for women that is not reliant on or subject to patriarchal, traditional definitions. This is what Italian feminist thought considers crucial not only to the re-creation of their subjecthood, their subjectivity, their occupation of language and their social space, but also to the identification and perhaps discovery of what it means to be female: the movement away from the historical development of female and male as contrary forces where the female has been positioned not just as an opposite to male energies but as the opposite (Braidotti 1985). Instead of positions of paternalistically structured conflict, the Italian feminist ‘philosophy of difference’ envisages complementary positions where the fundamental conceptualisation of female and male transcend without negating the biological realities.

The requirements of a ‘philosophy of difference’ raise numerous issues for feminist theory, not the least of which is the conceptualisation of power. The notion of ‘Dual Subjectivity’, which admits the ‘partiality of both male and female positions’, is indicative of the peculiarities inherent in Italian feminist thought. A consequence of this dual subjectivity is the necessity of the identification and vindication of the ‘unexpected subject’ - woman. The process of raising the feminine to a place of social parity with the masculine has been fraught with difficulties and setbacks. Perhaps the early feminist foremother Anna Maria Mozzoni (in Birnbaum 1986, p. 21) alluded to some of the continuing frustrations in this comment in 1881:

[..] forget the idea that men out of their love for logic and zeal for justice will bring you what you deserve when their victory has been achieved’ and ‘You will not have any freedom that you have not defended every day and in every moment.

16 And Alexandra Kollontai the Russian politician and social commentator of the war era, who was deliberately isolated from power due to her feminist beliefs, wrote ‘that feminist legislation by itself will not change women’s condition of subordination if men’s traditional attitudes towards women are not altered’ (in Birnbaum 1986, p. 27). Kollontai’s experiences within Lenin’s government and those of German activists Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxemburg, were influential in the early stages of the second wave developments. Italian feminists looked back to these women and identified some of the links that bound them.

The issue of power has been a complex one on the road to personal identification and has influenced the way the Italian women’s movement approaches global concerns. What has been discerned is the need to question the very conceptualization of power. This has lead to the fundamental decentralised nature of women’s groups in Italy. In doing so the movement(s) are attempting to render the masculine subjective, instead of universal, by refusing to perpetuate or participate in the maintenance of a patriarchal society. Some of these concepts appear quite strongly in the works of the feminists involved with education reform, which will be looked at in more detail in Chapter Three A scuola Italian Education. In the Manifesto of the Rivolta femminile (1970) appears this tenet: By not recognizing herself in male culture woman deprives it of the illusion of universality.

This refusal of any external or internal master narratives has been seen as a strength for those involved in the Italian women’s movement. Freeing them to determine as they saw fit (in prima persona) the issues relevant locally, nationally and internationally - just as the Sicilian women did when marching under the banner of ‘pane e pace’ during the First World War. This has also enabled them to view their position of social marginality as a place to explore difference and to formulate necessary practices and theories that have thus far lead to the rejection of the patriarchal culture. Muraro (c.1979):

Well then, this inferiority, which is so humiliating, do we want to be rid of it at whatever the cost? Do we want to be told that women can do it too, or

17 do we want to recognize this inferiority as estrangement and so as a point of strength for an alternative way of looking at society and changing it?

The difference that Italian women are wishing to establish is not confined to their own experience of the world. What is implied in this concept or philosophy of ‘difference’ is duality: that both sexes have varying perspectives and as a consequence varying worldviews. Woman’s oppression has been a result of her internalisation of an androcentric view of herself. This imposed definition has been doubly oppressive as it also leads to the rejection of other women: viewing them as either competition or, for those who step outside the prescribed mould, as deviants. The rejection, therefore, of a power structure based on patriarchy allows women to discover themselves and each other. One of the more active proponents of Italian feminisms today is Lidia Menapace. Birnbaum reports that Menapace sees ‘maturity, hope, prophecy and precariousness in contemporary Italy’:

The political implications of this perspective, for Menapace, is that the necessary revolution’ is not a simple substitution of parties nor of classes, nor of property, nor of the means of production. It is all of these things, accompanied by a simultaneous change in the way one thinks and acts. Otherwise traditional roles of men and women will not be changed. (Birnbaum 1986, p. 118)

This is the fruit of what Adrienne Rich described as a “mix and match attitude with the new insights that it produces” and which she considers as a ‘typical feature of Italian feminism’ (Bono & Kemp 1991). It also echoes the earlier words of both Mozzoni and Kollontai who both emphasis the need for independent and lateral thinking which encompasses all aspects of women’s existence and leaves nothing to chance or political concession.

The way one acts and thinks are closely linked with the concept of language. It must be noted that the changes desired by those active in the fight for parity and recognition of women in Italy necessitate parallel linguistic changes in order to be achieved and to become truly embedded in the consciousness of the people.

18

1.2 Present Paths and Policies

The state of Italian feminisms in the mid 1990s is one of real diversity and dynamism. The interests and areas of activities that Italian women concern themselves with range from local issues of community accountability, to national legislation governing bioethics and international links concerning United Nations projects and proposals. All have a place in the creation and continuance of a female subjecthood as well as that of a non-universal male one. Bochetti (1982) in ‘The Indecent Difference’ states:

It is in the twentieth century that a plural, contradictory subject replaces the full and coherent subject of classical reason in the history of thought, and therefore in its itineraries of research. Women have always carried within themselves this plural subject being: they have always experienced the impossibility of the split between affective life and social and cultural reason, between body and thought, an impossible one for them. (Bochetti 1982, p. 149)

And more importantly

What other image of the world is formulated by the needs of this different subject. (Bochetti 1982, p. 150)

Like feminist and women’s groups around the world, the Italian contingent has also seen the need for ‘eternal vigilance’. The necessity to take to the streets in defense of the abortion legislation in 1981 just four years after its approval proves this point. It is said that Italy has ‘some of the most advanced women’s legislation in Europe’ (Birnbaum 1986, p. 3), yet how useful is this if it is necessary for women’s groups to expend energy on maintaining the present socio-political situation?

The fact that social and political changes are not enough to ensure fundamental and lasting changes bring us back to language. The tasks now in front of feminisms are related to the need to define and imagine a worldview that incorporates the notion of dual subjectivity. A major factor in that determination and imagining will be the language that they have access to. What is necessary, therefore, is a simultaneous

19 change in the language. While there is some criticism of deliberate language modification, there is concern that the linguistic changes that should eventuate get lost in the ongoing debate. Lepschy’s opinion that we should ‘let language take care of itself’ and focus on socio-political change in his criticism of Italian feminist linguistics (Lepschy 1987) seems a little fatuous given that even when social changes are legislated the fight to keep them continues. Until the notion of ‘the masculine’ as the superior is dispensed with there will be little possibility for trusting in legislative changes that will ultimately remain artificial. For many feminist linguists fundamental changes in attitude and thinking about gender will occur contemporaneously with language changes.

The objectives for Italian feminisms are varied and function on a variety of levels. The notion of acting in prima persona is of fundamental importance to the philosophy of Italian feminist thought as it maintains not only the crucial link between the theories and the everyday, but it also creates an environment in which all aspects of oppression, needs and ambitions can be incorporated. The Milan’s Women’s Bookshop in ‘More women than men’[Più donne che uomini] make this point:

Solidarity is precious but it is not enough - Our objective is to weave a world in which the interests associated with being a woman can exist without having to justify her existence. (Milan’s Women’s Bookshop 1983, p. 121)

From the collection of works in Bono and Kemp (1991) some cardinal points have been identified They include the legitimacy of female sexuality and desire in society, politics and knowledge of the world and a critique of the ideology of oppression. Combined with these is the need for an analysis of female subjectivity, the need to identify the process of formulation of the present gender identity by seeking the source of the oppression and relative autonomy from institutions. The exploration of these themes can and does lead those interested in Italian feminisms and the place of women in Italian society down a number of diverse and divergent paths of study, research and/or activism.

20 The area that most concerns this thesis is the link between the fundamental theories and philosophies of Italian feminisms and the examination of language. Magli (1985) identified that a foray into language would become inevitable:

E’ inevitabile dunque che, nel momento storico in cui le donne si interrogano sul loro essere soggetto si interessino ai sistemi della significazione. In questa appartenenza all’ordine dei segni si colloca il problema della soggettività. Sappiamo che l’universo simbolico è il luogo, il mezzo, il medium grazie al quale un essere umano cerca di situarsi, progettarsi, comprendersi. Il reale può essere colto solo se designato per mezzo dei segni. (Magli 1985, p. 11)

Language lends itself in many ways to an exploration of many of the fundamental points cited above, and the process of such a study may well facilitate the progress of other, less directly related areas of development. The next chapter reviews the feminist literature available on feminist linguistic studies in Italy. Following that will be the discussion of Italian feminist discourses on education. As will be discussed further the educative settings provide an interesting and dynamic arena for social change. In Italy, as in many other countries, women dominate the teaching population, though men fill many of the more powerful positions. There have been ongoing publications on education and pedagogical theories that have incorporated or been motivated by feminist philosophies and agendas. The school’s role in language learning and socialisation makes it a useful environment for the application of feminist practices. Groups such as il gruppo pedagogia della differenza sessuale and P.O.L.I.T.E are exploring various ways in which feminist philosophies and theories can be applied to educative systems.

21 Chapter Two LA DONNA E LA PAROLA Italian Feminist Linguistics

2.0 Introduction – Focus on Difference 2.1 Language and Linguistics 2.1a The Difference Debate 2.1b Feminisation versus Neutralisation 2.1c Neutralisation 2.1d Feminisation 2.2 Women and Language 2.2a Early developments 2.2a.1 Women’s relationship with language 2.2b Universality 2.2c Sexual difference 2.2d Subjectivity - Il soggetto sessuato 2.2e The language of the mother 2.3 Il linguaggio sessuato – Sexed language 2.4 Disputes and Discussions 2.4a Linguistic Purity 2.4b Linguistic Economy 2.4c Precedence and Suona Male 2.4d Sexed versus Neutral – worldview 2.4e Speaking Out 2.4f In Summary 2.5 Other research into il linguaggio sessuato 2.6 Concluding Comments

2.0 Introduction – Focus on Difference Il linguaggio è dunque per le donne il luogo di un’esclusione, e di una negazione, il luogo in cui è sancita la struttura patriarcale...ove le donne non possono avere

20 ancora una volta, un ruolo che non sia quello di oggetto, ancorate al dato biologico che le definisce, la sessualità e la funzione riproduttiva. (Violi 1986, p.90)

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight some of the more influential texts and theories produced during the early development of feminist linguistics in Italy. Italian feminist concerns regarding language can be found in the early manifestoes of the late 1960s. Since that time linguistic theory has developed in both academic and political arenas. For Italian feminist linguists, language encapsulates the dialectic of being a woman in a world created by men. To exist in the social constructs created out of an androcentrically determined world view, a woman needs to utilise the tools that have been, until recently, the privileged possessions of men. This chapter will track the development of the main philosophies that link the linguistic and feminist studies. Issues of sexual difference, female and male subjectivity, the construct of universality and identity will be the central foci.

In Italy the feminist movement has, from its inception, attempted to define the essential nature of difference, attempted to explore, define, create and uncover ‘being woman’. Part of that process has been explorations into the role of language. How does it present and portray woman, how do women use language and how does it influence personal and social identity? The chapter will primarily consider works that have examined the ways in which woman is represented in language rather than the way in which women have traditionally used language in texts such as novels and diaries. This second field of research was the main focus of the early works on language by Italian feminists, and will be touched on only briefly in order to point out how some of this early analysis developed into later linguistic studies.

Much of the early research and ideas about language came from the English- speaking world, as Piano points out:

A partire dagli inizi degli anni ’70 le ricerche sul rapporto donna-linguaggio sono andate via via intensificandosi e progressivamente diffendendosi dagli Stati Uniti agli altri paesi. (Piano 1992, p. 19)

21 It was not long, however, before feminists in Europe, and in particular those in France and Italy began to diverge from the American offerings. A brief examination of the differences between the Italian direction of language feminisation, and the movement, primarily from English-speaking countries, towards neutralisation of the language: the difference debate will be presented in order to place Italian feminist linguistics in a global context. It is interesting to note that there has been little in the way of a return exchange and much of the references to feminisation and the recognition of sexual difference in Anglo- American texts are fleeting and, at times, dismissive.

The work of Alma Sabatini will be discussed in depth in section 2.3 Sexed Language - Il linguaggio sessuato. Her work was the first to be officially recognised by the Italian government and is the main work to date that sets out guidelines for the use of Italian in a non-discriminatory fashion based on the theories developed by Italian feminisms. Her work in this area, Il sessismo nella lingua italiana (Sabatini et al 1987) for La Commissione Nazionale della Parità tra Uomo e Donna, was the focal point for much of the language debate that surfaced in the late 1980s. What Sabatini did was to express the theories of Italian feminist linguistics in practical form. Her theories and guidelines continue to be used, not uncritically, as a reference for feminist linguistic work in Italy. The methodology and guidelines (Raccomandazioni) of her work form the basis of the linguistic analysis undertaken in this thesis.

The conclusion will summarise the overall development of Italian feminist linguistics and relate that to the aims and objectives of this study into Italian education and the linguistic and extra-linguistic representation of gender in school materials. It is hoped that this review will not only raise the awareness of the quantity and quality of work in Italy but also refute some of the more virulent criticisms leveled against it.

2.1 Language and Linguistics

22 The primary difficulty when attempting to create an effective discourse on Italian feminist thought in regards to language is that, until recently, there was little in the nature of empirical study available. Early considerations relating to women and language mostly took form in the notion of women’s language. This concept incorporated the way in which women used language to express themselves and their relationship to the world in different ways from men (see for example Cameron & Coates). In Italy, as elsewhere, much has been written relating to word use and discourse styles and the ways in which women might deliberately change their language use in order to express their difference.

Most of the early opinions and attitudes of Italian feminists towards language can be found scattered through manifestos and articles. What becomes clear in the considerations of or comments on language by Italian feminists is its inadequacy in the face of their experience of the world and their desire to communicate it. From Dominijanni comes a succinct explanation of this inadequacy:

women are in the world and function in a society where the symbols reflect a patriarchal world view. Language - being a system of symbols is another element of the overall symbols. (Dominijanni 1987:132) or in the 1977 article from Elena, of the Movimento Femminista Romano ‘Perhaps I can’t fight for freedom yet’:

One of the greatest difficulties facing me lies in confronting tradition, as a sense of reality with the deep seated need to eradicate it. For me this means dislocating meanings in language, behaviors and their links.... Thus one cannot take one step further than conventional language that expresses everything around me and only includes me in its own terms. (Elena 1977:70)

The importance of language in the creation and maintenance of the gender dynamic was, therefore, certainly not overlooked in early feminist writings. Neither did it lose its relevance as the focus changed from the way women could express themselves to the manner in which language expressed them.

2.1a The Difference Debate

23 In order to understand the direction taken by Italian feminist linguists and, ultimately, the language changes deemed most appropriate, it is necessary to situate their views in the larger global context. The notion that language is a significant factor on our worldview has long been of interest for feminists – Italian or otherwise. An important element in language’s perceived role in worldview is its relationship with thought. This link has interested feminist linguists, yet the notion of the interdependency between language and thought is not new. We can find in the early writings of Socrates ideas about language and thought being linked:

Socrates: And do you accept my description of the process of thinking? Theaetetus: How do you describe it? Socrates: As a discourse that the mind carries on with itself about any subject it is considering. You must take this explanation as coming from an ignoramus; but I have a notion that, when the mind is thinking, it is simply talking to itself, asking questions and answering them [….] So I should describe thinking as a discourse, and judgment as a statement pronounced, not aloud to someone else, but silently to oneself. (Author’s emphasis) (Gibbon 1994, p. 34)

Many feminist linguists have identified with the idea that language and thought are interlinked. If the language contains discriminatory or restrictive ideas about gender (or race, ethnicity, age etc.) then these attitudes will be reflected in society - and vice versa. Socrates’ idea taken to extremes suggests that it is almost impossible to think outside one’s language.

The interdependent link between thought and language is also found in the concept of linguistic relativity, which has provided much of the basis for early feminist linguistic direction. While linguistic relativity in its extreme form has been surrounded by some controversy, it is a useful premise to begin understanding the importance placed on language by feminist linguists in their attempts to create a world where discrimination against women is not so embedded or inherent in the culture. Linguistic relativity or determinism is the basis for the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that language determines the way one views the world. Sapir said:

Human beings do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for their society. It is quite an illusion to imagine that one adjusts to reality essentially without the

24 use of language and that language is merely an incidental means of solving specific problems of communication or reflection. The fact of the matter is that the 'real world' is to a large extent unconsciously built upon the language habits of the group. No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached... We see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation. (Sapir 1958 [1929], p. 69)

Whorf stated:

We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native languages. The categories and types that we isolate from the world of phenomena we do not find there because they stare every observer in the face; on the contrary, the world is presented in a kaleidoscopic flux of impressions which has to be organized by our minds - and this means largely by the linguistic systems in our minds. We cut nature up, organize it into concepts, and ascribe significances as we do, largely because we are parties to an agreement to organize it in this way - an agreement that holds throughout our speech community and is codified in the patterns of our language. The agreement is, of course, an implicit and unstated one, but its terms are absolutely obligatory; we cannot talk at all except by subscribing to the organization and classification of data which the agreement decrees.

He also commented on the language-thought link more specifically:

Thinking [...] follows a network of tracks laid down in the given language, an organisation which may concentrate systematically upon certain phases of reality, certain aspects of intelligence, and may systematically discard others featured by other languages. The individual is utterly unaware of this organisation and is constrained completely within its unbreakable bonds. (Whorf 1940, pp. 213-214 – his emphasis)

Usually a modified version of the hypothesis is accepted which considers language as having an important and influential role in the creation of our worldview combined with other factors. The generally accepted view being that language has some influence on thought and therefore different languages influence the thoughts and perceptions of their respective speakers in different ways.3 For feminist linguists the reciprocal influence of language and thought has significant implications on the direction and centrality of their work to the overall women’s

3 The role of language in the eventual directions of cultures towards a feminisation or neutralization is also an interesting idea though outside the scope of this thesis to explore.

25 movements. Language and its usage cannot only be indicative of the attitudes and preconceptions of a society, but it can also be used to modify them. A language which does not perpetuate stereotypical and derogatory ideas about gender must eventually influence the thoughts of its users. Obviously it is not as simple as changing the language will mean changing the society, for feminist linguists, however, it is essential that the language question is part of the overall debate on social change.

Gentili’s article ‘Tre studi sul sessismo linguistico’ in RILA 1985 is indicative of the importance of language. She reviewed three works by psycholinguists of a feminist bent.4 Gentili highlights the interdependent nature of the relationship between language and socio-cultural elements; in particular the roles of women and men in society, that serves as a linking theme for the three psycholinguists. As she states:

Lo studio dei rapporti tra linguaggio e psiche, dall’analisi dell’influenza del linguaggio nella formazione della propria identità sociale, distinta primariamente a seconda del sesso. (Gentili 1985, p. 170)

The linking of language and worldview, traditionally an area reserved for anthropology and ethnology, forms an important basis for feminist linguistic studies.

The linguistic directions taken by feminists have not been homogenous, yet the inclusion of language in the debate indicates that acceptance of its role in influencing at least the socio-cultural attitudes of society or, at most, determining one’s worldview. The primary directions, for the most part, lean either toward the feminisation or the neutralistion of the language. Neutralisation has been more prominent due to its support in the majority of the English-speaking world. Unlike Anglo-American countries, Italian linguists have pursued the philosophy of difference in their work to understand the role of language. The issue, therefore, of

4 Gentili (1985) ‘Tre studi sul sessismo linguistico’ in RILA No 17 1985: Cheris Kramarae’s (1981) Women and men speaking, Frameworks for analysis, R.M Blakar’s (1979) ‘ How sex roles are Represented, Reflected and Conserved in the Norwegian Language’ in Studies of Language Thought and Verbal Communication and Shelley Phillips’ (1983) ‘Self concept and Sexism in Language’ and (1983) ‘Language and Self-concept in the Language of Children: A Middle Childhood Survey’ both in The Sociogenesis of Language and Human Conduct.

26 feminisation of the language versus neutralisation is central in Italian feminist linguistics. Feminisation will be the primary linguistic and philosophical direction examined in this thesis.

2.1b Feminisation versus Neutralisation

It is not the purpose of this section either to justify the merits of one or the other or to extensively discuss the various comparisons into feminisation and neutralisation. As mentioned above, the integral role language plays in the construction of individuals’ identity and the society within which they find themselves has been a topic of interest to those involved in the disciplines of sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and feminist studies. Most of the studies have focused on areas of race or class and the influence of language both as a marker and as a creator of identity. More recent publications, mainly by feminist academics, have looked at the issue of worldview in relation to gender, shifting the focus from women’s language to how women are represented in language. The emphasis on the way in which language influences one’s perception of self, and how it assists in maintaining traditional social dynamics, and its negative impact on women’s place in society are features of many feminist linguistic studies regardless of the language in question.

What is of interest is the development of two quite different methodologies of how language should be modified in order to render it less sexist. As mentioned, the trend in English speaking-countries, as well as in some European countries such as Denmark (Thüne 1995), is for the neutralisation of the language. The issue of feminisation has usually been only briefly mentioned by those involved in the more mainstream move toward neutralisation. Deborah Cameron (1984) refers to Irigaray and Kristeva in her discussion on ‘Semiology, Postmodernism and the ‘Gendered Subject’’. For the most part, Cameron perceives their work as radical and their aims unachievable or naive. Margaret Gibbon (1999) places the exploration of sexual difference under the non-specific heading of Cultural Feminism. She offers a brief and somewhat dismissive overview of the work of

27 Irigaray and Cixous. Gibbon’s book Feminist Perspectives on Language does include a brief comparison between how French and English resolve occupational titles, although she does not clearly link this difference to feminisation-neutralisation. Other recent texts on language and identity5 seem to have moved away from any inclusion of the discussion of gendered language such as that favoured by Italian feminists and found in work being produced in Portugal, Spain, France and Germany.6 This is perhaps indicative of the lack of primary source information available in English translation of the rich and varied work undertaken in Italy.

2.1c Neutralisation

English is considered to be a non-gendered language. It is more likely to be criticised by feminists for elements of usage rather than for grammatical constructs. In terms of referents, English lends itself to a situation where the sex of the speaker or recipient is not necessarily explicitly stated and feminist linguistic developments and ‘political correctness’ have called for gender-neutral terminology. This has resulted in the adoption of male terms as the unmarked form (actor, host, poet), or the creation of new terms (fire fighters, chairs or chairpersons, flight attendant and police officer) in order to remove gender distinctions and preconceptions about roles (e.g. Police Officer suggests either a woman or a man can do the job). Contextually women and men are supposed to be portrayed as capable of doing the same work, of achieving the same goals – of being the same.

This method has been labeled as neutralisation. The philosophy behind this is the necessity to remove all the discriminatory language and eradicate sexist discourse. Thus in English, for example, there is a need to avoid statements such as “The Settlers and their wives and children” or “When consulting a Doctor for the first time one should take care to check his credentials”. The recommendations are certainly not limited to these obvious situations. What it ultimately creates is a language where gender is supposedly irrelevant. What becomes important are the

5 For example Bucholtz. M, et al Reinventing Identities. 6 Ref Marcato, G. Ed (1995) and the work by POLITE

28 intentions or activities of the individual and not the fact that the subject or object is female or male. It also closely reflects the leading feminist trends of the women’s movement during the past thirty years. There has been much criticism of Anglo- American feminist trends reflecting the desires of middle class white women and not encompassing the internal diversity of the female gender. The more recent attention afforded to the marginalised groups of women, such as black and lesbian women in America, has seen some changes to the homogenous presentation of feminist philosophy as they have published and agitated for recognition of their own experiences and differences and diversity.

The notion of the neutralisation of the language has enjoyed widespread popularity in English-speaking countries and other European nations (Thüne 1995, Cameron and Coates 1988.). In English it has had a long and well publicised history which has given it a high profile among academic trends relating to women’s studies and linguistics in general. It is not, however, the only approach to overcoming linguistic disparity. As Thüne (1995) explains that linguistic changes desired by advocates of gender equality do not automatically coincide with the neutralisation of the language. In Italy, as this review will show, there is a move toward a language in which women and men are equally visible and have equal space. This has been called un linguaggio sessuato – a sexed language7 and is designed to present women and men in the language rather that absorb women into masculine referents.

2.4 d Feminisation

Italian is a gendered language. All things, whether object or subject of a discourse, have an assigned gender that is explicitly referenced in the grammar. The gender is divided into the basic duality of feminine and masculine. What Italian feminists contend is that the supposed arbitrariness of gender assignation, long upheld by linguists from Saussare to Chomsky and Lepschy, is in fact an androcentric

7 I use the translation ‘sexed’ instead of ‘gendered’ deliberately here as it more clearly aligns with the Italian feminist notion that biological sex is integral to identity.

29 construct. The examination of arbitrariness focuses closely on the category of human referents. The issue for Italian feminist linguistics is that women, unless directly referred to, are not identified in the Italian language. The imposition of the masculine as the unmarked form and the correct form for collective agreement by early grammarians has effectively reduced women’s linguistic space to a minimum. For Italian feminists, other issues, such as stereotypical or derogatory representation and assumptions, are similar to the ones raised by their English- speaking counterparts.

For Italian feminist linguistics, the solution revolves around raising the visibility of women in the language. This means using gendered terms to indicate the presence of women and men in the language, rather than so-called generic terms, which are fraught with implications of a society populated solely by men. A society and a language which, while proclaiming universality, does not in fact recognise the originary difference of humans. The feminisation of the language, as opposed to the neutralisation of the language cited above, avoids this negation as it is based on the recognition of women as equally valuable members of society – as women (see also discussion of the Philosophy of Difference 1.1 Focus on Women). Rather than neutralising the concept of gender and sex difference, Italian feminists and advocates of language feminisation look to make women equally visible and able to occupy equal space in the language, relating this, at least in Italy, to the notion of dual occupancy of the planet. In Italy this is a reflection of the philosophy of difference that underpins the feminisms of this era, where women are seen as different both from men and between themselves.

What is required is a language that does not absorb them into the patriarchal concept of male universality. When speaking specifically of Italy, it is not difficult to see how the general development of the women’s movement over the last thirty years has led to the desire for a language able to represent a dual worldview rather than an androcentric universality. An androgynous language, or one that enshrined androcentric values, would be incongruous with the overall philosophy of the Italian women’s movement.

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What is of interest when comparing the Anglo-American direction of neutralisation to the Italian direction of feminisation is the extent to which the actual languages themselves may have influenced the philosophies underpinning this fundamental diversity. The two linguistic trends reflect two very different feminist philosophies and, if one adheres to the theories concerning language and worldview, this raises some interesting observations. Has the explicit identification of female and male as different genders within language influenced the feminisms that attempt to create a society of balanced occupation rather than androgynous unity? Studies of other languages with dual or multiple genders reflect some similarities (Thüne 1995), which indicates the complex interdependency of language, culture and society in the creation of worldview.

It can be seen, therefore, that if one applies the theories of language and world view to the philosophies underpinning the two directions of language modification, then neutralisation, which aims to avoid distinctions based on sex, is indicative of a neutral world view where the individual is paramount and sex is irrelevant. The feminisation of language in Italy indicates a sexed world view – a perception of the world where both sexes have equal relevance and right to exist but are not the same and are not interchangeable nor able to be subsumed into the other.

2.2 Women and Language

Much of the later section of this chapter will be devote to the linguaggio sessuato – or sexed language – that has become the practical expression of Italian feminist linguistics. To understand why Italian feminists chose this direction – that the language recognizes the gender of the speaker and recipient – it is necessary to understand some of the central influential themes. These themes can be roughly divided into the concepts of sexual difference, universality and subjectivity. It is through these themes that the reasons behind the sexed language become clear.

2.2a Early developments

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The identification of women’s language (la lingua della donna) is perhaps one of the earliest examples of how language is different for women and men. Many early feminist studies (and not just Italian) into language focused on the way women used language in their writing and speech. This early work often incorporated ideas about language as power and the use of words and silence as integral elements of this dynamic. These early explorations into women’s language have been renewed and redefined in more recent philosophical works into the “mother tongue” and the language of the mother undertaken by Diotima (a Veronese feminist philosophical group which is very active in researching and publishing women’s issues) and other Italian feminist linguists. The writings of women and the role of women within language factor in the concept of “female genealogy” where the links between women are explored and strengthened.

The late 1970s saw the publication of detailed texts. Even though these early texts were not feminist studies of language use, they contained some indications as to the directions these future studies would take. The authors of L’analisi del discorso discuss the manner in which texts/discourse is understood:

Il significato di un testo infatti non è solo nella sua struttura lineare ed esplicita ma anche, e a volte soprattutto, in ciò che presuppone, implicita, fa intendere. La manipolazione di un discorso raramente infatti passa per i suoi contentuti espliciti e manifesti che, in quanto tali, sono più facilmente sottoponibili a prove, discussioni, invalidazioni. Più insidiosi invece sono tutti quei contenuti, valori, asserzioni che, se pur non direttamente, un testo ci comunica. Analizzare un testo significa dunque non solo interrogarsi su quello che esso dice, ma anche su quello che suggerisce, insinua, lascia intendere. Si rendono qui però opportune ulteriori specificazioni. (Violi & Manetti 1979:136)

Violi and Manetti go on to discuss the various different elements of a discourse that they regard as carriers of implicit, rather than explicit, messages. The concept, however, that meaning is often transmitted on more than just the superficial level is an important element in Italian feminists’ motivation for analysing language.

Rossi (1978) was one of the first to write about these issues on a scale larger than the previous references in manifestos and journal articles. She discussed the role of

32 certain words and the various dichotomies they encapsulated. Words such as angelo/puttana, vergine/madre and donna. The main focus of the text is to provide a critique – more often a criticism – of the various slogans and terms used by Italian feminists and a presentation of some of the terms in use in Italian at the time and the connotations they held.

What is important in the context of this thesis is that Rossi identifies sexual difference as the most fundamental factor in determining women’s external and internal relationships. She primarily discusses women’s access to and use of spoken language and the role language plays in society. In her introduction she also notes that factions of the Italian feminist movement (though this is not exclusive to them by any means) vacillate between re-appropriating the language and refusing to use it – often resorting to silence. She is quite clear about her opinion of language while rejecting its possible neutrality.8 Throughout her book she often refers to the role of “desiderio” (desire) and the sexed nature of the speaker. The influence of the French feminist movement and in particular the work of Luce Irigaray is evident here.

The vicious circle of initially discovering female identities and that process of discovery being subsequently tainted by previously imposed representations is yet to be fully resolved. What the early writings of Italian feminists identified, however, was the crucial role language plays in all aspects of this conundrum.

The 1983 conference at Urbino Les femmes et les signes (Women and signs), looked at the link between the ‘I’ of a woman’s discourse and the way language presented women. Sbisà discusses the role of the io in female discourse and how women use language to express themselves and communicate and where they position themselves in discourse. Interested in “il soggetto femminile”, in her essay “Fra interpretazione e iniziativa” she states:

8 Rossi 1978. “D’altro canto, a chi legga la lingua con occhi ‘storici’ e alla ricerca dei suoi valori significativi appare del tutto evidente che il linguaggio verbale è fortemente (e inevitabilmente) modellato secondo gli schemi ideologici che insieme descrivono la attuale condizione della donna e tendono al tempo stesso a conservarla.” p.20

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“La mia prospettiva, come ho già accennato, è quella di cercare l’enunciatore nei testi e a partire dai testi in cui si manifesta. Dunque l’enunciatore al femminile, se c’è qualcosa di simile la si dovrà cercare nel linguaggio delle donne, nella maniera in cui le donne parlano” (Sbisa 1985, p. 39).

At the same conference Mizzau (1985) discussed irony and its possible use in challenging ideas about women’s relationship to language. Two years later (Mizzau 1987) she discusses language as discourse, and in relation to women and men, as a form of power. She sets the context within the genre of the novel explaining how words are instruments of power and how silence, “il non detto”9, is equally an element of the implementation of power. Women’s use of speech and silence was also a key element of Ginevra Bompiani’s (1985) paper “Parola e silenzio femminile nella fiaba.”

The importance of female symbology in language features in many of the feminist works. Goux (1987) also looks into spirituality and discusses the female symbol and its denigration within the paradigm of society’s focus on the sky and the corresponding masculine symbolism. This idea also appears in later works such as Piano 1992. An interesting discussion on the supposedly arbitrary allocation of gender to natural symbols such as the ‘sun’ and ‘moon’ can be found in Violi’s and Zamboni’s work. Much of this work can also be related to the theories about binary opposites found in Braidotti (1985), Violi (1986) and Zamboni (1995)

The linking of symbols and silence in language to women does have a place in the discourse on language and worldview. While it does not directly deal with language structure in the same way as the works of Sabatini, Violi or Irigaray, it focuses on the discourse of difference that is central to understanding the linguistic direction favoured by many Italian feminists. What had arisen – and continues to be supported as the later work testifies – is that women not only use language

9 Mizzau 1987, p. 24 (In the opening paragraphs of her article Mizzau details the levels of communication with a given discourse): “La comunicazione prende quindi la strada dell’obliquità: le intenzioni manifeste stanno per altre intenzioni, il divario tra significante e significato può essere tale che quanto detto vuole indicare l’opposto, i rifiuti possono essere offerte e parole d lotta richieste d’amore, le proposte più innocue divenire sfide, e silenzi comunicare messaggi intricati. Il non detto prevale sul detto.”

34 differently from men but they are placed differently within language as well. This basic premise can be seen in the development of a strong and complex fascination with women’s place in language that became the focus of the discussions on universality, sexual difference and subjectivity. Italian feminist linguists generally support a fairly strong interpretative version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis – where language strongly influences worldview and thus linguistic components are strongly indicative of social structures and assumptions.

2.2a.1 Women’s relationship with language

One of the areas examined by feminists was the way in which women were expected the ‘use’ language. An early article of the 1990s “Storia di un percorso di donne attraverso la parola. Alla fine fu il verbo” (Geracioti & Santoro 1990) looked at the authors experience with words, with thoughts and with the way the women around them communicated.10 They note that speaking plainly or directly was not allowed, and this meant that women were not accustomed to and indeed discouraged from speaking in the first person and of examining their own sense of self and place in the world –(in ‘proprio’, a seguire l’impulso originario d’interrogarsi sul mondo e su noi stesse nel mondo, a porci domande, a darci risposto). According to Geracioti and Santoro the end of this tradition came with rise of feminism and the practice of autocoscienza in the early seventies. This space allowed women to expose and reject many of the unspoken conditions of the past and to freely use words without a discrepancy between thought and speech. Women took up the right to speak and discovered themselves as subjects of discourse. The authors also reflect on, returning to the discussions on feminisms, the role of thought and language:

Il pensiero non era rivelato nelle parole dette, il pensiero stava altrove: in un gesto, in un lapo dello sguardo, in un tono marcato, in una pausa. [...] il pensiero era avvertito pericoloso, enunciarlo direttamente avrebbe significato rivelare se stesse, mettersi nelle mani delle altre, affidarsi, per cui il pensiero andava espresso solo attraverso le griglie protettive dei luoghi comuni. (Geracioti & Santoro 1990, p.10)

10 Geracioti & Santoro 1990, p. 10 “All’inizio di noi donne, dunque, c’era la parola-non-detta, la parola bisbiglio, la frantumazione di un pensiero che si cercava dietro l’ambiguo, un gioco di rimando tra il detto il taciuto il sottointeso. La parola-non-detta si esprimeva come abbiamo ricostruito storicamente e vissuto personalmente.”

35

The development of woman as a subject led to the examination of the relationships between women. Thus female genealogy – the links between women over time – and the identification of language trends were important in the development of Italian feminisms.

Piano (1992) begins with the premise – voiced since the early 1970s - that women are estranged from the world because they do not have their own symbolic dimension within it. Piano revisits the place of women as objects of discourse and as being spoken and symbolised by masculine culture and not by themselves:

Il femminile si costituisce nella lingua per via negativa o come ciò che non è maschile, ossia come scarto, o come ciò che essendo superfluo è facilmente riassorbibile. (Piano 1992, p. 28)

She relates this to the place of the mother and the origin of language which comes through/from her. She questions the supposedly necessary separation of the self from the mother required of androcentric culture. This is linked with the masculine positioning as universal and how it factors in defining women:

La proliferazione dei termini negativi per definire la donna è il risultato di procedimenti metaforici eufemistici e iperbolici. Lo spazio semantico negativo femminile fa capo al potere di nominazione attraverso cui gli uomini si sono costituiti come unici soggetto di linguaggio. [..]Gli strumenti della sociolinguistica mettevano in rilievo quanto c’era da dire sulla lingua dei dominanti e sulla forte esposizione dei dominati alla frode linguistica, alla manipolazione informativa, alla disinformazione. (Piano 1992, p. 28-29)

The use of the “words of men” (le parole degli altri ) is addressed by Italian feminist linguists. Much of their linguistic research discusses the manner in which women attempt to represent and understand their experience of the world by writing about it. Observations by feminist linguists regarding language and its role in the creation of identity and one’s understanding of the world indicate a growing preoccupation with language’s role as a medium between ourselves and the world. Violi (1981) refers directly to the process of mediation:

Nessuna scrittura <> è possibile perché è già la parola, per la sua stessa struttura, a porre una mediazione fra sé e ciò di cui parla, fra il soggetto e l’esperienza vissuta. (1981, p.13)

36

Being defined by men, through and beyond the use of language, can be seen in many of the comments made by Italian feminists. From the early words of Mozzoni (see 1.1, p. 4), the need for women to create their own definition of self has been recognized. For Italian feminists it is sexual difference and the role of il soggetto sessuato that leads them to creating the means of achieving their own definition.

2.2b Universality

The placement of masculine subjectivity as the universal is evident in the discussions about the female subject and the sexed subject. The discourse of universality has been identified as a predominant factor in the lack of female autonomy. The influence of an androcentrically determined universality is wide ranging. While feminist linguistics is still a relatively new dimension in the field of ethnolinguistics and sociolinguistics, these two fields have been developing since the end of the 19th century and have contributed greatly to our understanding of worldview, but they have also supported masculine subjectivity as a supposedly universal objectivity.

Violi (1986) for example, in discussing the approach of linguistic studies towards the concept of pre-semiotic versus culturally constructed meaning, focused on the nature of linguistic studies themselves. As Violi points out, this conceptualisation of masculine subjectivity as the norm has influenced a wide variety of discourses that directly influence the creation of gender:

[..]in tutte le lingue si riscontra una tendenza ad investire di simbolizzazioni sessuali gli elementi naturali della esperienza. Le strutture linguistiche vengono utilizzate per dare una base figurativa a questo investimento e in tal modo dare un fondamento concreto alle rappresentazioni simboliche. (Violi 1986, p. 75)

This androcentric perception of the world is embedded in the language system and reflected in its symbolism and structure. In relation to this view of language Violi is

37 of the opinion that grammatical gender is not arbitrary and that as a consequence language itself is not a neutral system.

Marcato (1995), examines some of the etymological developments of female symbols. She says, in regards to the relation between language, culture and society:

Non si tratta infatti, come ormai da tempo è stato messo in luce dagli studiosi, di un banale rispecchiarsi dell’una nelle forme dell’altra, ma del rapporto tra distinti sistemi di segni, ognuno dei quali è una risposta simbolica ai bisogni sempre nuovi imposti dalla storia. (Marcato 1995, p. 64)

This article introduces some of the early work that looked at sexual difference in language, and the masculine bias of the presentation of the data. As she notes, it was not until the 1970s and 1980s that women began to analyse female language:

Negli anni ‘70-’80 sono per la prima volta delle studiose a porre il problema della lingua al femminile, analizzando, prevalentemente secondo modalità testuali, la pianificazione del discorso e la sua dimensione pragmatica, finendo per mettere in risalto, nella forma del dialogo, indicatori di differenziazione sessuale. (Marcato 1995, p. 70)

Central to the issue of universality is the positioning of women as the opposite of men. This binary opposition has impacted on women’s perception of self and the world around them as well as their ability to remove themselves from an androcentrically defined and controlled space. Magli (1985) poses the problem of women being estranged from language within the paradigm of language, identity and worldview. She discusses the ways women have begun to look for a way out of this dilemma; to remove themselves from the place of Other in the universal masculine discourse. The question is how and where to find this identity. Magli (1985, p. 13) refers to journalist Rossana Rossanda, who for decades kept up an intellectual dialogue with various feminists, in Orsa Minore Vol. 1 (a feminist journal) and specifically to her question on what is an existence that has not been thought, nor passed on through one’s own language and culture, and whether it was possible for women to ask themselves whether it is now possible to use language as a departure point for redefining themselves and freeing themselves from ‘masculine knowledge’ (chiedersi se oggi sia possibile per loro di ridefinirsi liberandosi dal sapere maschile proprio a partire dal linguaggio?). The premise that speech is not

38 neutral and the place of the subject in relation to the androcentric notion of universality is also discussed here. Magli examines the notion of difference as an imperfect state within the androcentric framework. According to Magli, it is here, in this unbalanced phase, that women have the possibility to develop new structures and new types of organisation.

Mizzau (1981) also recognised this dichotomy. She discusses, more explicitly, the problem of using a language that has already been codified by men:

Mi sembra che in questa lotta contro la ragnatela di parole si rispecchi un’esigenza anche del movimento femminista, di alcuni suoi momenti, nella ricerca di una lingua a contatto diretto con l’esperienza, con l’oggetto o con il soggetto, non mediata dalle parole altrui. (Mizzau 1981, p. 21)

Braidotti (1985) discussed the notion of binary opposites within the context of public and private spheres:

…attraverso i secoli e una serie di variazioni intorno ad una tema comune, il <> sia stato definito come il privato, ciò che è dell’ordine della physis, della meterai, della natura, del corpo, dei sensi, della passione, dell’irrazionale; mentre il <>, all’opposto, viene identificato con il pubblico, il logos, la cultura, la ragione e il razionale. (Braidotti 1985, p. 24)

This, she explains, has led to the identification of woman as not just an opposite of man but as the opposite: L’opposizione dialettica ha lavorato dunque a detrimento del <> risolvendosi nella sua sistematica svalorizzazione. This representation of women as unable to enter into the ‘public’ sphere has been signified in the symbolic system as well.

According to Braidotti (1985) the feminist exploration into philosophic discourse, combined with an internal crisis in contemporary European philosophy regarding theories about rationality, has thrown the long held ideas about binary opposition and subjectivity into disarray.

The question is, therefore, how to extract ourselves from the vast philosophical heredity. The roles of power and politics are part of this discourse. Braidotti

39 discusses the ideas of Foucault, Deleuze and Marcuse in relation to these issues and their conception of the body. Her concern is what model of sexuality they have in mind when they speak of the body and how does that impact on sexual difference. Braidotti notes that this has led to a desexualisation of the subject where the weight of being the same – not differentiated – is upon women. Combined with this is the absence of a real vision of the female.11 What is required is an unmasking of the sexist nature of philosophic discourse.12 Braidotti states that women must take possession of the symbols and the right to speak in order to extricate themselves from a system that holds them as other and the masculine as universal. In this way women will be able to redefine subjectivity that is able to incorporate an infinite multiplicity of differences (un’infinita molteplicità di differenze).

Muraro, an academic feminist philosopher and member of the Diotima group, has written many articles on the theories of thought and female thought (il pensiero della differenza and il pensiero femminile); beginning with the underlying assertion that being sexed as female or male influences the way one thinks about the world. In a 1987 workshop at il Centro culturale Virginia Woolf on “The practice of disparity” (La pratica della disparità), Muraro (1987a) discussed the work of Diotima (ref. p. 30) and the book Il pensiero della differenza sessuale (Diotima 1987). Her focus on the different way women think about the world and her rejection of the validity of universality are pertinent to the developing idea that women needed to signify their presence in language, to make language like society reflect and represent their presence equally and autonomously.

11 Braidotti 1985, p. 33 “Recentemente la loro ridefinizione della coscienza conduce ad un programma denso di desessualizzazione del soggetto che marca l’abolizione della differenza sessuale in un <> sessualmente indifferenziato. Questa radicale rottura implica che il peso dell’<> è sottratto alle donne e che la filosofia è divenuta ricettiva al <> che essa aveva contribuito a escludere. Ciò che tuttavia, ad una più attenta osservazione, mi ha maggiormente colpito, è l’assenza di una visione reale delle donne in queste nuove immagini del <>:.” 12 Ibid. p.34 “La pretesa all’universalità dal soggetto razionale è criticata nel momento in cui sono rivelati i pregiudizi maschili dell’intero processo. Questi pregiudizi implicano la denigrazione sistematica del <>. La tattica discorsiva che deve essere adottata consiste nello smascherare i pregiudizi sessuali insiti nel discorso filosofico: si tratta cioè di sessualizzare una forma di pensiero che si pretende universale.”

40 Muraro (1987b) (re)visits the notion of universal thought and objectivity in relation to her experience and evolution as a philosopher. She notes the attraction, especially for women, of being supposedly able to transcend gender when discussing concepts such as truth, justice, inventions and the like. She reveals her own difficulties with the theories of neutral and sexed thought and the initial separation of the two ways that finally became impossible to sustain:

Essendo filosofa, sapevo bene che la necessità fa che le cose siano, senza che noi dobbiamo metterci le nostre forze. Ma nel mondo che frequentavo da neutro per difesa e per finta non c’era alcuna necessità di me e questa superfluità si attaccava anche all’altro mondo, quello che volevo salvare dall’irrealtà. (Muraro 1987b, p. 22)

She examines objectivity and subjectivity and says that women are able to obtain a supposed objective, neutral position, but what has actually occurred, according to Muraro, is that they have withdrawn, often with great success, their female subjectivity and replaced it with a male subject. The unrecognised or unacknowledged masculine subjectivity of alleged neutral thought is symbolised in language:

Nelle nostre lingue, neutro e maschile si confondono e nomi che dovrebbero significare indifferentemente individui di sesso maschile e femminile, come il latino homo, facilmente assumono nell’uso un significato soltanto maschile. Fatti simili – si dice – rivelano come il sedicente neutro in realtà sia un maschile. (Muraro 1987, p. 22)

Interestingly Muraro states that the ‘neutral’ is not so much a cover for the masculine but rather for the feminine, where all that women produce is absorbed without representation.

Tommasi (1987) discusses neutrality and the problem of a sexed language and discourse structure. It serves as a summary of and a reminder as to why the Italian feminist linguistic direction is towards feminisation of the language rather than neutralisation. Tommasi returns us to the idea that thought is neither neutral nor universal, and that the point of view of the objective observer is definitely present (‘ben presente’). She notes too, as did Muraro, that women are all too often fascinated by the possibility of a neutral thought, particularly after having struggled

41 to achieve recognition in their field. Yet, as Tommasi, points out, this relegates them to being good students:

[...] delle buone allieve, delle buone divulgatrici, ripetitrici del pensiero altrui, riusciamo a scrivere solo dei buoni – talvolta ottimi – commenti, delle esegesi accurate. (Tommasi 1987, p. 102)

The use of the Echo and Narcissus myth illustrates her point – Echo can only ever repeat words, not speak her own. Her question arising from this dilemma is how to escape from being the eternal echoes of androcentric culture and thought without falling into silence given one’s alienation from language. She writes:

[...]volendo portare nella parola il segno della differenza sessuale che non è ancora stata significata, sono sospesa fra la cancellazione della mia differenza sessuale nel linguaggio (neutro) e una parola che tenta di parlare nel vuoto, fra il linguaggio già dato e la lingua mancante, che ancora non ha preso a parlare. (Tommasi 1987, p. 105)

Tommasi sees the solution in female mediation (mediazione femminile), where women speak to and refer to each other in order to exit from silence and create an appropriate symbology.

Debunking the myth of male subjectivity as the universal is seen as a fundamental elements of the progression from a society which devalues and discriminates against women. The primary means for achieve this relies on the practice of female mediation, where women give value to each other rather than relying on the external and alienating conceptions of the dominant and androcentric language and culture.

2.2c Sexual difference

Sexual difference is a key element in Italian feminist linguistics and an important factor in the deconstruction of universality. Much of the early influence for the development of this theory came from the work of French feminist Luce Irigaray. In her many works the essential nature of sex difference is central to her theories. In relation to the sexualisation of discourse she gave it primary importance saying:

42 “La sessuazione del discorso è una questione fra le più importanti della nostra epoca.” (Irigaray 1987, p. 1).

She names three different reasons for this. The first reason is that sexual difference is necessary for the continuation of the species, both in the fundamental biological sense of reproduction and also in the more abstract sense of the regeneration of life. The second reason is that the state or place of sexual difference is linked to the culture and its language(s). Our culture, according to Irigaray, is impoverished in that it does not incorporate a sexual culture and must turn to nature, plants and animals in order to understand sexual secrets and roles. The third and last reason is the domination of women by men and the notion of universality caused by this lack of sexual culture.13 She discusses the position of women in society and in language from a number of different angles.

Irigaray had close links with Italian feminisms and in particular with the northern Italian feminist collective the Milan women’s bookshop (La libreria delle donne di Milano). Her work on language and gender and the concept of sexual difference was extremely important to the early development of Italian feminisms. Her two works Speculum (Irigaray 1977) and Questo sesso che non è un sesso (Irigaray 1978) were influential in the discourse of difference and language. The idea that language is a means of expression created and controlled by an androcentric society is not new in many different feminist discourses. Irigaray (1985) said:

Ma fino ad ora il soggetto che dava forma era sempre maschile. E questa sua struttura ha certo informato, a sua insaputa, la cultura, la storia delle idee. Esse non sono neutre.

What Irigaray did was debunk the myth of the universal subject and explore the idea of the sexed subject.14 She recognised that at present:

13 Irigaray 1987, p.1 “Questa ingiustizia sociale e culturale, oggi dimenticata, va interpretata e cambiata per liberare i nostri potenziali nei sistemi di scambio e nei mezzi di creazione.” 14 I use the term “sexed” here quite deliberately. “Gendered” tends to carry sociological baggage and what Irigaray and, later, Italian feminists were meaning was much more fundamental and originary than one’s gendered identity. In Bono & Kemp 1991 the term il pensiero sessuato is translated as sexed thought pp181-185

43 Il femminile resta in un materno-matricale ancora amorfo, fonte di creazione, di procreazione, ma non formato esso stesso come soggetto di parola autonomo. L’evento o l’anastrofe (piuttosto che la <>?) soggettiva del femminile non ha ancora avuto luogo.

In stating that the female was yet to become a subject, Irigaray also exposed the fallacy of the universal subject and the need to address the unacknowledged (and she suggests unknown) influence of male subjectivity. The male rejection of difference as anything other than opposition or inferiority is well documented in feminist work. Irigaray and Italian feminists reclaimed the notion of difference as essential and undertook the task of exploring how this difference could be expressed positively and not merely reduced to simplistic binarism. Irigaray also makes the point that men need to acknowledge the biased nature of their observations and realise that, in fact, what has been considered universal is only representative of a male worldview.15

Irigaray’s point is that much of the way we see the world and interact with it has been codified in the language we speak. She suggests that women, given the different manner in which they relate to the world, would have different approaches and thus different ways of speaking about the world. This would be possible if, on the one hand, those differences were acknowledged and listened to and, on the other, if men recognised that their own discourse is coloured by their sex’s relationship to the world. Certainly Irigaray’s arguments regarding gender, sex and worldview are much more complex but her identification of the 'originary' or essential difference between the sexes had a significant impact on the development of Italian feminist philosophies and linguistic policies.

Italian feminists soon began to explore sexual difference on their own terms. Violi (1986) incorporated many of the ideas discussed by Irigaray and other early feminist

15 Irigaray 1978. p.288 “Il discorso dell’uomo si perpetua come linguaggio sorpassato dal potere tecnico di formalizzioni scientifiche, generandosi secondo le loro necessità e producendo effetti di distruzione e di creazione di universi che sfuggono alla coscienza. L’uomo accompagna, participa, assiste o annulla quei processi come per caso. Caso di connessioni o interferenze che gli sfuggono, e la cui relazione con una dinamica dei flussi, all’opera fuori dal controllo della ragione, sarebbe ancora da pensare?”

44 writers on language; basing her premise on the conviction that sexual difference and language play a crucial role in the social perception of gender:

Questo libro è nato da una convinzione e da molte domande. La convinzione è che la differenza sessuale sia una dimensione fondamentale della nostra esperienza e della nostra vita e che non esista sfera della nostra attività che non ne sia in qualche modo marcata, segnata, attraversata. (Violi 1986, p. 9)

She felt that language played the dual role of reflecting and creating social reality and one’s personal subjectivity. The purpose of her work was to examine the way sexual difference is symbolised in language, the role of linguistic theories and the possibilities for the expression of female subjectivity. One of the key issues that concerned her was the relationship between biological sex and cultural gender and the role of language in the process:

È proprio il passaggio dal sesso in quanto biologia e dato naturale, al genere in quanto risultato di processi semiotici e linguistici di costruzione di senso, il luogo privilegiate della mia ricerca. (Violi 1986 p. 12)

The theories behind Violi’s ‘Le origini del genere grammaticale’ (Violi 1987) are from the second chapter of L’infinito singolare: Considerazioni sulle differenze sessuali nel linguaggio (Violi 1986). She discusses the links between grammatical gender, sexual difference and reality. She repeats that she does not agree that grammatical gender is an arbitrary and unmotivated category, the main focus being that grammatical gender is found in many different languages and that the form the category takes is dependent on the type of society. There exists, she argues, a relationship between category and experience:

L’iscrizione della differenza sessuale nella lingua, attraverso l’organizzazione dei generi, contribuisce certamente a simbolizzare in un certo modo tale differenze e quindi la nostra percezione e categorizzazione della realtà, influendo sulla nostra visione del mondo. (Violi 1987, p. 10)

Her purpose is not to uncover the origin of that relationship – if that were in fact possible – but how sexual difference is thought within that paradigm. In the section of her essay ‘Arbitrarietà o ordine determinato’ she presents some of the work by linguists and scholars such as Meillet, Lyon, Martinet and Sapir, and linguistic directions in general. She concludes that attributing grammatical gender as arbitrary

45 or, at best, as having only a communicative function, does not adequately explain this linguistic categorisation.

In the chapter ‘Simbolismo e categorie naturali’, she discusses the phenomenon of grammatical gender in relation to a number of different terms across a range of different languages. Within this discussion Violi also looks at etymological developments in relation to words such as ‘sun’ and ‘moon’ and the more general changes in perception of gendered terms which have resulted in their attributes being reversed.16 She discusses the state of the feminine in the chapter ‘La riduzione del femminile’ and how it relates to a binary scheme that only allows two possibilities; positive and negative. She presents this concept in relation to the works of Langendoen (1969) who used ‘/+masculine/’ to mark the male and ‘/- masculine/’ to mark the female. This formula was used in more or less the same manner by many other linguists. She notes Greimas (1968) used a slightly different structure with ‘masculine and feminine’ and ‘non-feminine and non-masculine’, but this in turn became reduced to ‘masculine ------non-masculine = feminine’. As Violi points out the masculine became the primary term and the feminine became his opposite. This binary opposition will be discussed in more depth in the section relating to subjectivity and the sexed subject. Violi is quick to add that the masculine is therefore just as dependent on the feminine making her his negation, his other. This choice has determined the organisation of sexual difference within most languages. Violi states:

La scelta del maschile come termine primo (o non-marcato) ha determinato l’organizzazione della differenza sessuale nella forma in cui oggi si presenta entro la maggior parte delle lingue che conosciamo. (Violi 1987, p. 17)

Violi considers this positioning to have had an integral effect on semantic organisation at the most fundamental structural level of meaning. She goes on to discuss the ways in which the dominant masculine position in most (if not all)

16 Violi 1987, p. 15 Here Violi uses the work of Wensinck (1927) and Markale (1972): “In particolare Wensinck (1927) avanza un’ipotesi assai simile a quella che cinquant’anni dopo Markale sosterrà a proposito dell’indoeuropeo primitivo. Secondo Wensinck vi sarebbe stato uno stadio arcaico, precendente al patriarcato e all’avvento delle religioni monoteiste (Giudaesimo e Islamismo) in cui era il femminile as essere associato all’idea di forza e potere.”

46 gendered languages absorbs the female, becomes the ‘non-marked’ form and determines grammatical agreement of verbs and pronoun use in mixed groups or with unspecified or communal gender subjects (i.e. “si pensa” o “chi vuole”). Violi indicates that this ‘non marked’ or generic usage is incorrect and at times illogical – “L’uomo allatta i suoi piccoli.” In her opinion:

Come sempre le espressioni linguistiche non sono innocenti espedienti grammaticali, ma forme che caratterizzano la nostra percezione della realtà e la sua costruzione simbolica. (Violi 1987, p. 17)

She goes on to present the many asymmetric ways in which the feminine and masculine are used in language and the fact that women are rarely if ever, autonomous subjects. She looks at research into dictionaries by Guirand (1978) and Yaguello (1978), both of whom found that woman is most likely to be represented in terms of her sexual availability and usefulness to men.17 Violi concludes that women are excluded and alienated from language because linguistic symbols have been determined by a patriarchal order that recognises sexual difference in terms of positive (i.e. + masculine) and negative (i.e. – masculine = feminine).18 The paradoxical situation that women find themselves in when using language – La parola è posta come antagonista all’essere donna – is that they must forget their sex in order to speak and they can not negate their sexual difference as un soggetto sessuato. This is the place, rather than the way of silence or refutation, according to Violi that women must explore.

Violi (1986) identifies the need for language to more closely represent the philosophies of Italian feminist theory. She rejects the ‘desessualizzazione’ or neutralisation of the language evident in English (among others) and also the radical feminist tendency to use the feminine as the universal. What she sees is a need for a deeper and more fundamental change that relates to the perception of the speaker as much as to the words that are spoken:

17 a factor that has been noted by other scholars as well: see Piano 1992, Bressan 1999, Chiantera 1998 and Chapter Six – La parola a lavoro in this thesis. 18 Violi 1987, p. 18 “L’ordine patriarcale ha profondamente impresso il suo segno nella forma linguistica delimitando e circoscrivendo le forme stesse della nominazione. La differenza sessuale è ridotta a scarto, a risiduo negativo, che la struttura simbolica del linguaggio riflette e riproduce.”

47

Il lessico tuttavia rappresenta solo la manifestazione di superficie dell’organizzazione semantica profonda; limitarsi a questo livello preclude la possibilità di indagare le strutturazioni profonde che sottostanno alla manifestazione lessicale e che la determinano. (Violi 1986, p. 208)

This direction is related to the notion of dual occupancy and thus the necessity for the development of female subjectivity and the recognition of male subjectivity rather than the patriarchal creation of universal objectivity. In doing so, present gender positions and perceptions in society will be unmasked, enabling the parallel development of language and society towards a more balanced situation. Violi’s approach to linguistic change is based on the development of the female subject which she sees as having been subsumed and negated by patriarchal symbolic systems:

Lo spostamento è da ricercarsi in una direzione che, come ho cercato di mostrare, tende a fare interagire e mettere in relazione (ma non a mediare) i termini contrapposti per produrre parole e discorsi in cui la differenza comincia ad esprimersi, in cui comincia a realizzarsi l’ancoraggio con il soggetto che parla, con la sua esperienza, con la sua realtà psicofisica.’ (Violi 1986, p. 212)

Violi saw her work as a means of raising awareness of the fundamental importance of language in the overall movement towards recognition and parity. She was not alone in her desire to contribute to the feminist linguistic discourse.

Zamboni (1995) takes up Violi’s discussion regarding the problematic notion of the arbitrariness of signs in relation to language and sexual difference. She begins with De Saussure and goes on to discuss the position of the concept of arbitrary links between the signifier and the signified in twentieth-century linguistics. It was not until recently that women in the area of linguistics and philosophy have begun their own examination of this concept:

Nella medesima area post-strutturalista, al contrario, l’immotivazione del segno ha inquietato linguiste e filosofe del linguaggio. Nel senso etimologico della parola: non le ha lasciate nella loro quiete; le ha messe in movimento alla ricerca di qualcosa che aggirasse l’arbitrarietà, avvertita come il segnale più evidente della immotivazione. (Zamboni 1995, p. 55)

48 Zamboni then presents the various works on this area by women such as Kristeva, Violi, Muraro, Irigaray and Cixous. Her summary is succinct and clear, and revolves around the link between body (corpo) and language. She says of their work:

Le linguiste e le filosofe del linguaggio, di cui ha parlato sopra, sanno di legame tra linguaggio ed essere…… Hanno caricato il riferimento linguistico al corpo della responsabilità di tenere aperto il legame con il mondo. (Zamboni 1995, p. 61)

This is an interesting essay that differentiates between the arbitrary link between sign and thing and the real link between signifier and signified. Zamboni holds that an acceptance of this link between body, language and the world would enable an expansion of new linguistic studies and place arbitrariness in perspective. This essay links to Italian feminisms’ theories regarding il soggetto sessuato and the need to create and develop appropriate forms of linguistic mediation.

The impact of language on one’s worldview is, therefore, considerable. Violi and Zamboni both emphasis the problematic relationship between women and a language that does not allow them to express themselves and their experiences - their subjectivity. This is a theme that also ran through much of the earlier comments on women and language and is an integral factor in the move towards a language that would represent the experiences of both genders.

Femminile e maschile tra pensiero e discorso (eds Cordin et al 1995) contained essays by familiar names in Italian feminisms that dealt with the issue of female subjectivity in language. This collection explored the possible new ways and relationships women have with each other, the world and men:

Se il femminile non accetta più di essere classificato semplicemente dalla parte della passività, della cura, della natura, della irrazionalità, se non gli basta più annullarsi in una uguaglianza-assimilazione all’umano-maschile, né glorificarsi di una ricostruita mitologia del femminile, non è tuttavia chiaro quale sia la fisionomia che vuole disegnare, e se veramente se ne debba prefissare una….. …L’elaborazione di un concetto di identità umana che mantenga viva la tensione tra femminile e maschile, che abbracci una conoscenza razionale, la quale non escluda di necessità le emozioni, impone la ricerca di un linguaggio capace di dire una diversità che sia infinito differire. (eds Cordin et al 1995, p. 9)

49 It poses some questions and suggests some answers as to how new ways and relationships will manifest themselves, and in what ways the traces of such changes can be found in philosophy, literature and language.

Cavarero (1995) and Braidotti (1995), for example, both discussed the feminine and masculine within the philosophic paradigms of sexual difference and subjectivity. Cavarero focuses on the rejection of the universal for a multiplicity of female and male images. Braidotti also discusses this, but narrows her argument to the analysis of three levels of sexual difference: the differences between women and men (I livello: Le differenza tra uomo e donna), between women (II livello: Le differenze tra donne), and within each woman (III livello: Le differenze dentro ciascuna.) These theories have a central place in feminist linguistic discourse(s).

Other Italian feminists who discuss the importance of the female-male dialectic and the arbitrary nature of meaning and signs, such as Zamboni, Braidotti and Piussi will be discussed in section 2.2d (Universality).

2.2d Subjectivity – il soggetto sessuato

The early explorations into the relationship between women and language identified the need for women to not only find their place within language but also create a language that more readily, if not accurately reflected their sense of self and their experience of the world. As mentioned in the first chapter the Italian feminist philosophy holds sexual difference as an originary factor in defining our existence. Dominijanni (1987, p. 129) states:

[..]language is the social dress. In other words it is the symbolic apparatus which makes sayable what is, so giving sense to what a human being lives inside him/herself and which can be the death of him/her if he/she can’t externalise it by signifying it to others.

Elena (1977, p. 70) from the collective Movimento Femminista Romano, makes similar comments:

50 Woman is always excluded from life and from the language that expresses this life, because all her psycho-physiological factors are excluded, and in their place is the attribute-attribution that according to male preconception expresses woman.

Hellman (1987) too identifies the essential problem with a language and underlines the conundrum of discovering one’s subjectivity while extracting oneself from an imposed identity:

The essential argument was that language is based on a masculine symbolic universe and that the way in which reality is presented is shaped by a model derived from male sexuality. Milanese feminists involved in this discussion asserted that language itself is ‘masculine’ and women are constrained to express themselves using male language and symbols. Moreover, women themselves tend to view other women with men’s eyes. (1987, p. 88)

The recognition of one’s own subjectivity – soggettività – and the recognition that women and men have different subjectivity are essential. While in many ways it is difficult to separate this idea of subjectivity from the more encompassing one of universality, it is useful to read what feminist linguists thought. What becomes apparent in the work on subjectivity and identity is the role of female mediation – where women learn to define and value themselves according to other women and not according to traditional, androcentric notions.

In the spring of 1981 the editorial collective of Nuova Dwf – Donna Woman Femme published a collection of essays titled Luna e l’altro. Under discussion was the question of who and or what is woman. In the introduction, “Rappresentazione e autorappresentazione del femminile”, the key issues of the multiplicity of identities and the difficulty of finding, uncovering or constructing female identities are discussed. This search for identity is problematic in an environment already filled with imposed and limited representations of woman as this piece from the introduction shows:

Non crediamo in un soggetto, la donna, che in quanto tale goda il privilegio dell’immunità dalle costruzioni stereotipiche che gli altri hanno dato di lei, il cui sguardo si rivolga innocente verso se stessa in una ipotetica immediatezza di contatto……Illusorietà di credere che si possa fare tutto ciò per sé, su di sé, pretesa quasi paradossale di descriversi e narrarsi sospendendo le interazioni con gli altri, con le parole degli altri. (Nuova dwf Ed. 1981, p.8)

51 It is in Irigaray’s early work that we can see the development of the ‘I’ of the discourse in women’s writings to the identification of the sexed subject. The thought of difference (Il pensiero della differenza), which underlies Irigaray’s work, is essential in understanding the aims of Italian feminists and sexed language. The creation of a female subject implies much more than language changes – A female subject calls for changes in the symbolic order that defines scientific, philosophical and socio-cultural knowledge. Irigaray’s (1987a) aim is to analyse the sexual elements (marche sessuali) in language production. Her three corpora are taken from French speakers of both genders and discussed within the paradigm of psychoanalysis. Her results are illuminating. What the various tests uncover is that males are more likely to place themselves, directly through the use of je (I - io) or indirectly through the use of il (he - lui), as the subject. Females are much less likely to do so, either directly as je or indirectly as elle (she - lei), and, in fact, have a higher usage of il than the males. Irigaray suggests that this indicates the difficulty women have in viewing themselves as the subject in language.

These differences, according to Irigaray, require further examination. She poses several questions that her initial research has highlighted. The first is whether these differences are the effects of language or society. The inter-linked nature of the two phenomena is relevant as she notes:

La lingua è un effetto di sedimentazioni di epoche di comunicazione sociale. Essa non è universale né neutra né intangibile. Non ci sono schemi linguistici esistenti da sempre nel cervello di ogni soggetto parlante. Ogni epoca ha le sue necessità, crea i suoi ideali e li impone come tali. Alcuni sono storiciamente più resistenti di altri. Gli ideali sessuali ne sono un buon esempio. Questi ideali a poco a poco hanno imposto le loro norme alla nostra lingua. Così in francese. (Irigaray 1987a, pp. 69-70)*

* E in italiano, con alcune diversità (N. di T.)

Irigaray reminds us that the masculine gender dominates the syntax; canceling the feminine and this has an impact on how one notices and experiences subjectivity. She also reminds us that the so-called neutral, generic and impersonal is the same as the masculine:

52 L’uomo mostra di aver voluto, direttamente o indirettamente, dare il suo genere all’universo così come ha voluto dare il suo nome al figli, alla moglie, ai suoi beni. Ciò pesa gravemente sul rapporto dei sessi con il mondo, le cose, gli oggetti. (Irigaray 1987a, p. 70)

She concludes that the differences in the discourses of women and men are results of the effects of language and society which cannot be changed or modified independently of the other. Irigaray also maintains that gender is an important, if not essential dimension of the creation and perpetuation of culture, but there is a need for rebalancing the relationship between language, society and culture.

The process of balancing requires different strategies. There is a need for those working for gender freedom to consider the impact of sexual markers and rules in language and link them to cultural expression. She also notes that women are more aware of the application of the sexed subject, usually masculine, in their discourse, while men are not. This indicates not only that women perceive themselves as external to the dominant discourse but that they need to become the subjects of their discourse. Irigaray wonders whether society is ready to move from considering sex as pathological and instead give it its place in human culture:

La questione, dunque, è di sapere se le nostre civiltà sono sul punto di considerare il sesso come una patologia, una tara, un residuo di animalità o se sono finalmente abbastanza adulte per dargli il suo statuto culturale umano. (Irigaray 1987a, p. 71)

She states that if this is to happen it will occur through the evolution of a sexual dimension of language and all other means of exchange.

The need for woman/women to find the way to become subjects, and at the same time to define what is meant by subject, is central. Zamboni (1987) discusses the various themes that cross from Irigaray’s earlier work to the present and focuses on the linking theme of the mother-daughter relationship. Zamboni expresses the dilemma of how to confront the dominant masculine culture and its language:

La questione parallela e conseguente suona così: come regolarsi allora nei confronti della cultura maschile e del suo linguaggio, all’interno del quale siamo rese estranee a noi stesse? (Zamboni 1987, p. 74)

53 She presents differences between the earlier works of Irigaray and later ones and highlights the philosophical nature of the more recent texts and the more sophisticated development away from the ironic deconstruction of masculine culture to a discourse where women have a central place.

What Zamboni points out that it is through the mediation of other women that women will find their subjectivity (È attraverso l’altra che una donna si costituisce soggetto). The way Irigaray proposes that this occurs is firstly through the resolution and re-appropriation of the mother-daughter relationship, and secondly within the diversity of relationships between women. The process of finding identity, according to the article, is to work with the self, with society and with other women simultaneously. In Italian feminist thought this process was developed during the practice of autocoscienza. It has been formalised by the concept of entrustment - affidamento and the importance of female genealogy.

Piussi (1987) also looks at language, subjectivity and difference within Irigaray’s framework. Piussi presents a variety of positions in relation to Irigaray’s theories including Salomé, Cixous, Kristeva, and Bocchetti. She also discusses the moves towards neutrality, and the confusing of (sexual) difference within its present structure of negativity and other, with difference as the fundamental structure for experience, knowledge and expression. Rejection of difference serves to unquestioningly reinforce the rightness of the monolithic nature of the masculine culture. The exploration of difference by women signifies the recognition of its [and women’s] necessity:19

Perché le donne possono farsi oggetti, nella vita, nel discorso, nella cultura, è necessario infatti che esse assumano su di sé il compito storico di articulare in forme specifiche e adequate l’esperienza della propria differenza: a partire da sé, dalla materialità della propria esistenza empirica e poi nella coscienza e nel discorso, non replicando l’operazione maschile di proiettare sull’altro/uomo il proprio negativo, ma neppure accettando di rappresentare indefinitamente l’oggetto delle proiezioni di quest’ultimo. (Piussi 1987, p. 125)

19 Ibid. p. 126 “La differenza femminile ha in sé la sua necessità, la sua ragione, che va indagata e fatta parlare perché l’essere donna diventi principio di sapere, conoscenza, ordine etico.”

54 The result is a need to create a symbolic structure, fundamentally linked with language, which will represent female experience (sexual difference) and subjectivity (il soggetto sessuato). The lack of a sexed language means that women are unable to speak themselves. The androcentric language speaks them in terms not their own.20 Piussi returns to the previous theme of dynamic mediation between women in order to resolve this dilemma. Within this dynamic relationship there is no place for fusion or competition but instead an appreciation and understanding of difference and diversity. The multiplicity of these relationships will become the principle of symbolic production and result in a female subjectivity.

She summarises the dominant solutions to the language problem as being either the search for a neutral language or silence. Beyond these two alternatives, however, she presents another way, a way that refutes symmetry, the way of difference. In doing so she restates the centrality of sexual determination in language and discourse. Piussi sees the importance of language in the subjectivity-difference debate and uses Violi’s (1986) earlier discussion.21 She discusses the binary opposition that permeates western thought and culture and the position of women as the absolute other within it. The need for a female symbology and subjectivity is recognised but, Piussi thinks, not yet resolved within Irigaray’s work.

Longobardi (1987) begins with the concept of women’s extraneousness and alienation from not only androcentric western culture but its languages as well. She focuses on the importance of women having access to a language that will facilitate full expression:

L’accesso della donna alla parola attraverso la creazione di un simbolico diverso da quello maschile, rispondente alle caratteristiche della sessualità femminile, significa non solo l’espressione di una diversa modalità di rapportarsi al mondo, ma in

20 Ibid. p. 127 “In mancanza di un linguaggio sessuato femminile, infatti, le donne continuano a patire la contraddizione di essere dette dall’unico linguaggio disponibile, quello maschile, che insieme anche le nega, le dice come mancanti in quanto esseri umani non maschili, e le lascia prive di parole per significarsi: parole che consentirebbero loro di rientrare presso di sé, di <> dal proprio corpo e darsi un territorio, dei contorni, e infine accedere ad un divenire etico proprio.” 21 Piussi 1987, p. 118 “Il linguaggio come << luogo in cui la soggettività si costituisce e prende forma, dal momento che il soggetto può esprimere solo entro il linguaggio e il linguaggio non può costituirsi senza un soggetto che lo fa esistere>> Violi 1986, p. 10”

55 generale comporta un diverso rapporto tra soggetto e parola, tra pensiero e corpo. La riassunzione della carne, e quindi della differenza sessuale, nel pensiero è la condizione dell’avvento del soggetto femminile, avvenimento che rompendo il solipsismo del soggetto maschile renderebbe finalmente possibile il rapporto sessuale. (Longobardi 1987, p.109)

Longobardi identifies in the work of Irigaray the essence of the problem as being the opposition of western thought and philosophy to the maternal and nature. Placed within this paradigm, woman cannot escape from her position as object, spoken and other.

The binary opposition on which, according to Irigaray, Longobardi and others, society functions is also in language – a language, says Longobardi, that is not maternal (materno) but paternal (paterno) and is part of an overall structure that is based on separation (distacco) and opposition. The removal of the body from the mind and the observer from the observed that this formula allows, permits the apparent neutrality of discourse. This separation of (sexed) subject and discourse also implies a removal of responsibility regarding what is said:

Questa scomparsa che assume la pretesa di verità, di oggettività, comporta anche la rinuncia alla responsabilità etica della costruzione scientifica. A nessuno si può chiedere conto delle conseguenze di quello che dice dato che il suo discorso assume la maschera neutralizzante della universalità. (Longobardi 1987, p. 111)

The circular nature of a language that symbolises and, therefore, reinforces, recreates and reflects an androcentric society is not lost on Longobardi. She poses the question of how to break from a language that encompasses the male subject and has no opening for another subject (i.e. woman).22 The lack of subjectivity in the language has, for women, signified a definition of themselves based on the views of the dominant masculine subject - il soggetto maschile – with negative results.23

22 Longbardi 1987, p. 112 “Se il linguaggio è la creazione storica del soggetto maschile, ora neppure gli uomini possono disporne. Esso si presenta come una rete che domina il soggetto, che lo costituisce, una tessitura permanente tra soggetto e mondo, tra soggetto e corpo nella quale nulla di nuovo può accadere. È un linguaggio che non ha apertura verso il diverso (la donna).” 23 Ibid. p. 113 “Privata di un simbolico che le corrisponda la donna non può conoscersi ed amarsi se non passando attraverso lo sguardo e la parola dell’altro che la pone come oggetto e dà di lei una definizione nella quale ella non può ritrovarsi. Fino a che la donna rimane priva di un suo linguaggio, di un simbolico corrispondente al suo corpo, alla sua sessualità, al suo rapporto con la natura, non può amarsi, non può amare l’Altro e neppure l’Altra. Rimane oggetto, oggetto di scambio, oggetto di discorso e di sfruttamento. Rimane materia, sottosuolo del discorso altrui, fonte inespressa dell’energia,

56

She returns to the discussion elaborated by Tommasi (1987); that it is through female mediation that women will find their subjectivity. In this way women will find the passage from the internal to the external. What is problematic, however, is the resistance offered by women themselves to giving value to their relationships and to a positive reappraisal of the mother-daughter relationship.

2.2e The language of the mother

A concept to which Italian feminisms often return is that of female genealogy. This is also apparent in feminist linguistics as a language suitable for women (and men) and the means of transmitting that language are necessary. Female genealogy in language can been seen in the examination of the language of the mother both in archetypal and individual terms. From the feminist works which focused on the development of a female originating culture comes the identification of the mother as the transmitter of language.

Cacciari & Lamberti (1981) deals with some of the earlier representations of women by men and the reoccurring theme of female identity. They note that as early as 1903 Isolde Kurz spoke out about the need for women to find a manner of expression separate from men:

Notava appunto Isolde Kurz nel 1903 (..) << la donna si è così abituta ad adattarsi al tipo forgiato per lei dall’uomo che non si azzarda più a seguire il suo impulso interiore e addirittura il suo stesso impulso è stato influenziato>>. A suo dire, questa realtà era superabile solo se le donne avessero imparato a parlare un loro linguaggio, a rappresentare meglio il loro io spirituale, rifiutando l’assimilazione ai modelli maschili. (Cacciari & Lamberti 1981, p. 67)

Explorations of what is women’s culture with a linguistic paradigm also occurred at the conference Con voce di donna: pensiero, linguaggio, comunicazione. The conference theme centred around the ways of defining culture, and specifically

dell’affermazione maschile. Definita solamente al negativo: carne rispetto al pensiero, irrazionalità rispetto alla razionalità: instintualità rispetto alla moralità.”

57 what could be considered women’s culture(s), and how it could be identified and valued within and separate to the dominant masculine culture:

Il problema è allora il passaggio dall’inferiorità alla diversità, dando parola e valore al corpo di donna. (1989, p. 7)

The centre of the problem was identified as woman’s relationship with the androcentrically defined logos. The role of language and the extended symbolic system (i segni) was integral to the three presentations.

Piano (1992) echoes the importance of the link between language, subjectivity and genealogy. She states that the prior to any theoretic reflection there is for every woman the experience of the word (“Ma prima di ogni possibile riflessione teorica c’è per ogni donna l’esperienza della parola”). For Piano, the words have an emptiness, and within this emptiness is the place of the mother. The significance of the mother has always been an essential part of Italian feminisms, whether actual, symbolic, archetypal or generational. Piano asserts that the mother exists, despite the attempt by masculine culture to negate her. Furthermore it is necessary to return to her that which has been stolen: “Finché non si restituirà alla madre ciò che le è stato tolto, anche l’espressione “lingua materna” sarà solo la testimonianza di un furto.” She concludes that women can and should take charge of the word.24 She makes the thought-provoking comment that:

Questo campione, mostra che c’è qualcosa di ridicolo e anacronistico, tuttaltro che residuale, nell’uso della lingua; importante rivelatrice la libertà femminile che restituita al linguaggio produce i suoi effetti. Appare ormai sempre più chiaro che la libertà femminile non dipende dal superamento del sessismo: è vero, al contrario, che il superamento del sessismo dipende in buona misura dalla libertà femminile. L’affermazione della libertà femminile, che non nasce certamente come mera reazione al sessismo, risulta comunque essere la più efficace risposta ad ogni forma di sessismo e misoginia. (Piano 1992, p. 42)

24 As will be further discussed in Chapter Four, one of the major contributions of Piano’s work to the question of sexism in language is her examination of dictionaries presented in ‘L’ideologia del dizionario’. Her analysis was based around three specific criteria designed to reveal the sexism inherent in dictionaries. The first was language that reflected and described the masculine organisation of reality. The second was language that promoted masculine ideology. The third was the subjective ideology of the lexicographers as indicated by the formulation of certain definitions, choice of examples, quotes and omissions. She used Il Nuovo Zingarelli 11th ed as her primary text. Her results indicate that there is a significant absence of women combined with traditionally stereotypical portrayals.

58

Marcato (1995), in her review of lexical images of women in Boerio’s Dizionario del dialetto veneziano, published in 1856, exposes the ways in which semantics referring to the feminine have served to transmit images of women through time. She states:

La semantica del femminile è affidata ad una serie di forme destinate a mediare ed a trasmettere, in modo non neutro, immagini, idee, valori, giudizi e pregiudizi. Parlando e ascoltando, uomini e donne recitano il proprio ruolo sociale, costruendo, ad un tempo, la visione del mondo di cui sono protagonisti. (Marcato 1995, p. 71)

In this way, according to Marcato, the study of language becomes an important entry point into understanding cultural dynamics. The lack of historical documentation of women makes language more valuable, as it can assist in the symbolic reconstruction. Marcato indicates that the examples of the distaste held for fat, lazy, immoral, skinny, talkative, flirtatious, bossy and ugly women far outweigh the few that portray the moral, youthful, beautiful and respectful women. The dictionary also contains numerous (dialect) sayings and proverbs depicting the way women were perceived in that time. Marcato’s list shows that woman was held to be a chatterbox, wilier than the devil, untrustworthy, merchandise, a lunatic, and armed with tongue, nails and tears (la lingua, le ugne, le lagrime) (Marcato 1995, pp. 77-80).

Marcato (1995b) notes that women are the primary transmitters of language through the language of the mother (la lingua della madre). At the same time, she says, the stereotypes of women as abusers of language through their excessive loquacity, which is often emotive, vain and deceitful, still persist and have not been fully addressed by the field of linguistics. She wonders why this apparent loquacity is seen as negative, and why there has been so much energy spent on reducing women’s use of language. For Marcato, the most plausible answer is silencing women takes away their access to power: “(Oppure) si vuole, più plausibilmente, sottrarre loro la forza della parola, socialmente fertile di guadagni? “

59 Diotima has most recently published a work on the language of the mother (Thüne 1998a). Members of this group, such as Zamboni, Muraro and Thüne, have often published on the topic of language, although much of their work is within philosophical rather than practical parameters. This book contains nine essays on the role of the mother and language. The topic of the mother’s role in transmitting language is not new to Italian feminist linguistics, as we have seen. This latest publication, however, shows a new emphasis on the examination of this phenomenon in the field of linguistics and philosophy. Many of the texts compare the estrangement felt by women towards their first language25 with their interest, often passion, for learning other languages. Thüne (1998b) states:

Come si è visto, una lingua straniera può aprire ad un uso linguistico diverso, può invitare a spostare il proprio dispositivo linguistico e inevitabilmente dà la possibilità di riferirsi a se stessi e al mondo in un’altra maniera, perché una lingua straniera non è semplicemente la traduzione della madrelingua. (Thüne 1998, p. 85)

The roles of the language of the mother and the mother tongue examined here indicate one of the future directions for Italian feminist linguistics. The links with dialectology suggest some interesting opportunities for research.

The most recent conference held at Sappada was in 1999, and entitled Isole linguistiche Per un’analisi dei sistemi in contatto.26 Of the selection of essays, several detailed the links between language and identity and the role of the language of the mother. Thüne (2000) links this to autobiographical accounts. She discusses the situation experienced by many people when they became dislocated from their countries of origin. Marcato (2000) also reviews a people’s link with their mother tongue, and the difficulty experienced by a community when its language, its “maternal tongue” (lingua maternal), is not valued by the larger social structures. The implications of these explorations into the language of the mother are presented by Zamboni (2000). The role of language in the creation of our identity

25 Thüne 1998, p. 67: Perdita di parole, rifiuto della madrelingua ed estranietà, quello che unisce le tre situazioni descritte è la minaccia del silenzio causata dalla mancanza di un linguaggio capace di raccontare le proprie esperienze non solo una descrizione piana, ma includendo la tensione di vita che in esse è racchiusa. 26 Many thanks to Gianna Marcato for the information on essay titles and contributors.

60 has long been a central issue in the call for a language that fully represents both genders. Zamboni makes this comment on meaning and importance of the linguistic relationship between mother and child:

Ciò porta a pensare la relazione con la madre non solo come momento di addestramento necessario per attivare una competenza linguistica innata, ma direttamente costituita attorno all’intenzione di senso. Ciò che vincola ad un ordine linguistico è già nella relazione linguistica tra la madre e i figli. Non a caso ciò che vincola – il senso - non viene né insegnato né corretto. O c’è o non c’è. Come o c’è o non c’è un punto di partenza vincolante, che permette la struttura ordinata tra le parole. Se non c’è, ci si trova di fronte a mucchi di parole senza senso. (Zamboni 2000)

The research undertaken by Zamboni, Thune and Muraro cited here indicates that the role of female transmission of language has implications for ethno-and sociolinguistics. Moving the debate away from strictly feminist paradigms further challenges the stance taken by early critics regarding the insular nature of feminist linguistic studies (see in particular Simone 1987 and Lepschy 1987 2.4 Disputes and discussions).

2.3 The sexed Language - Il linguaggio sessuato

The role of language and its relation to the construction of world view in the fight for social equality and the recognition of difference has always been seen as an integral factor for most feminist and women’s’ movements. Italian feminists have produced a philosophical direction that attempts to discuss language in terms of subjectivity rather than neutrality. The concepts of the sexed subject and the sexed language are fundamental to Italian feminist linguistics. This next section will detail the work of Alma Sabatini (Sabatini 1986 and Sabatini et al 1987) as well as that of Rabissi and Perucci who published Linguaggiodonna. Primo thesaurus di genere in lingua italiana in 1991. Both these texts formed the basis for the methodological approach of this thesis.

The development of Italian feminist linguistics has been essentially centered in philosophical and theoretical discourse. It was the work of Alma Sabatini and her

61 colleagues in the 1980s that saw a more practical application of these theories to language. Sabatini examined the language itself and published a series of recommendations for change that sparked a public and, at times, passionate debate that involved teachers, scholars, feminists, linguistic purists, academics and combinations of these as well. Her work also provided the framework for the linguistic analysis undertaken in this thesis, much of the linguistic work presented in Donna e linguaggio in 1995 and in my earlier study into the representation of women in mass-market magazines (Burns up. 1996).

Born in Rome in 1922,27 Sabatini became language teacher, which may explain her pragmatic rather than theoretical approach to language change. She was very active during the 1970s and participated in many international forums, particularly those regarding linguistic studies. In 1985, as a member of la Commissione Nazionale per la Realizzazione della Parità tra Uomo e Donna, she obtained authorization from the Commission to conduct research into the sexist nature of the Italian language that was subsequently published by la Presidenza del Consiglio in 1987 titled Il Sessismo nella lingua italiana (Sabatini et al 1987). Already well versed in feminist linguistic studies elsewhere; Sabatini translated the Italian concept of dual occupancy and the philosophy of difference into practical manifestations. She wanted to create guidelines that would render language more inclusive and more representative of a world occupied by two diverse sexes rather than the patriarchal notion of the universal one. At the same time she also published guidelines for teachers and publishing houses specifically concerning school textbooks and educational material: Raccomandazioni per un uso non sessista della lingua italiana. Per la scuola e per l’editoria scolastica.

Sabatini, in her ‘Introduzione alla ricerca’, shows that she was aware of the larger issues involved in the notion of gender equality in Italy. She also demonstrates a clear understanding of both the linguistic and feminist theories in Italy and abroad and the complexity of the links between them. As has been mentioned previously,

27 Many thanks to Marcella Mariani at Il Centro Alma Sabatini for the autobiographical and anecdotal information that she provided on Alma Sabatini and her research.

62 the direction of feminist linguistics in Italy has been towards a feminisation of the language; Sabatini is explicit in her support of this move and reflects this philosophical direction in her recommendations:

Non si vuole, sia ben chiaro, negare né abolire le differenze tra maschio e femmina, sia di genere grammaticale che di sesso e di genere sociale. << Il senso, come la lingua, nasce a partire da differenze. Annullarle, sopprimerle corrisponde ad annientare la significazione>> afferma Luce Irigaray nel suo ultimo libro Parler n’est jamais neutre (1985). (Sabatini et al 1987, p. 25)

This notion of feminisation of the language directly relates to the Italian feminist concepts of dual occupancy and difference. What is being advocated is not a negation or absorption of the female into a pseudo-masculine neutrality, but rather a deliberate and definite move toward making her more visible and increasing her allocation of space both socially and linguistically.

Sabatini’s initial contributions to Italian feminist linguistics, however, were instrumental in introducing the topic of actual language change and sparked a discussion, at times heated, on the role of language in the representation of gender and identity. Her work and ideas about language change are still discussed in academic circles – feminist or otherwise.

Several factors formed the basis for the report into sexism in the Italian language published in 1987. One motivation for Sabatini and her colleagues, Marcella Mariani, Edda Billi and Alda Santangelo, was the fact that equality between women and men is explicitly stated in the Italian constitution, in the laws of the country and is recognised as a political issue, but has not been transformed into everyday life. Following this were the issues of eradicating traditional prejudices against women, raising awareness of the importance of language in achieving these changes and incorporating the concept of linguistic equality into the new movements in Italian feminist studies.

Non vi sono dubbi sull’importanza della lingua nella <>: attraverso essa si assimilano molte delle regole sociali indispensabili alla nostra sopravvivenza, attraverso i suoi simboli, i suoi filtri si apprende a vedere il mondo, gli altri, noi stesse/i e a valutarli. (Sabatini et al 1987, p. 23)

63

The desired outcomes were a language that would more closely represent the needs, thoughts and reality of women (un linguaggio sessuato) and an opening of discourses hitherto unspoken. This was combined with the recognition that studies of the language itself would support the overall women’s movement in that they would simultaneously cast light on the actual social situation of gender relations.28 Sabatini discusses the problems of communicating thought for women:

Talvolta la parola o il costrutto usuale non è adeguato al nostro pensiero, provocando un momento di conflitto o di impasse nel pensiero stesso o di blocco di tipo <>. E’ ciò che le donne hanno provato quando, attraverso le scoperte e le insights della presa di coscienza femminista, hanno cominciato a guardare se stesse e i propri rapporti con gli altri con occhi diversi e tentato di rappresentare in parole queste nuove intuizioni. Ma le parole mancavano o erano talmente intrise di significati, di connotazioni impresse dalla visione patriarcale che non corrispondevano alla nuova immagine di sé e del mondo che cominciava a prendere forma nel discorso delle donne. (Sabatini et al 1987, p. 32)

In order to reach these outcomes a number of factors were taken into consideration. The basic premise was that Italian is an androcentric language because it reflects and determines a patriarchal society and is based on a language - Latin - which was itself interdependently related to an extremely patriarchal and male-centred society:

l’uomo è il parametro, intorno a cui ruota e si organizza l’universo linguistico. (Sabatini et al 1987, p. 24)

The statement – man is the parameter around which rotates the linguistic university – has significant implications for understanding Sabatini’s thoughts on the sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic aspects of Italian. She believed that the role of language, and man’s (as in men not humanity) role in defining language structure and meanings were integral to the perception of gender in society and culture. What this and other comments about the intrinsic importance of language in the construction of reality reveal is that Sabatini is of the opinion that not only does language convey one’s thoughts but it also constructs them.

28 Sabatini et al 1987. p.25 “Società e lingua sono strettamente connesse, lo studio dell’una getta luce sull’altra. L’analisi di un dato linguistico può darci insights sulla organizzazione sociale, la quale a sua volta ci illumina sulla organizzazione linguistica.”

64 The focus of the study, therefore, was the analysis of everyday – rather than official – language. It was decided that the print media; newspapers and magazines would offer the closest and most accessible form of everyday language. In making this choice Sabatini and her colleagues were also aware of the influence the media exercises over language trends and the introduction of neologisms. Changes effected in the media would have wide-reaching consequences on the use of language generally.

Their selection criteria did not favour examples of extremely disparate terminology, but rather the more general, obvious occurrences.29 What concerned the researchers was language that absorbed or alienated women through the use of generic terms such as man/men [uomo-uomini], the masculine plural [e.g gli italiani] and collective masculine nouns [e.g fratellanza – brotherhood] for mixed groups. This was linked to the grammatical application of absorbing mixed groups into the plural masculine, the precedence of the masculine in noun pairs, the asymmetric use of titles and titles in the masculine with or without the modifier of ‘donna’. Other linguistic elements that concerned the researchers were derogatory, restrictive and stereotypical representation of women and the use of the suffix –essa.30

The recommendations of Sabatini were motivated by a desire to open up the discussion of the way in which language needed to change in order to reflect and assist the social changes desired by the Italian women’s movement. It must be noted that they were not considered to be definitive statements on direction but rather a starting point from which further modifications could evolve or be formed:

Lo scopo di queste raccomandazioni è di suggerire alternative compatibili con il sistema della lingua per evitare alcune forme sessiste della lingua italiana, almeno quelle più suscettibili di cambiamento. (Sabatini et al 1987, p. 36 my italics)

Sabatini was concerned with the way language influenced gender perception in the media, especially the print media, in schools and through educational material in

29 Ibid. p.24 “Non si è ricercato unicamente l’eccezionale, lo strabiliante, il particolarmente <>, ma soprattutto l’ovvio, il ridondante, lo scontato, che per ciò stesso si presenta come <> ed <>. E’ infatti proprio attraverso queste forme che si continua a percepire la donna inferiore all’uomo, contribuendo in tal modo al mantenimento di questo assetto sociale.” 30 For complete details of the rational behind these choices see Chapter 4 le forme e i metodi.

65 general. Her aim was to raise awareness of the inherent power of language in the construction of gender identity in order to stimulate people into making the necessary changes for linguistic equality.31

The work of Perucci and Rabissi; Linguaggiodonna. Primo thesaurus di genere in lingua italiana was the result of the 1988 Perleparole conference. The conference and subsequent proceedings [Rabissi & Perucci Eds. 1989], contained a collection of material that focused on gender and the documentation and diffusion of information. The issue of gender within these paradigms was debated by women’s centres (i centri culturali delle donne) from countries within the European Community. A number of contributors to the conference and the book focused on the theme of language and gender and the peculiarities of the Italian situation. The general theme of the conference focused on the practical expression and application of feminist linguistic theory, especially in official records and documentation where the use of unmarked terms caused confusion or were misleading. Codognotto also attempted to address the problem of the ‘doppia sessuazione’ – the use of two nouns in order to indicate both sexes. Zumaglino (1989) presents some key terms for Italian feminisms that reflect some of the development toward a creation of an autonomous political subject. Her work also attempts to address some of the criticisms of obscurity and complexity often aimed at the language used in, particularly the political, feminist discussions (see 2.4.b for further information). Bimbi (1989) discusses some of the key words that have become associated with the women’s movement and female subjectivity. In doing so Bimbi brings together some of the concepts previously discussed such as the role of the mother, female genealogy, female mediation and subjectivity.

The articles that fall within the parameters of Italian feminist linguistics are centred on the theme that there is little accurate representation of women in most forms of documentation. The theories underpinning their work are similar to those mentioned previously; sexual difference and the different ways of understanding,

31 The methodology is set out in Chapter Four – Le forme e i metodi

66 perceiving and speaking about the world, the examination and rejection of universality and the need for subjectivity. Perucci asks:

Ci chiediamo allora quali problemi pongano gli attuali linguaggi documentari a chi muove dall'esistenza di due soggetti differenti, gli uomini e le donne, che hanno esperienze e prospettive di vita diverse. (Perucci 1989, p. 64)

The thesaurus, Linguaggiodonna, of which they all speak, Rabissi and Codognotto in particular, is a means of addressing the lack of adequate and accurate female documentation. Perucci notes:

Nel nostro caso, allora, usare, lo strumento thesaurus voleva dire la possibilità di partire dalla diversa organizzazione della esperienza e della coscienza umane che le donne vanno ricercando e che – con ‘affermazione della differenza sessuale e della specificità del femminile – ha scardinato i confini dei campi semantici in cui siamo abituate a collocare i concetti e le parole. (Perucci 1989, p. 64)

The aims of this work are not only to break out of the monosexual culture, but also to facilitate communication within and between generations of women, to assist in the creation of a female genealogy.32 Codognotto is of a similar mind and her article presents some examples from the thesaurus and discusses more closely the role of language in this process. She refers to the work of Irigaray, Violi and Sabatini. In her section entitled, ‘Un genere particolare’ (Codognotto 1989), she sets out some of the problems constructing a thesaurus from a linguistic point of view. They are aligned with the series of grammatical asymmetries set out by Sabatini. As Codognotto states:

Si tratta infatti, nel mettere a punto un linguaggio di indicazione, di rompere la presunzione di un genere che ha assunto la totalità, la generalità, per sé, cancellando dalle espressioni linguistiche il racconto dei due generi sessuali che abitano il pianeta Terra. (Codognotto 1989, p. 83)

She also warns against the false neutrality of knowledge (falsa coscienza neutra), as this too would hide the sexed subject in a perceived neutrality that is in reality masculine.

32 Rabissi 1989, p 73: “Non si tratta quindi di trasmettere solo un insieme di nozioni ma anche i processi logici, emotivi e politici attivati per giungere a nuove consapevolezze. Produrre cultura per le donne non ha significato, infatti, un’azione di tipo cumulativo: aggiungere a quello ufficiale il punto di vista femminile, bensì scardinare i presupposti stessi su cui quest’ultimo è stato edificato, in particolare la separazione tra corpo e pensiero e la cancellazione dell’esperienza umana femminile.”

67

Linguaggiodonna is divided into two parts. The first documents the motivations for and construction of the thesaurus. It also contains a guide for its usage and a bibliography. The second section is the thesaurus itself. The authors state:

L’esperienza e la riflessione che le donne in quest’ultimo ventennio hanno prodotto ha difatti messo in crisi la tradizionale separatezza, nell’organizzazione sociale e nel sapere, tra ambito quali il lavoro, la cultura e la politica – in cui dominante è la logica e il codice linguistico maschile – e ambiti del cosiddetto privato-familiare, in cui le donne sono segregate senza un riconoscimento del valore sociale della funzione di riproduzione e della produzione simbolica ad essa relativa. (Rabissi & Perucci 1991, p. 16)

The separation between public speech and private speech, and their gendering as male and female respectively, has been an issue for the women’s movement. Women have worked to break down the barriers and, as Rabissi and Perucci say, in the process:

..si è così prodotto un nuovo lessico, che oggi fa diffusamente parte dell’esperienza di vita delle donne. (Rabissi & Perucci 1991, p. 16)

The authors utilised the documents already available to identify the key words (parole chiave), and a list of descriptors. In doing so they aimed to create a thesaurus that would be flexible enough to assist different usage. In the section 3.4 Alcuni criteri adottati nella costruzione di Linguaggiodonna. the influence of Il sessismo nella lingua italiana (Sabatini et al 1987) is apparent. The authors actively exclude terms that discriminate or restrict women, that place the masculine as the universal or that are abstract or neutral where gender should be visible. They also reverse the order of opposites and insert both female and male terms wherever possible.33 Rabissi and Perucci recognise the artificiality of the thesaurus in comparison to

33 Rabissi & Perucci 1990, pp.27-28“che svalorizza o cancella la dimensione dell’espereinza di vita e pensiero femminile.” “dare visibilità ai soggetti concreti sessuale – donne e uomini – rispetto all’uso di termini più astratti, neutri e neutralizzatori della differenza sessuale ripetere sempre la doppia desinenza per contrastare la regola grammaticale che prevede si utilizzi il maschile come termine universale, apparentemente neutro, per rappresentare i due sessi. Invertito l’ordine consueto di presentazione de termini nelle copie oppositive, sostituendo al maschile del primo termine il femminile.”

68 natural language. They point out that the thesaurus, while limited, may assist in reflection on linguistic forms and usage.34

The thesaurus Linguaggiodonna is a useful contribution to the language debate. It is one of the few publications which attempts to list, categorise and explain the role of language in the feminist debate. Its role in this thesis has been to identify some of the words regarded by Italian feminists as important in the creation of subjectivity. Some of these words have been selected for use in the section in word tree analysis of this thesis (see 4.2b and 6.4).

Sabatini’s original work has had further influence. Mavellia (1998) returns to the categories used by Sabatini et al in 1987 to discuss sexism in Italian. Mavellia uses a combination of Italian and German to illustrate her various points on morphological and semantic asymmetry that correlate with the categories of Sabatini. In her fifth section she discusses women in the field of linguistics and how they are often seen as either linguistically conservative or abusive, depending on the context. Her brief presentation of lexicographical data from Italian and German dictionaries highlights the disparity between the representation of women and men, which, she notes, continues in recent linguistic works. The androcentric, if not misogynistic, bias in research choices is also mentioned. Though her article brings little extra to the debate other than more evidence of the disparity between gender representation, her aim is to invigorate the discussion and research into these types of linguistic phenomena.

In 1998, I, with Dino Bressan, published “Le donne semi-visibili” (Burns & Bressan 1998). In this article the results of my research into sexism in Italian mass-market magazines were presented, combined with detailed comments on the criticism regarding Sabatini’s Raccomandazioni expressed by Lepschy (1987-88), Simone

34 Ibid. p. 27 “Anche se non possibile modificare con semplici atti volontaristici le strutture profonde di senso inscritte nel sistema linguistico, l’adozione di meccanismi e dispositivi che segnalino alcune delle disimmetrie grammaticali e semantiche tra il maschile e il femminile presenti nel linguaggio, è l’inizio di un percorso di riflessione e pratica – individuale e collettiva – volto a permettere il libero formarsi e esprimersi della soggettività femminile.”

69 (1987), Valentini (1987) and others. Like von Bonkewitz (1995), Burr (1995) and Spina (1995), the conclusions from my own research indicate that little has changed to reduce the stereotypical and pejorative representation of women since 1987.

2.4 Disputes and Discussions

The publication of Il sessismo nella lingua italiana (Sabatini et al 1987) met with mixed response. The discussion about language expanded and spilled over into the more public arena of the print media as well as finding detractors in academe. The early objections to feminist-inspired language changes centred around four arguments: linguistic economy; rejection of the link between language and worldview; linguistic purity; and the lack of euphony (suona male).

As the debate developed in feminist circles in particular and the wider public in general, the attacks on feminist proposals narrowed to the coinages and neologisms, especially of the politically active. Many linguists and journalists used their lack of familiarity and their unwillingness to engage with feminist arguments as the basis for their objections.

2.4a. Linguistic Purity

A number of well-known Italian linguists rejected the work of Sabatini and her colleagues, and Italian feminist theories about language in general. Interestingly the accusations often fell into opposing categories – you can’t and shouldn’t change language or language will change when society changes. It is clear, however, that those for and against the feminist linguistic arguments agreed on one fundamental point – language is important.

Simone (1987) marvels at the official status of Il sessismo nella lingua italiana. In Simone’s opinion there are more important linguistic priorities. He initially appears to agree with Sabatini’s analysis, but he soon rejects the first premise of grammatical asymmetry, on the basis that all languages are like that. The second

70 premise, semantic asymmetry or the stereotypical representation of women in the print media, he feels is justified, although he attempts to undermine its importance by indicating that women are just as likely to present women in stereotypical ways as men. He concludes by stating that the question of sexism in language is not linguistically based and that linguistic reform is not only unnecessary but will come to a bad end as it has always done.

The following year Simone (1988) again rejects as laughable and futile the lexical changes proposed, although he accepts the need for stylistic changes to discourse. His final comment, “Ci vuole una radicale rieducazione del gusto”, implies that he feels that even this aim, although justifiable, is still impossible to obtain. It is not without some irony that he is quoted in the following article, ‘I problemi dello scrivere nell’italiano moderno’ as saying that the work of researching contemporary Italian is of social and cultural import. He would later backtrack from this position when confronted with feminist linguistic changes.

Valentini (1987) also believes that Sabatini’s proposals have little chance of success. She rejects prescriptive changes and maintains that if the society is not sexist then the language will cease to be so as well. Valentini concludes by seeming to revise her previous assertion of the insipid nature of Sabatini’s report by calling it more revolutionary and, therefore, more improbable than the German counterpart. Her criticisms are weakened by her reliance on work from English and German speaking societies, as English has chosen the direction of language neutralisation and German a combination of both. What Sabatini and other Italian feminists’ propose is a sexed language, where women and men are equally visible and represented equitably. This direction and the theories of difference behind it, set out in the early part of Sabatini’s report, appear to have eluded Valentini.

Lepschy examined the recommendations and set out his response, though he mistakenly changes the priorities of Sabatini.35 He deals with language policy and

35 see also Burns (Samson) and Bressan (1998) for a full examination of Lepschy’s article.

71 states that language has a marginal place in the discourse for socio-cultural equity. Lepschy wonders whether the ‘linguistic impediment’ of inadequate titles can ‘be eliminated by prescription’. He notes that traditionally linguists have been sceptical about the usefulness of prescriptive language changes and ‘has some sympathy’ for the view that language has no place in the sexism debate.

He bases his argument on a functionalist viewpoint that grammar is a ‘mental organ’, separate from language usage which could be related to historical and socio- cultural elements. This, for Lepschy, is the conundrum, because in Italian the grammar is directly linked to usage. Reaching this point, he then goes on to present numerous examples which are meant to illustrate the impossibility of changing Italian into a language that doesn’t signify one’s gender. He concludes, perhaps sarcastically, that: ‘it might be better to go all the way and try to reproduce from scratch a completely new, sexually unbiased language.’ A sexually unbiased non- gendered language (as opposed to a non sexist language where gender is present - un linguaggio sessuato) is not the aim of Sabatini’s report, making Lepschy’s whole functionalist argument redundant.

Stewart (1987) does not agree with the futility of language change. His article is at times complimentary to the suggestions of the Raccomandazioni, and he makes some pertinent observations about the role of language. One of the more humorous inclusions does much to refute the criticism of suona male and the rightness of adhering to tradition. He is discussing the comment of one native speaker he consulted who claimed that there was no form for a female priest.36 What is particularly interesting about this comment is that many of the critics approach new terminology for women as though it were inconceivable that women

36 Stewart 1987, p. 174 “While women priests are not recognised in the Catholic church, they are in other religions. Furthermore, if one wished to refer to them conditionally or hypothetically, some form or other would be required, and using, for example, the circumlocution ‘il prete è una donna’ is unnecessarily complicated. This type of awkward periphrastic measure is only really necessary for totally new, outlandish ideas, e.g., if a race were discovered in which men were the child-bearers, we could not immediately term them ‘mothers’; even ‘male/men mothers’ seems unlikely. We would probably say something along the lines of ‘the mothers who are men’ or ‘the men who give birth/bear children’ (at least until we got used to the idea), and we would do so precisely because we previously had no concept of them, that is, we could once have claimed that their existence was impossible. Despite some eccentric views to the contrary in Rome, this is not the case with women priests”

72 could hold such places in society. The use of phrase or terms that mean ‘women who ‘do something men should do’’, to use Stewart’s model, is exactly what Italian feminist linguists are trying to overcome.

His article offers a selection of the terms he found and a careful and concise commentary about the epistemological links, the frequent omissions and ambiguities he found, and the different inferences, usually pejorative, that many of the terms contained. One point that seems inconsistent with this balanced and neutral presentation comes in his conclusion. Stewart feels that some lexemes may change given the formality of a situation. The use la magnifica rettrice might be replaced with rettore as ‘it seems not only more formal, but also sounds more distinguished’ (Stewart 1987, p.189). This comment clearly illustrates one of the fundamental factors behind resistance to change – its different (=bad) to what we know.

In Muraro (1988), Eco is quoted as saying that one cannot change linguistic tradition from ‘above’. Muraro agrees, she notes, however, that for every innovation there are more attempts at conservation, and that it is almost impossible to oppose the authentic traditions that arise from everyday usage. Muraro argues that the pretence of one, and only one, form being correct is often based on a desire for conformity rather than communicative needs. This notion is usually to be found at the root of arguments against change and development, and has certainly been found in many of the arguments against feminist language change. Lepschy (1987) concedes that: ‘it is legitimate to propose modifications, even if eliminating sexist implications of traditional formulas may involve the loss of other, less objectionable connotations’ (Lepschy 1987, p. 163).

2.4b Linguistic Economy

Some of the earliest criticisms centred on the problems of linguistic economy. Graziani and Lazzerini (1987) responded to this issue, opening their article with a line designed to highlight the absurdity of adhering to androcentric grammatical

73 conventions in a changing society: ‘Signor Preside, c’è suo marito al telefono’. The article discusses part of Sabatini’s Raccomandazioni. Graziani and Lazzerini agree with the report’s premise that language and society are interlinked and they refer to the work of Violi and Irigaray. They do not refrain from criticising the recommendations, emphasising the need to be concise (concisione espressiva) and the importance of opening up the discussion to alternatives:

Mentre per noi non si tratta tanto di inventare nuove regole al posto di quelle esistenti, ma di togliere l’imperio a regole che rispecchiano il dominio patriarcale e che sono state artificialmente codificate, per restituire autorità all’uso delle/dei parlanti, ricordando che se anche la lingua è una struttura resistente alle innovazioni da una parte, dall’altra registra neologismi per nominare nuove realtà e ha accolto cambiamenti che non si possono definire spontanei, ma sono il frutto di una precisa azione politica.

Graziani and Lazzerini point out, however, that disagreement does not underrate the importance of the report nor the necessity of change. As teachers, they feel that the debate needs to be extended into pedagogy and the exploration of a sexed pedagogy which values female experience (siamo convinte della necessità di una pedagogia sessuata che valorizzi l’esperienza umana femminile). The link between language and pedagogy will be explored in Chapter 3 and is essential to the research undertaken in this thesis.

The argument of linguistic economy is often used as a means of rejecting language change. Valentini (1987) proposes that, regardless of the validity of Sabatini’s linguistic research, there is a lack of linguistic economy and some of the alternatives (such as leaving out the article when using plural nouns) would not guarantee a generic usage. Valentini may be accused of missing the point when she wonders at the need to avoid the use of donna – i.e. donna medico – in order to connote gender, referring to the American usage of ‘the woman doctor’. Here she forgets her original argument of linguistic economy – medica is one word, donna medico are two – and shows her lack of understanding of the basic Italian feminist premise that women should be represented autonomously and not as derivatives of men.

74 Placido (in Muraro 1988) also emphasises the lack of ‘economy’ in the suggestions. Muraro (1988) easily refutes this by pointing out the lack of clarity in using questore or the less economic use of questore donna rather than questora.

2.4c Precedents and Suona Male

As mentioned much of the resistance to linguistic change often resorts to the lack of euphony argument. Lepschy (1987) looks at the proposed changes to female referents. He rejects the suggestions because they are ‘clumsier’ or ‘impoverish the original’. He thus appears to reject the examples rather than refute Sabatini’s motivation. Lepschy’s use of the argument of ‘suona male’37 surfaces in his consideration of referents, and he adds another criteria: historical validity – which links back to the purity arguments. His argument against the importance of representing women and men in the same way, (i.e. Thatcher and Brandt not la Thatcher and Brandt) is that the historical usage of this form (and others), and the regional varieties that carry them, have more validity than an argument regarding gender parity.

Regarding occupational titles Lepschy notes that there seems to have been a change between the late 1960s and the late 1980s. He indicates that the trend for professional titles for women in non-traditional areas had originally been to create a feminine form. He finds that women are now more inclined to use masculine titles to indicate prestige. Lepschy agrees with the Raccomandazioni that increased usage of the feminine form would see it obtain parallel recognition, but he also feels that the suggestions proposed (although morphologically correct) are ‘restrictive and not felicitous’ (Lepschy 1987, p. 165) – perhaps they don’t sound right?

2.4d Neutral versus Sexed - worldview

What becomes clear is that many of the critics have little in-depth knowledge of the theories behind Italian feminist linguistics. Little attention is given to fundamental

37 see Burns and Bressan 1998

75 philosophy of difference and the premise that language should move toward feminisation rather than neutralisation. Many of the arguments are based on the assumption that the neutralisation model is the correct one. The lack of relevance to the Italian linguistic debate becomes clear in the arguments. There is a vastly different level of sophistication in the arguments.

Muraro (1988) deals with some of the criticisms levelled at the feminist linguistic debate, and the calls for language change. Borgese, a journalist, rejects (respinge orripilata) language change. She states that the feminine form of a masculine title often has another meaning, accusing the feminist linguists of ignorance in this matter. Muraro points out that she is mistaken, as Zingarelli has coined female titles such as chimica and fisica – words that already have other meanings in use for the feminine. Borgese’s other argument is that if women merit a position traditionally held by men, then given their hard work and effort they merit a masculine title: quanto ci hanno messo le donne a farsi chiamare, quando se lo meritano, avvocato, magistrato, medico o architetto? – a spurious argument, in Muraro’s opinion, and certainly not within the paradigms of a philosophy of difference.

Citati (Corriere della sera), is another example as he thinks that the Raccomandazioni are a joke. He maintains that the masculine noun forms (e.g. uomo or scrittore) are not masculine but androgynous. Muraro (1988) questions his intentions, given current theories of grammatical gender, but assumes he is referring to a more literary usage. She notes that Citati has perhaps not understood Sabatini’s point, as his call for neutrality is diametrically opposed to Sabatini’s wish to guard against masculine homogenisation of the language.

Eco also favours neutralisation and this, according to Muraro (1988), is the basis for his rejection of the work of Sabatini and her colleagues. He ridicules what he regards as the lack of proper linguistic knowledge of Italian feminists (as did Lepschy), by a specious reference to the American feminists’ play on words with ‘herstory’. According to Eco, grammatical gender does not necessarily coincide with sexual gender. He uses mostly inanimate examples, though the fact remains

76 that, in Italian, when referring to people the prevailing tendency is the align grammatical gender with sex. Another objection is that the feminine is used in Italian to indicate the wife of someone who has the role, (see also Cortelazzo 1995). This is a rule that is valid (and Muraro questions such validity) only for roles that are still exclusively male. She states that no one would think of la professoressa as the wife of il professore or la papessa as the wife of il papa.

Muraro also notes that there is a move toward neutralisation of language caused by the imitation of English, the female emancipation movement and the invasion of technology. But she says that the aim of the Raccomandazioni is to challenge the linguistic cancellation of women and concludes by restating the importance of acknowledging sexual difference:

Alma Sabatini, io e alcune altre, infatti vogliano proprio dire che la differenza sessuale non solo viene prima della funzione sociale e coesiste con tale funzione (..) ma anche che può diventare principio di valore, autentico valore umano, per la funzione stessa, relativizzata in senso non mortifero dalla dualità originaria di essere donna/uomo. (Muraro 1988)

The perception of the importance of relationship between language and society is often used as either a reason or a rejection of the need for language change. Yet many feminists and linguists seem to employ at least a weak version of the Sapir- Whorf hypothesis in their arguments (Muraro 1988 and Lepschy 1988 are two good examples).

Gnerre (1987) aligns himself with Italian feminists on sexual difference in language and his arguments can be related to the earlier detailed discussions by Violi (1986), Muraro (1987) and others. Gnerre rejects Simone’s linguistic priorities by questioning the very premise on which linguistic research is based:

In altre parole: tanto ciò che si ricerca come il modo in cui lo si ricerca cospirano a minimizzare, nel risultato finale della ricerca, la portata della differenza sessuale nel linguaggio.

The androcentric nature of past research (i.e. carried out by men, on men, for men) carried out by ethnologists, missionaries, colonial administrators and the like,

77 according to Gnerre, must have influenced the data. Gnerre notes there will be little change to this type of data collection, and therefore little challenge to androcentric norms, that are neither public nor formal, regardless of the sex of the researcher and subject.38

It is not until 1988, when rewriting his earlier article (Lepschy 1987), does Lepschy acknowledge that Italian feminist linguistic theories are to be found in larger philosophical paradigms, in comparison to the Anglo-American developments that have been more empirical. He also gives a more considered presentation of the theory that language plays a role in determining our worldview:

L’ipotesi generale è che la lingua non solo manifesta, ma anche condiziona il nostro modo di pensare: essa incorpora una visione del mondo e ce la impone. Siamo noi ad essere parlati dalla nostra lingua, anziché essere noi a parlarla. Le categorie fondamentali in base alle quali la nostra lingua prende forma sono ideologicamente condizionate…………… ……..Il condizionamento di <> si intreccia con quello di classe, ma di fatto é più profondo di quello di qualsiasi altra categoria sociale. La discriminazione sessista e gli stereotipi di <> pervadono la lingua nella sua interezza e sono rinforzati da essa. (Lepschy 1988 pp. 8-9)

He continues with an appraisal that suggests a better understanding of Italian feminist theories; that women feel estranged from language because it has been conditioned by the dominant social group – men. Men, on the other hand, do not feel the language to be lacking, because it manifests their own experience of the world.

Muraro (1988) asks why, with a language that is able to convey social position and gender in a single word, there is such resistance to phrases such as ministra, especially when operaia, operaio or pescivendola, pescivendolo are acceptable. The reasons, she explains, are extra-linguistic and due to the patriarchal social structure that, while allowing women to work, is not inclined to admit them to roles of government or power:

38 As it has been seen this argument has been fully discussed by Italian feminists such as Violi, Muraro and Longobardi

78 Per ragioni extralinguistiche, come la secolare esclusione delle donne dalle cariche pubbliche e la perdurante ostilità di molti verso quelle che accedono a tali cariche. Nel nostro sistema simbolico-sociale, è ammesso pacificamente che una donna lavori in fabbrica o che venda pesci, ma non altrettanto che governi sugli uomini. (Muraro 1988)

Muraro’s point is that women and their place in the world are changing, and with that change has come the need to express sexual difference. She proposes, in a similar vein to Graziani and Lazzerini (1987), that we should go beyond the polemics of the relationship between grammatical and sexual gender (la polemica sul rapporto fra generi grammaticali e generi sessuali), that linguistic experimentation (la sregolatezza regolata39) would have more advantages and allow for more possibilities.

Cardinaletti and Giusti (1991) revisit the 1987 publication Il sessismo nella lingua italiana and stated that:

Il lavoro di A. Sabatini rileva gli aspetti sessisti dell’italiano, sulla base di una ricerca empirica ampia e dettagliata che spesso è mancata negli studi di questo fenomeno in altre lingue. (Cardinaletti & Giusti 1991, p. 171)

Cardinaletti and Giusti point out that in Italy, unlike in other countries, the development of guidelines for non-sexist usage was initiated under the auspices of the government body for equal opportunities.40 Cardinaletti and Giusti do not always agree with the report’s findings and suggestions:

Se da un lato l’uso sessista della lingua è facilmente individuabile attraverso uno studio a livello testuale e pragmatico (per lo più degli aspetti lessicali e semantici della lingua), dall’altra il sessismo intrinseco alla lingua richiede uno studio approfondito degli aspetti formali (quali la morfologia e la sintassi). (Cardinaletti & Giusti 1991, p. 177)

In their opinion, further study should focus on the role of the masculine as the unmarked generic, the morphological rules for the formation of the feminine and

39 Muraro 1988. “Alla realtà che cambia convengono e sono anzi necessarie sperimentazione e sregolatezza. Penso a un regime di sregolatezza regolata, per dire: di soluzioni linguisticamente accettabili ma fra loro difformi e anche concorrenti. Considero accettabile tutto quello che serve a mettere in parole ciò che altrimenti non avrebbe parola.” 40 According to Marcella Mariani who worked with Alma Sabatini on the project there were various attempts to withdraw funding and support once the research had begun. It was only due to their tenacity that the research was finished and published by la Commissione Nazionale per la Realizzazione della Parità tra Uomo e Donna

79 the rules of concordance. Their question centers around whether the masculine can be unmarked, in what context, and how one distinguishes between marked and unmarked usage.

Cardinaletti and Giusti also discuss the different connotations of feminine and masculine occupational titles and grammatical agreement. They conclude by saying: “le potenzialità della lingua italiana vengano di fatto altamente limitate da fattori socio-culturali.” Noting also that resistance to change more often arises from unspoken or hidden ideological points of view, and refute the criticism aimed at the alleged dictates of Le raccomandazioni, by clearly restating Sabatini’s objective to offer alternatives and to stimulate discussion.

2.4e Speaking out

The debate about language swiftly found itself in a more political arena. Garoni (1989) discusses some of the more problematic aspects relating to language, for the most part in the context of neologisms.41 Garoni presents the thoughts of some men who concern themselves with language and communication about the language of feminism (il linguaggio del femminismo) and two active feminists, Turco and Conte. The main divide comes between those who accept the necessity of understanding the feminist modifications to those who reject them as obscure and elitist.

Those who accept the need for new terms often confess to an initial difficulty, though realise that the prevailing rationale behind the changes is justifiable. As Conte states:

È impensabile che un soggetto nuovo che deve ‘riclassificare’ il mondo non cerchi parole nuove. (Garoni 1983, p. 74)

41 Garoni 1989, p. 72: “differenza sessuale, patto fra donne, etica della differenza, contrarre un debito, darsi valore, rapporto di affidamento, rappresentanza sessuata.”

80 Those for change identify resistance as being based in a rejection of the premise rather than linguistic obscurity.42 Daniele Gambarara (lecturer in linguistic theory at Calabria University) says:

Non vedo un problema di linguaggio; mi sembrano prevalere le questioni di contenuto, le formule possono essere usate da uomini e da donne, ma l’idea di considerare la differenza come un valore non credo sia passata ancora realmente nel patrimonio culturale di coscienza del Pci. (Garoni 1989, p. 74)

The critics quoted include Simone, already discussed previously. He responds that it is a matter of practicality. Given the influence of women in some areas of politics, it is prudent to recognise their language, but until it passes the test of common usage it remains similar to tribal language. This is a comment that reveals more about Simone’s attitude to the women’s movement than it does about the language of feminism.

The difficulties that the critics have with these changes serve to undermine the very principles and theories on which they argue. If language is arbitrary, a mental organ and so on, then why is there such resistance to suggestions for its modification? If language does not influence the way we perceive the world and interact with others, then why is it such a sacred cow? If language were not important or did not have some level of influence then the language changes suggested by feminists would not effect social change, so at best they could be regarded as superfluous or, as is often suggested by these articles, misguided. The arguments against the language modifications proposed by Sabatini and other Italian feminist linguists indicate a resistance to change, regardless of merit.

The interest and debate spilled over into the 1990s with Reti No.5, issued in late 1990. Contained in this issue were a number of articles that joined the debate on feminist language and the accusations of obscurity and elitism. The recurring theme, however, was the need to remember the origins of the language question and its political context.

42 an issue dealt with more closely in Reti no. 5 1990

81 Dominijanni (1990) brings the discussion back to the arena of politics and defines the problem:

La spia principale di questa controversia è sempre la stessa: il linguaggio in cui si esprimono teorie e pratica della differenza sessuale peccherebbe di oscurità, separatezza, elitarismo, settarismo. (Dominijanni 1990, p. 3)

She also identifies the fact that this is an accusation levelled at female language by women and men. Dominijanni links the politics of sexual difference and the politics of language - language is the place where the controversial questions raised by women’s politics are to be found. She places this in the context of the Sapir- Whorf pointing out that language is the best place to examine the links between social representation, ideology and subjectivity. The schism discussed by Dominijanni between body and word is the reason why language is linked to politics and in particular political practice:

Poiché senza parola il corpo femminile resta materia inerte, puro dato biologico e l’esperienza femminile indicibile e senza significato. (Dominijanni 1990, p. 4)

Her dense and complex essay focuses on the importance of female mediation and the transformation, through this mediation, of women from adjuncts to the masculine universal to subjects. There is no doubt that Dominijanni, like the other Italian feminists who discuss language, is aware of the profound implications language change would have on the symbolic structure. She also points out that the use of new words, even when they initially seem obscure is necessary in the creation of new facts and positions. The conflict aroused by language change is exacerbated by the problem of usage where the originary meanings are distorted or lost and the dominant androcentric symbolic system attempts to recode the new terms into its own paradigm.

Dominijanni returns to the centrality of political practice in the process of language change and recognises the need to expand feminist discourse and female language into the general social structure:

È un passaggio importante: dal lessico politico comunitario al linguaggio della differenza che è capace di abitare il mondo. (Dominijanni 1990, p. 9)

82

Buffo (1990) discusses the role language has had within the political context of Italian communism. She sees the thoughts, politics and words of sexual difference as having clarified the problem of the existing language. The new terminology of women’s politics has caused some confusion in that, at times, the new words or ‘reclaimed’ words are used incorrectly or misunderstood. This has occurred as feminisms have broken with the traditional ideology of the left. A new terminology that names new ways of thinking about women, the world, society and so forth has not, as Buffo points out, been readily accepted by the communist party. The question posed by Buffo is whether origins of this resistance are communicative or political. Buffo goes on to discuss the difficulties within the parameters of the media and what she sees as the possibility of female oriented political practice through the media.

Paolizzi (1990) also discusses the language of women’s politics. While she is not always in agreement with her colleagues, she certainly agrees with the importance of language in political practice:

Prendere la parola allora non costa nulla. Non è un rischio anche se assicura di esserlo. Il tentativo che noi stiamo facendo è quello di disegnare una cartografia una mappa linguistica strettamente intrecciata ad un pensiero chiaro ed accessibile, appunto, in quanto rigoroso. (Paolizzi 1990, p. 20)

Two of the articles are more critical of the language. Tatafiore (1990) discusses the ways of communication between women and their differing political positions and activities. She does not think that it is a question of incomprehensible language use that keeps women’s political activities out of the media. According to Tatafiore, it is a combination of an insular community and a lack of strong female protagonists in the political arena. De Biase (1990) focuses on ambiguous nature of many words and the symbolic disorder of which Dominijanni spoke. De Biase questions the enormous symbolic value attributed to some words or sayings and asks whether this has detracted from the messages in the overall discourse. She does not think that the linguistic creativity that was so effective in the 1970s remains as clear and forceful in 1990. De Biase also considers that the creation of female subjectivity has

83 been too closely linked with the concept of the wholesale recreation of language. According to De Biase:

Non si costruisce un linguaggio femminile contro un linguaggio maschile esistente e consolidato (che è pure del resto quello cui abbiamo imparato a pensare); si interviene entro i linguaggi esistenti. (De Biase 1990, p. 27)

De Biase reminds us of the importance of writing in a manner that can be understood, that communicates and transmits messages. She feels that, when this level of communication occurs, language will develop and be enriched by a variety of means.

The latter half of the 1990s saw publications concerning language and gender from a feminist theoretical viewpoint, but not exclusively so.43 Cortelazzo (1995), discusses the feminist arguments against the use of the suffix –essa to denote the female form of the noun. Cortelazzo, echoing Lepschy, points out the somewhat ambiguous status of the usage that could describe the wife of the incumbent or the female holder of the position. He notes that at times such titles carry overt or covert negative connotations, though he points out that neither of these two situations are restricted to the suffix –essa. His own position on usage is a little ambiguous, though his sympathies appear to lie with avoiding disparaging representation in general.

Another essay on the use of suffixes comes from De Marco (1995), who deals with the use of diminutives. Her objective is to examine the use of diminutives in relation to female and male roles, and the impact of beliefs or stereotypes. For the most part her essay deals with actual linguistic usage and whether there are differences between the use of diminutives between women and men. In her conclusion she clearly indicates that stereotypes and gender do play a part in the linguistic behaviour she examines. This linking of society and language reinforces the need for active linguistic change and the interdependent nature of the relationship.

43 See for example Bates et al 1996 ‘Gender priming in Italian’ Perception & Psychophysics 1996, 58 (7) pp.992-1004

84

Bini (1996) presents the arguments for and against political correctness, for the most part in an American context, contained in Baroncelli’s work. Bini notes that, despite some reasoned problems against the more extreme cases of political correctness, Baroncelli is for a bit of political correctness:

Il linguaggio non offending rifiuta gli stereotipi, e non è poco, e risulta dall’esercizio, dalla formazione di un’abitudine a non etichettare, il che aumenta l’importanza attribuita alle persone. (Bini 1996, p. 219)

Bini recognises that it is not enough to change language and that there must be greater social change but, as he points out, as part of that process:

<<….c’è gente che fa della propaganda, e l’impadronirsi di almeno qualche zona del linguaggio è stato abbastanza spesso un buon modo per fare propaganda>>. Perciò si possono cambiare le cose anche cominciando dal lato linguistico. (Bini 1986, p. 219)

He turns his attention towards the feminist language question in Italy and the role of titles. He questions the use of masculine titles to denote prestige and seniority. This is most apparent in newspapers, where masculine titles are often used for women, at times with illogical and humorous results (see also Graziani and Lazzerini 1987), and where a feminised form is used to ridicule men. Bini concludes that perhaps ‘a bit of political correctness’ in language use would not go astray in overcoming these prejudices.

Sobrero’s (1996) discussion of the different ways in which he and his wife communicate, and the similarities he has noticed between himself and his two sons, is rather light-hearted. His point, however, is actually a serious one, and he finishes with the proposition that perhaps there is validity in evaluating sexual difference.

2.4f In Summary

There are two main areas identified in the review of criticisms levelled at feminist linguistics. The first group of detractors is not as much concerned by the use of feminist terminology, but rather focus on the linguistic change per se. Borgese,

85 Lepschy and Simone claim that wanting to force language change is purist and redolent of fascism. One could suggest that it is just as prescriptive, if not dictatorial, to demand unconditional adherence to language forms that have been identified as discriminatory, for the sake of tradition or suona male. They invariably accuse feminists of having the same motivations that underpin their own objections.

It is important to note that Sabatini, at whose work much of this sort of criticism is levelled, states on a number of occasions that her Raccomandazioni are just that – recommendations and not decrees. Another important point that Muraro (1988) deals with and which is apparent in some of the other articles (such as Lepschy, Valentini and Simone), is that many of the authors do not seem to have understood the purpose behind feminists’ desire for language change. They are too quick to accuse Italian feminist linguists of being unsophisticated and ignorant of the impact of the language modifications they suggest. Apart from the immediate insult, it is the critics who appear ignorant of the developments in feminist philosophies, the associated concepts of a philosophy of difference and a sexed subject that are at the centre of the language proposals. It seems that while many of the critics are aware of the mainstream and well publicised trends in English speaking countries such as America and England, they are less knowledgeable and appreciative of the rich, complex and very different developments and directions in Italian feminisms.

The second group of critics became more noticeable in late 1980s and the early 1990s. This group examined and debated the various terminologies that were associated with Italian feminisms. Much of the negativity was directed at the perceived insular nature of the feminist ‘community’ and the use of terms (such as la differenza sessuale, soggetto sessuato, affidamento etc) that were often misconstrued. This debate was prominent among the feminists involved in politics. Some of the critics from the earlier group, in particular Simone, and others outside feminist politics, also found women’s language (il linguaggio delle donne) or feminist language (il linguaggio femminista) difficult to understand. Yet what many of the

86 supporters at that time pointed out was that lack of comprehension could often be attributed to a lack of willingness to engage with the feminist debates and theories.

Feminists while well aware of the problems arising from misuse and misinterpretation, were wary of translating their ideas and theories into ‘acceptable’ language. To do so would go against the rationale of the language development occurring. The place of language in society as a transmitter and receptor of ideas, thoughts and attitudes made it essential that they retain the essence of the words created.

2.5 Other research into Il linguaggio sessuato

Sabatini’s work and the theories of Italian feminist linguistics influenced other studies into women and language. Biasini (1995), in ‘Differenza sessuale e linguaggio: l’esempio del vocabolario sessuale’, aims to clarify the meaning of <> and its place in language studies. Biasini places her hypothesis in the context of Braidotti’s scheme of sexual difference, where there are three levels of sexual difference.44 Biasini’s hypothesis is that inside each of the levels language has the possibility to create and articulate a sexed subject. She examines her hypothesis in relation to sexual vocabulary. Biasini uses the vocabulary associated with the sexual act to illustrate the different way women and men are codified in the language. She finds that:

Nell’insieme, da un’esame del comportamento sintattico di questi verbi e locuzioni verbali emerge un’immagine dell’atto sessuale in cui il potere è nelle mani dell’uomo (il soggetto sessuale ‘attivo’ per eccellenza. Questa immagine è d’altronde confermata e rafforzata se si considera il contenuto specificamente semantico….. La donna, lunghi dall’essere un soggetto attivo, può tutt’al più, se è fortunata, gentilmente decidere di concedersi, darla, darsi. (Biasini 1995, p. 67)

Biasini also examines the differentiation between “woman” as prescribed by the patriarchal system and as a “woman” who wishes to speak her own experience and represent herself autonomously. She uses the lexicon of the female genitals to depict the way in which women are predefined and predetermined, and the poverty of the

44 See Braidotti 1995 for a full explanation of her theory.

87 language available to surpass such definition. Her final, and most difficult task was how language can be used to describe sexual difference within the person (intrasoggettivo). Here she uses the sense or meaning as expressed, for example, by metaphors to show the way sexual difference is articulated. Biasini concedes that for the most part sexual difference in language is presently codified negatively:

Da quanto detto, sembrerebbe che il linguaggio si limiti a porre vincoli condizionamenti negativi rispetto ad una piena articolazione della differenza sessuale. (Biasini 1995, p. 69)

She is not pessimistic, however, and thinks that we should view linguistic use as a combination of intent, conditioning and the language system: l’intenzionalità, il condizionamento dell’inconscio e quello del sistema linguistico. In doing so she thinks that there is a possibility for change.

The studies of the following authors correlate with the work undertaken in this thesis. All of them examine different aspects of the development (or otherwise) of language in the years following the publication of Sabatini’s report into sexist language. While their methodologies and hypothesis di not directly influence my own research the correlations between the aims are clear. Their research has served to support my final findings as well as providing a larger spectrum of the linguistic situation in Italy.

The first is von Bonkewitz’s (1995) study of language, gender and sex. The aim of her work is to examine the negative effects of sexist language usage within school textbooks, and how it could affect adolescent behaviour. Her motivation was to determine whether heed had been taken of Sabatini’s work (Sabatini et al 1987) and von Bonkewitz includes a later edition of one of the texts used by Sabatini. Von Bonkewitz uses four Italian grammar books in order to fulfil her criteria, one published prior to Sabatini’s report, one written by women, one recently published and all in use in Italian schools. She begins her study with the premise that there is a reciprocal rapport between language and society:

88 Una data lingua quindi non solo dimostra un certo modo di pensare una data società ma allo stessa modo influenza il modo di pensare di quella società. Nella lingua si dimostrano i pregiudizi, stereotipi e norme di una società. (von Bonkewitz 1995, p.101)

She notes that the earlier studies incorporating sex and language were undertaken in the fields of anthropology and dialectology and were of an androcentric nature, a situation criticised by many Italian feminists. It was not until the 1970s that women began to examine this area within other paradigms. Von Bonkewitz also points out the different, more philosophical orientation of the Italian feminists,45 and also that there has been little in the way of analysis of the linguistic system undertaken since Sabatini’s work.46 The lack of specific linguistic analysis is also apparent in the current review which has, by necessity, focused on the theories and motivations underlying the feminist linguistic directions in Italy (i.e. calls for feminisation of the language), rather than actual evidence, other than that of Sabatini et al 1987 and Piano 1992, of examinations into the language itself.

Von Bonkewitz asks whether it is a language that is sexist or whether it is the use of a language that is sexist. She discusses this within the paradigm of grammatical and natural gender and proposes that while many of the links may be arbitrary, there is a tendency to see grammatical gender as a reflection of natural gender. This leads her to tentatively conclude that:

È piuttosto l’uso che ne fanno le persone che poi render un genere più importante di un altro. Quindi possiamo dire che non è tanto la lingua ma piuttosto l’uso della stessa che è sessista. (von Bonkewitz 1995, p. 104)

Von Bonkewitz then provides a brief but concise summary of the role of Sabatini and the Raccomandazioni in Italian feminist linguistic studies, before presenting the results of her (von Bonkewitz’s) research into grammar texts.

45 von Bonkewitz 1995, p. 101 “Le linguiste femministe in Italia si orientano piuttosto verso il discorso psico-analitico e filosofico della filosofa francese Luce Irigaray. Il loro punto di partenza non è tanto il sistema linguistico ma la lingua come espressione di una struttura presemiotica nella quale il maschile funziona come esclusivo e nella quale la dualità di maschile-femminile viene velato. Il femminile viene negato totalmente o viene presentato come ciò che è diverso, che non fa parte della norma.” 46 A point well noted as I found the same difficulty when examining linguistic and extra-linguistic sexism in Italian mass market magazine. See Burns 1996 and Burns and Bressan 1998

89

Von Bonkewitz’s analysis was based on the guidelines in the Raccomandazioni. She examined all the examples and phrases, then divided them into six groups. Her actual results will be presented in more detail in Chapter Five along with the results from my own textbooks analysis. Von Bonkewitz found that not only had there been little change from 1980 to 1993, but that there was no perceivable difference between female and male authors, and none of them mentions sexism. There was a slight increase in female examples in the textbooks authored by females, but nothing of any note. Masculine examples accounted for 74.7% of the total. Von Bonkewitz states:

Le autrici degli anni 90 non sono ancora sensibili al tema di sessismo, usano il maschile generico – anche se un po’ meno spesso – e non riportano modelli femminili da copiare per le alunne. (von Bonkewitz 1995, p. 107)

Von Bonkewitz also found that many of the examples were stereotypical – females as mothers or chatterboxes – and most of the examples revolved around male dominated activities, especially sport. She cites a number of examples that indicate the extremely stereotypical and pejorative manner in which women are presented.47 In her closing remarks, von Bonkewitz points out that Italian does not lend itself to neutrality, and restates some of the problems this causes in terms of gender selection and grammatical agreement. She says, however, that there are some solutions and possibilities available, and what is needed is change on linguistic and social levels. As she asserts, reflecting the results from my research, the language in use reflects the structure of fifty years ago:

riflette una rigidità e un rifiuto di novità e compromessi così che rimane la lotta e la speranza che le ragazze sono state omesse nelle grammatiche, che sono invisibili nella lingua si facciano vedere e sentire nella società e nella lingua. (von Bonkewitz 1995, p. 109)

47 von Bonkewitz 1995, p. 108 Dardano/Trifone 1989 (p.352) <>, in Peressini/Ravizza 1993(p.131) << la capacità di Luciana di chiacchierare è incredibile>>, in Della Casa 1988 (p.22) <> (..) in Dardano/Trifone (p.185) <> o (p.212) << il ministro Tina Anselmi, l’architetto Luciana Natoli, il primo ministro signora Thatcher>> in Peressini/Ravizza (p.535) << Silvia, la collega di Giovanni, è architetto>>

90 Von Bonkewitz calls on women to enforce change by asking for sexist language guidelines for publishing houses, and by continuing to fight for equality that is not just on paper but in reality as well.

Spina (1995) selected her corpus of one hundred and thirteen authors and approximately five hundred works in order to determine whether the social changes affecting women’s place in the workforce had also appeared in language. She used the 1995 edition of the CD ROM LIZ Letteratura Italiana Zanichelli. In order to compile her data, Spina identified eleven major suffixes that indicate the feminine.48 While there were limitations to the selection, Spina felt that overall it would allow for a comprehensive idea of suffix choice, oscillation of use and meaning of titles that were originally only found in the masculine form. Spina details the research methodology, selection and presentation processes. Her study found 182 examples, which she analysed in two ways: linguistic/stylistic and social. It also found that there are close links between occupational titles and historic, social and cultural reality. She found that the most used suffix was -trice followed by -essa, -aia and –iera. In the breakdown by century, from 1200 until 1900, Spina details the fluctuation of usage. She also notes that there seems to be a difference between the use of –trice as a choice for literature and –tora which more often appeared in popular use. Oscillation was noticeable with a number of nouns, particularly during the early period of their usage. Spina states in relation to Pirandello’s interchangeable use of romanzatrice/romanziera:

L’oscillazione testimonia dunque semplicemente un’incertezza di uso, dovuta con ogni probabilità allo scarso numero di donne che, al tempo di Pirandello praticavano tale professione. (Spina 1995, p. 135)

Spina also finds that many of the negative connotations of certain feminine forms have more to do with the meaning attributed to them than the suffix used.

In her social analysis, she breaks down the nouns identified into 12 categories. Titles associated with commerce (commercio) were the most frequent, though they

48 The suffixes used were: -aia, -ai(u)ola, -ante, -ara, -aria, -essa, -iera, -ina, -ista, -tora, -trice

91 were mostly not of a high status or indeed pejorative. Those associated with domestic work (lavori domestici) were next, followed by titles that indicated the wives of the incumbent in the next two categories (mestieri/professioni and vita pubblica). Within the analysis, Spina identified 26 titles that did not have corresponding masculine titles (such as lattatrice, levatrice, allevatrice and nutrice), and ten where the masculine form had a different meaning or connotation. Spina also tabulates the results according to usage from the 1200s to the 1900s.49 The areas of commercio and lavori domestici, were highest in the 1800s but had lost position to those of arte/spettacolo and artigianato in the 1900s. Spina states that the identification of oscillation is the most important element of her research:

Il fenomeno più significativo, anche perché ancora diffusissimo ai giorni nostri, e non solo in campo letterario, è quello delle oscillazioni tra forme diverse per indicare un’unica attività, che, come si è detto sono indice di grande incertezza d’uso: il grado di accettabilità di un termine è legato alla stabilità e al rispettivo grado di accettabilità della professione a cui si riferisce. (Spina 1995, p. 139)

The acceptance, therefore, of female terms comes not only from their frequency but also from the stability of usage. Some oscillation is usual when new terms are introduced, but it is the eventual conformity of usage that allows them to pass into acceptable social usage. Spina notes, as have others, that this process is usually relatively straightforward for work titles that belong to the lower social strata. Once women begin to coin forms for elevated positions, the forms often attract negative connotations and consensus is more difficult.

There continues to be other dictionary based work into Italian linguistics in terms of its representation of women. At the 1998 language conference at Sappada Dialetto oggi (Ed. Marcato 1998), Chiantera (1998) discussed neologisms in the feminine gender50. Her work on the new additions to the lexicon was linked to the evolution of female experience and how Italian society has nominated and stabilised these terms. She was primarily concerned with the way these experiences have been inscribed, rather than their appropriateness. Chiantera examined three

49 Spina 1995, p. 139: see Tabella 3 50 many thanks to Angela Chiantera for the copy of her paper.

92 dictionaries51 and noted that the authors, unlike earlier lexicographers, proposed to be flexible and not bound by puristic or moralistic traditions:

[..]non assumere, nei confronti di questi termini, un atteggiamento censorio, né dal punto di vista strettamente linguistico (puristico), né dal punto di vista ideologico- moralistico (Chiantera up.1998, p. 3).

She also notes an attitude of authority on behalf of the compilers regarding the terms selected that emphasises the role of dictionaries to record linguistic and social realty:

rinforza l’impressione, e che quindi questi dizionari descrivano una realtà linguistica e sociale, attendibile, seppure in continua, fluida evoluzione. (Chiantera up.1998, p. 3)

Chiantera’s analysis shows that the assertions of the lexicographers have little in common with the eventual entries in the dictionaries. Chiantera finds an excess number of entries for females involved in sexual activities, and little addition in possible corresponding male categories. She also notes that while there has been a slight increase in the nouns for designating female profession, they mostly fall into the areas of cinema or shows (spettacoli). Similar results were found by Spina. In this recent research, Chiantera finds, as did Sabatini more than ten years previously, that women are either absent or ignored in the language:

In conclusione, dunque, la marginalità e stereotipia dell’immagine femminile ricavabile dalla lettura dei neologismi non è documentabile solo a partire dalla quantità e qualità delle voci inserite, ma altresì come in ambiti è stato già dimostrato, dal modo in cui ogni singola sotto-unità testuale costituita dal binomio lemma-definizione è costruita, dalle informazioni che dà e da quelle che fa presuppore o inferire. (Chiantera up.1998, p. 6)

Burr’s (1995) study of feminine forms in Italian newspapers, like von Bonkewitz’s (1995), incorporated the early work of Alma Sabatini. Her introduction includes a pointed comment at the general lack of attention, understanding and research in the area of sexist language by Italian linguists. She indicates:

51 Chiantera 1998, p. 2: Panzini. Dizionario moderno, Cortelazzo & Cardinale Dizionario di parole nuove (1964-1987) and Quaranotto. Dizionario del nuovo italiano

93

Manca, dunque, un’analisi sistematica dell’uso degli agentivi, che stabilisce non soltanto se i due sessi vengano trattati diversamente, ma anche in che misura ci si riferisca a uomini e donne effettivamente. (Burr 1995, p. 143)

Like Spina, Burr uses an electronic corpus, in this case of Italian newspapers, to collect the data. Burr discusses the complex nature of binary opposition in Italian, and the resulting use of the so-called generic masculine to indicate females and males. She notes that until women began to enter traditionally masculine dominated areas, there was little confusion of terminology:

l’esistenza stessa di un agentivo al femminile o al maschile dipende dal fatto che donne e/o uomini svolgono quest’attività (Burr 1995, p. 145).

Burr explains that with the social changes brought about by the women’s movement, this is no longer the case. Masculine referents are used for women or in some cases feminised to show the exceptionality of the position. But as males move into traditionally female dominated areas male referents are coined. The asymmetric usage is justified by linguists as being part of the linguistic system:

I linguisti stessi giustificano questa dissimmetria cercando rifugio, nella teoria e nelle grammatiche, nel valore intensivo del femminile ed estensivo del maschile, indicandoli come fatti sistemici della lingua. (Burr 1995, p. 145)

Burr rejects this justification based on the linguistic system, and argues that it is really just an indication of the norm.

She then discusses the role of gender in Italian and the lack of possible neutrality. Included in this discussion is the issue of arbitrariness, and Burr maintains that while the relationship between grammatical gender and object is for the most part arbitrary, as one moves towards some sub categories of animals and the category of humans grammatical gender correlates with natural gender. This is then related to the formation of female and male nouns and the different procedures involved, which Burr identifies as modification. Development and composition (modificazione, sviluppo e composizione).

94 Using this, Burr then analysed a selection of Italian newspapers, in order to ascertain the distribution of nouns based on gender. Her results show that women are, for the most part, absent from the newspapers. They rarely form part of groups of either mixed or single sex. Women are more likely to be referred to with a masculine referent in regards to professional activity, although there were some examples of feminine referents such as direttrice, segretaria and autrice. The word donna and the suffix -essa were often used to indicate the peculiarity of a women in that position, although traditional terms were used without problem, for example studentessa, professoressa etc. Burr also found a disparity in the types of suffixes used, with some forms seeming to provoke stronger resistance, as well as the types of terms more frequently used.

Burr concludes that Italian is not sexist and, in fact, that it offers the ways and means for an equitable representation of the sexes. She states that it is the norm that is sexist:

La norma è la realizzazione tradizionale e socialmente determinata del sistema e rispecchia, attualmente, una società androcentrica, dove l’uomo è gente e la donna sesso. In conformità a questi valori sociali e culturali la norma attribuisce il valore primario al maschile e rende così, d’accordo il principio sistemico, il suo significato estensivo. (Burr 1995, p. 155)

According to Burr the extreme disparity in the representation of gender uncovered by her research into newspapers indicates that sexism in the Italian language has worsened since the research undertaken by Sabatini and her colleagues. She concludes with this comment about the social and linguistic place of women:

Non è vero che si nascondano dietro i termini maschile; al contrario, non vengono prese in considerazione. Le donne non fanno notizia (Burr 1995, p. 156)

A similar situation found in my work on Italian mass-market magazines (Burns 1996).

In Thüne’s (1995) exploration into the feminisation and neutralisation of languages she selects German, English, Danish and Italian for her research into feminine

95 nouns and their relationship with grammatical gender, because they have diverse morphological structures. The influences of early feminist theories are apparent in Thüne’s writing and in her discussion of grammatical gender in Indo-European languages she notes that:

Nonostante il genere grammaticale abbia una funzione linguistica puramente formale – quindi il genere venga definito come una categoria morfosintattica – non si può negare una certa coincidenza tra genere grammaticale e genere sessuale a livello semantico. (Thüne 1995, p. 113)

This semantic value emerges through links to cultural traditions and gendered social roles. She also points out, however, that in the case of nouns there is the aspect of social stereotypes that determines gender – a category of social gender.

Thüne then briefly introduces the four languages: English as being without grammatical gender; German as having three: (male, female and neutral); Danish as having a communal gender that can indicate feminine and masculine and a neutral gender for inanimate or non sex specific entities; and Italian as having the feminine and masculine gender. She observes that despite their differences, all four languages retain morpho-syntactic elements to indicate sex. Thüne, like Spina and Burr, uses the formation of female nouns in her discussion, because they are the most straightforward markers of change. Her theoretical paradigm, however, is the evidence of feminisation and/or neutralisation of terms, rather than the quantity and quality of manifestations.

She uses five criteria to determine the tendency of the four languages: suffixes, epicene nouns, splitting, modifiers and new non-discriminatory nouns. She then presents each language, with data corresponding to her five criteria. She finds English and Danish to have strong tendencies towards astrazione sessuale or neutrality. German is a mix, where there is a tendency in the plural to use a neutral term, but in the singular to nominate the feminine when possible. In Italian, however, Thüne asserts that the ability of the linguistic structure to nominate women has not been fully explored or exploited. Even though there has been some oscillation between neutralisation and feminisation, the more recent trends,

96 appearing also in dictionaries such as Zingarelli, are towards the feminisation of the language.

In her conclusion, Thüne discusses the two different directions and their links to social changes. In relation to Italian, she argues that use of the masculine referent for a female is indicative of a social situation that is still developing:

L’uso delle forme generiche in queste situazioni a mio avviso è indicatore di una situazione sociale ancora in movimento che determina una certa non-chiarezza nell’uso della lingua. (..) Il disagio di fronte alle forme femminile può avere due motivi: da una parte gli agentivi maschili sembrano dare una garanzia di maggiore autorità o addirittura di potere, dall’altra parte le forme femminili fanno pensare a forme derivate da quelle maschili, quindi vengono percepite in qualche maniera come meno dignitose. (Thüne 1995, p. 126)

She points out that the search for a new female semantic (una nuova semantica “al femminile) continues, in order to avoid women’s homogenisation into masculine models. At times, neutralisation is presented as the easiest way, yet even here the need to indicate sex occurs. Neutralisation lends itself to the apparent negation of the subject, and Italian feminists have long discussed the dangers of universality. Thüne is unsure how linguistic politics could or should be manifested, but she is clear that it is important to avoid strategies that would lead to the elimination of the sexed human.

It is interesting that while much of the recent research counteracts the earlier assumptions and criticisms by linguists, journalists and others, little is directly addressed to the refutation of these arguments either specifically or generally.

One of the results of such varied and consistent debates and research regarding gender and language can been seen in the recent formation of the group P.O.L.I.T.E. (Pari Opportunità nei LIbri di Testo) coordinated by Poliedra, a consultancy group for community projects.52 It was formed by the il Dipartimento per la pari opportunità, the l’Associazione Italiana Editori (AIE) and the Centro per

52 WWW.AIE.it/polite. Società di consulenza nell'ambito della formazione e nella elaborazione di progetti comunitari.

97 l’Innovazione e la Sperimentazione Educativa di Milano (Cisem) and falls within the European Union’s Fourth Action Program for the promoting of equal opportunity (1996-200). A further discussion of its aims will take place in Chapter Three, In the classroom. Its objective is to provide guidance in order to render the linguistic contents of school textbooks less unequal and more representative of the recent social changes brought about by the women’s movement. This is a joint project with Portugal and Spain, where much of the analysis has already been published. Its remit, however, does not require editorial houses to comply.

As this review shows, there have been extensive and consistent research projects into various aspects of Italian linguistics by scholars, academics and feminists from diverse discipline areas. This diversity has been, for the most part, explored within philosophical and/or political paradigms. For the purposes of this study, it is the emphasis on difference, the need to explore the sexed subject and the rejection of the universal that are of most relevance. These aspects manifested themselves in the work of Alma Sabatini in the 1980s and have had a fundamental impact on the linguistic direction of Italian feminist linguistics. The resulting focus on the feminisation of the language places Italian in opposition, but not uniquely so, to the moves towards neutrality favoured by much of the Anglo-American models.

What appears to be missing is the articulation of the link between the practical research, such as that of Thüne or Spina, with the theoretical work, Violi, Muraro etc. It has become apparent that the majority of Italian feminist linguists base their studies on a version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that takes as a given the interdependent relationship between language and society. My research into gender representation in Italian education aims to more explicitly discuss the way in which linguistic and contextual representation effects gender perception and worldview.

2.6 Concluding Comments

Italian feminist linguists saw their work as a means of raising awareness of the fundamental importance of language in the overall movement towards recognition

98 and parity. What they recommended was the development of a creative and innovative approach to language that would see the creation of new terminology and discourse styles that reflect the new directions in the evolution of gender. What is interesting in many of the more vehement criticisms is the similarity of the objections combined with what appears to be a general lack of understanding as to the theories and philosophies underpinning the developing linguistic ideas. Furthermore, particularly in the case of Simone (1987) and Lepschy (1988), the established linguists seemed to support an idea of the interdependent nature of society and language, but only from the direction of society being able to influence language. Ultimately their arguments were weakened by the recognition that changes to languages were significant, and, in their opinion, to be avoided.

The comparison between feminisation and neutralisation highlights the fundamental philosophy of difference that permeates Italian feminisms. Language has long been recognised by Italian feminists as an androcentric construct where the symbology available serves to alienate and negate them. The acceptance of a reciprocal relationship of language and society is found in much of the theories and developed in the specific theories relating to women’s place in the world. They recognised the need to find their own subjectivity, to become the subject of discourse. As part of this process they realised the many, and often pejorative, ways in which they were already inscribed in language.

This understanding led them to develop a number of different theories about how they could extricate themselves from a representation that did not truly reflect or represent them. These theories identified the need for a multiplicity of subjects within language. This serves the purpose of making the androcentric nature of universality transparent, as well as recognising the diversities between women and men, between women, and within woman. The autocoscienza process as well as the concept of affidamento link to the idea that it is through the mediation of other women that language change will develop and occur (see 1.a and 1.1b). The role of female relationships is also central to the role of the mother – actual, symbolic and

99 archetypal – in the language and in the recent investigations into the language of the mother.

The main text containing linguistic recommendations remains Il sessismo nella lingua: Raccomandazioni per un’uso non sessista della lingua. What subsequent studies into language have shown is the importance of establishing stable usage for new and/or changed terms, in order for them to be accepted and to pass into the language. It is the concept of the feminisation of language that is underpinning the new studies and explorations into the relation between language and gender.

The result is a move towards a sexed language in which women and men will have equal space, value and access to modes of expression, that ensure they are not marginalised, and that their thoughts and philosophies can evolve and develop. While the concept of the sexed subject is tied to female mediation, it also has a role in the creation of a female genealogy, and generates many different forms of expression. The sexed language, which has been essentially developed from the philosophy of difference, has implications for the actual structure and usage of Italian.

It is the potential implications of a sexed subject and a sexed language that motivates the methodology of this thesis. If the theories that underpin Italian feminist philosophies are to exist and evolve it seems essential that they are part of the fundamental presentation of gender. In order to establish the presence of Italian feminist theories it is necessary to examine the educational basis of the society. Through the examination of the linguistic and extra-linguistic symbols present in education a clearer indication of influence or establishment of Italian feminisms will be available.

100 Chapter Three A SCUOLA Italian Education

3.0 Introduction – Focus on Gender 3.1 The Links – Education, Europe and Italy 3.1a Education Now and in the Future 3.1b Schools as Places of Reform 3.2 Equality versus Difference 3.2a Defining Directions 3.2b Female Genealogy – Male Universality 3.2c Educare nella differenza 3.3 Those Who Teach 3.3a Schools as Female Dominated Environments 3.3b Resistance, Rebellion, Support, Strategies 3.4 Teachers and Textbooks 3.4a Early Research 3.4b P.O.L.I.T.E. 3.5 Concluding Comments

3.0 Introduction – Focus on Gender

This chapter focuses on the issue of gender in relation to the educational environment. Italian educational objectives are influenced by the encompassing EU philosophy regarding education and, of concern to this thesis, gender. The directives and recommendations for EU member nations specifically relating to gender and education have been included in the publications issued from the Comitato Nazionale per le Pari Opportunità (National committee for equal opportunity) within the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione (Ministry of Education). Other information regarding education in the European context will also be discussed. The focus will then narrow to highlight the actual Italian situation,

91 presently experiencing macro and micro reforms. These changes involve the restructuring of the Italian school system. Presently, the compulsory system is divided into scuola elementare and scuola media. That, however, is about to undergo a significant change, with the merging of the two systems. The new law foresees a primary school (scuola primaria) of seven years, for children between six and thirteen, followed by a secondary school (scuola secondaria), with two compulsory years for thirteen- to fifteen-year olds, and a further three non-compulsory years (Romualdi 1999). Given the present changes, it is vital to know which aspects of the gender issue in education are being discussed and/or developed by the Italian education system at official and unofficial levels. What part does gender and the feminist movement of the last 30 years play in these new directions?

As discussed in Chapters One and Two, Italian feminisms are distinguished from much of the global feminist movement by their adherence to a philosophy of difference. Added to this is their wariness of the concepts of emancipation and equality, as they see these as being the co-opting of female consent to the rightness of the male worldview. The debate of equality versus difference can certainly be found in the educational arena at all levels. It is more often here that divisions between official programs and feminist philosophies occur. One of the major themes for Italian feminists in education is the creation and uncovering of a female genealogy that will debunk the myth of male universality and fundamentally change the schooling experience for both genders. Much of this ideology is gathered within the concept of ‘educare nella differenza’ - an approach to education that begins with, and holds as central, the basic duality of humanity within the greater social, historical and political environment. The official directives issued from the Ministero della pubblica istruzione, while incorporating Italian feminist ideology in relation to recognition of difference, tends to focus on emancipation (read employment) opportunities as being a major educational objective of personal development.

It is generally accepted that education and the years of compulsory schooling in any nation or culture are of fundamental importance to society in its present

92 manifestation as well as to its future. One of the most crucial factors in the success of an educational system is the educators that work within it. What, therefore, are the roles and responsibilities required from and by teachers at all levels of education, and of both genders, in relation to the gender experience in schooling? What is expected of them at an official, ministerial level, in order to promote the directions and directives of European and national policies on gender and education, and what are some of the responses and experiences of those working within the schools and incorporating the philosophy of difference into their teaching? There has also been recognition, at both ministerial and ‘frontline’ levels, of some of the difficulties in the implementation of new or philosophical projects, which will be discussed later in order to portray the diversity of aspects.

This will be followed by comments on the use of language in all its forms within the classroom. Language and discourse context are central themes in the research undertaken for this thesis. The fundamental importance of language as a means of communication and communicating knowledge is widely recognised and accepted. What, therefore, needs to be examined, controlled and/or modified in relation to language and gender in the classroom? Italian feminists working within the educare nella differenza paradigm have expressed the need for a language that reflects not only the changing reality, but which is also able to speak their philosophical and practical theorems. How too is language used in one of the central tools of the curriculum – the textbook? What are the modifications necessary in order to render textbooks less discriminatory and androcentric, and how could these be achieved?

3.1 The Links – Education, Europe and Italy 3.1a Education Now and in the Future

The changes to the political landscape of Europe since the conception of the European Union have highlighted education as a significant factor in the future success and survival of EU philosophy. Nations cannot disregard the importance of their education system in relation to their future prospects and development. As

93 Wilson (1991) notes in Girls and Young Women in Education: A European Perspective:

The right to receive an equal education has been a fundamental part of many human rights documents since the second world war.(Wilson 1991, p. 2)

The notion of education as a right for both genders has also been the focus of many United Nations objectives. In 1979, at the United Nation’s convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women, the 1967 resolution, no. 2263 1967, was incorporated, which included:

All appropriate measures shall be taken to ensure girls and women, married or unmarried, equal rights with men in education at all levels, and in particular (a) equal conditions of access to and study in educational institutions of all types, including universities and vocational, technical and professional schools: (b) the same choice of curricula, the same examinations, teaching staff with qualifications of the same standard. and school premises and equipment of the same quality, whether the institutions are coeducational or not:

(c) equal opportunities to benefit from scholarships and other study grants: (d) equal opportunities for access to programmes of continuing education, including adult literacy programmes, and (e) access to educational information to help in ensuring the health and well being of families (Wilson 1991)

The United Nations has also promoted and supported women and educational issues within its “Decade for Women” (1975 - 1985) and at the Nairobi World Conference of 1985. Women’s right to education can no longer be considered as an anomaly. What form or forms their educational opportunities take is, however, still under discussion.

The official focus, therefore, of educational bodies on global (United Nations), European (European Union) and national (Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione) levels has been to promote equal access and equal opportunity within educational systems. Italy, as a member nation of the EU, must take into account the educational directions and directives formed by the various committees, and initiatives undertaken within the larger context.53 It is therefore useful to

53 Piano Nazionale per le Pari Opportunità fra gli uomini e le donne nel sistema scolastico italiano 1993-1995 Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione, Comitato Nazionale per le Pari Opportunità. pp5-8

94 understand what are the expectations of the European Union in relation to gender and education, and how that translates into the Italian paradigm. In Italy, an initial three-year plan was conceived to cover the years 1993 – 1995, which would incorporate both EU directives and Italian specificity. The two issuing bodies were the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione and the Comitato Nazionale per le Pari Opportunità. The document included five sections on equal opportunity: Europe, the Italian context, culture and education, where equal opportunity meets system reforms, and female professionality within schools. The importance of the role of education was clearly defined in terms of its ability to effect social change, combined with the necessity of the equal opportunity objective permeating the curricula:

La cultura delle pari opportunità non è dunque, un progetto aggiuntivo rispetto al curricolo, è piuttosto un punto di vista di trasformazione della cultura e dell’educazione. (CNPO 1993, pp. 5-8)

The question remains, however, what form(s) of education? The first section of the Piano Nazionale per le Pari Opportunità fra gli uomini e le donne nel sistema scolastico italiano 1993-1995 deals with the European context and the influence (interference?) of the EU at national levels. Article 126 of the Maastricht Treaty recognises the necessity to modify what are relatively generic proposals, although, at the same time, it is clearly stated that the Community directives are paramount:

Art. 126 1. La Comunità contribuisce allo sviluppo di un’istruzione di qualità incentivando la cooperazione tra Stati membri e, se necessario, sostenendo ed integrando la loro azione nel pieno rispetto della responsibilità degli Stati membri per quanto riguarda il contenuto dell’insegnamento e l’organizzazione del sistema d’istruzione, nonché delle loro diversità culturali e linguistiche. (CNPO 1993, p. 5)

Many of the articles from the Maastricht Treaty, and other recommendations from educational bodies at an European level, focus on the promotion of equal opportunity, women’s professional formation and inter-European connections and exchanges, given that:

La piena valorizzazione delle risorse umane, di uomini e di donne, dentro le dinamiche del mercato europeo e i caratteri culturali e sociali della nuova realtà europea, è l’obiettivo principale nella costruzione dell’Europa. (CNPO 1993, p. 5)

95 and that:

La discriminazione nell’educazione viene indicata come il fattore essenziale che impedisce oggi sia l’accesso delle donne al mercato del lavoro sia la qualità dell’occupazione femminile, intensa come sviluppo professionale e riconoscimento del valore delle donne nelle organizzazioni. (CNPO 1993, p. 10)

The articulation of these foci can been found in the numerous resolutions, recommendations and action plans issued under the auspices of the various committees and commissions of the EU. What is clear in most of them is the aim of integrating women into the established social systems of work and education and, within those systems, opening up their (women’s) opportunities and possibilities. This is done through action plans which promote the expansion of curriculum choices for girls (and boys) – i.e. by encouraging non-traditional subject choices, by encouraging more active participation on behalf of the girls in male-dominated activities,54 by improving and promoting the participation of women in the development of plans for future professional development, especially in area where they are under represented, and generally improving women’s integration into the workplace:

Il miglioramento dell’integrazione delle donne sul mercato del lavoro, non soltanto in termini quantitativi ma anche qualitativi, costituisce oggi una dimensione essenziale della strategia di coesione economica e sociale dell’Europa. (CNPO 1993 p. 7)

It is unclear whether these directives and the associated plans (Iris, Now, Erasmus, Lingua, Scambi di giovani nella Comunità Europea, Eurydice, Arion, Petra, Cometto, Eurotecnet, Handynet, Helios, Horizon – [CNPO 1993, pp. 7-8]) actually contain elements that would effect real and lasting social and cultural changes, rather than just superficial economic ones. What is also of concern is whether these plans have the flexibility to adapt to the very specific and somewhat unique approach to women and men within a philosophy of difference.

54 Ibid. - found in the Risoluzione del Consiglio dei Ministri dell’istruzione, “riuniti in sede di Consiglio, del 3 giugno 1985 che contempla un programma di azioni per la promozione dell’uguaglianza di opportunità per le ragazze ed i ragazzi in materia di istruzione.”

96 There are two areas that need to be looked at in relation to the adaptation of EU considerations to Italian parameters. The first can be found in the official Piano Nazionale per le Pari Opportunità fra gli uomini e le donne nel sistema scolastico italiano 1993-1995, which sets out a series of considerations, recommendations and actions for European and national directions. The second can be found within the feminist framework that concerns itself with educational philosophies on gender. The latter element will be discussed in the next section of this chapter. The national plan regarding equal opportunity within education revolves around two elements which look to include both European objectives and feminist philosophy.55 The plan itself breaks up the proposed actions into four main sections:

* Sezione seconda. Il contesto italiano delle pari opportunità, * Sezione terza. Il tema delle pari opportunità nella scuola: cultura ed educazione, * Sezione quarta. I processi di riforma e le pari opportunità, and * Sezione cinque. Le professionalità femminili nella scuola.

Each section is then set out under the headings: riferimenti which concerns itself with the background of the area; considerazioni which discusses the recent developments; raccomandazioni which looks to establish the future directions necessary for the elaboration and improvement of the specific area; and azioni which articulates more clearly how the recommendations might be implemented.

The section (sezione seconda) regarding equal opportunity within the Italian context looks at the centrality of the school in the promotion of equality of opportunity inside and outside the school environment, the need for inter-institutional collaboration and the publication and dispersion of ideas and strategies between schools and professional structures. The next section (sezione terza) looks at equal opportunity in relation to education and culture and discusses the lack of success in relation to the ideas and projects being developed within the Italian school system:

55 Ibid. p.9 “Il presente piano si impegna a collaborare allo sviluppo di nuove strategie per l’educazione europea a partire dai principi delle pari opportunità che riguardano il riconoscimento e la valorizzazione di differenti modi di essere delle persone, radicati nel valore della differenza di genere maschile e femminile. Oltre a fornire il proprio contributo originale all’elaborazione di una cultura europea delle pari opportunità, il presente piano fa proprio i risultati dell’attività svolta dalla Commissione delle Comunità europee in tema di uguaglianza di opportunità...”

97

Una rete insomma di rapporti quasi personali che spesso ha prodotto elaborazioni ed initiativi di qualità, ma ha finora potuto incidere poco sull’insieme del sistema scolastico. (CNPO 1993, p. 15)

Related to this is the fact that the external research into history, literature, linguistics and science, and the changes in the workplace, are perceived as not being reflected in schools. The focus of this area is on achieving wide-ranging changes to the curriculum (including, and in fact emphasising, textbooks and other didactic material), which stresses the duality of the genders:

La neutralità dell’uno (universale maschile), che genera una cultura di omologazione, cede il posto alla cultura della dualità e della relazione tra diversità di uguale valore. (CNPO 1993, p. 16)

Education, and specifically schools, are central to the realisation of this concept:

La scuola è un fattore determinate per il cambiamento di una cultura. Essa oggi deve assumere il tema della complessità, del rispetto e della valorizzazione delle diversità, del pluralismo, dei valori condivisi, come un tema centrale del progetto culturale ed educativo. Essa deve produrre cultura delle pari opportunità contro ogni discriminazione o svalutazione. (CNPO 1993, p. 17)

The introduction and establishment of the discourse of equal opportunity at the most fundamental levels of education (including didactic material) is the objective of the recommendations and actions. The sezione quarta looks at the manner in which equal opportunity initiatives should be introduced into the overall educational system. The five major areas which are identified and then elaborated on are:

* la ridefinizione dell’asse antropologico. * il ripensamento degli strumenti e dei percorsi di conoscenza e di formazione. * la valorizzazione e la responsabilizzazione delle professionalità della scuola. * la responsabilizzazione della società nei confronti del sistema scolastico. * il superamento della separatezza tra la scuola e il mondo produttivo. (CNPO 1993, p. 21-22)

These areas for radical change are then broken down into thirteen subsections, in which the development of reflections, experience, experimentation and research is necessary. Each level of schooling, from scuola materna (preschool) through to

98 adult education, is then briefly discussed in relation to these objectives. It must be noted that while many of the recommendations look at the development of individuality, there is little specific translation of the concept of diversity into the reforms, the focus being somewhat more egalitarian and it moves quickly to turning personal development into employment outcomes.

The final section (sezione cinque) discusses the professional development of women within schools. It has been widely accepted for some time that schools are now female dominated environments, at least in terms of the female-male ratio of teachers. According to the document there is a need to examine the place of women within the school, in relation to its hierarchical structure, as well as to its educative and social roles. The need to rethink and redefine women’s roles in education at all levels has become of primary importance:

La professionalità femminile nella scuola deve essere caratterizzata più dai livelli qualitativi che da quelli quantitativi. (CNPO 1993, p. 31)

This was reinforced in the final report for a 1997 ‘in service’ seminar on equal opportunity in schools: Scuola laboratorio del pensiero delle donne. Conclusioni del corso d’aggiornamento per insegnanti: Le pari opportunità: aspetti legislativi, sociali e didattici. The report stated that in response to the question: “Perché c’è assenza nella scuola del pensiero delle donne?”, there was a somewhat disturbing answer:

(P)uò essere sintetizzata con la frase d’un’insegnante: “Un corpo di donna non garantisce un pensiero di donna”. È stato sostenuto che, essendo il linguaggio maschile, la società maschile, la libertà maschile, le leggi maschili, le norme ed i programmi scolastici non possono che essere espressione della società maschile. (Artese 1997, p.2)

Recognition is also given to the fact that male teachers need to undergo similar ‘updating’ (aggiornamento) in relation to equal opportunity, and need to be encouraged to teach at the earlier levels of the education experience (i.e. scuola materna - preschool). The need to increase the perception of value for the role of the teacher and schools in society is certainly highlighted throughout the ministerial three-year plan. Within the ministerial report, however, little is put forward or discussed in relation to the way in which the school structure itself may

99 serve to perpetuate disparity and discrimination. Nadia Plateau (1997) discusses the lack of transformation in Italian education, as schools became co-educational rather than sex-segregated:

Due fenomeni hanno segnato il passaggio dalla scuola sessualmente differenziata alla scuola mista: la dessualizzazione e l’imposizione del ‘maschile neutro’…….La scuola mista ha occultato il femminile ed imposto il maschile neutro, ha rifiutato cioè la differenza sessuale e affermato la superiorità maschile…….La scuola come non ha saputo cogliere, sia nei contenuti che nei metodi, la nuova opportunità offertagli dall’arrivo delle classi sociali modeste, così non è stata in grado di registrare i profondi mutamenti del rapporto tra i sessi. (Plateau 1997, p.1)

In 1997, two years after the end of the first Piano Nazionale per le Pari Opportunità fra gli uomini e le donne nel sistema scolastico italiano 1993-1995, the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione issued a second document on equal opportunity in the Italian school system. Entitled Proposte operative per una scuola che cambia, the document looked at some of the directions that were now necessary, given the political and social developments in Italy and Europe in recent years:

Sollecitare a un nuovo dibattito in Italia, partendo dall’istruzione, intorno al tema delle pari opportunità tra uomo e donna non è stato per noi solo il dovere della continuità a dieci anni circa di distanza dall’avvio del lavoro del Comitato Nazionale istituito presso il Ministero della P.I.: è soprattutto la risposta alle sfide del presente, ai segni di un’epoca chiamata a far vivere i valori dell’uguaglianza e della giustizia insieme con i valori della diversità, delle differenze, del molteplice dispiegarsi della libertà. (MPI 1997, p. 1)

The document split into two sections. The first section has a similar format to that of the three-year plan of 1993-1995, and contains directions regarding: sex education (educazione sessuale), orientation towards employment (orientamento), citizenship (cittadinanza), teacher training, in service and professional development (aggiornamento, formazione docenti, professionalità, ricerca), adult education (educazione in età adulta), European projects (L’Europa dei progetti) and textbooks and support material (Libri di testo e supporti didattici). The second section covers a range of topics. Many revolve around the concept of citizenship, identity and difference, and women in relation to development, technology and history. It also includes brief summaries of the present projects in operation at a European level. These projects are generic in their objectives rather than particularly relating to equal opportunity.

100

The overall focus, however, of most of the two sections is the duality of humanity, and how that needs to be developed for the realisation of the subject (soggetto). The role of teachers in relation to this development, and specifically female teachers, was clear:

Lo sguardo femminile sul mondo, da tempo teso al recupero della memoria, alla mobilizzazione del desiderio, alla strutturazione del progetto, può rivelarsi per tutti una preziosa suggestione “metodologica” per la ricerca di una nuova soggettiva. Dunque ricercare, agire, educare, conoscere anche con sguardo di donna, cioè con l’attenzione alla nuova dimensione scientifica, non vuol dire muoversi separatamente, ma andare insieme all’altra metà del cielo verso una pratica che connoti la relazione educativa con forti caratteri di innovazione. (CNPO 1993, p. 17)

This factor was also identified by teachers attending the in-service seminar on equal opportunity:

Altro fattore rilevante da considerare è che la formazione dei/delle docenti è avvenuta nell’ambito di una cultura totalmente maschile e, di conseguenza, è per loro difficoltoso trasmettere ciò che in realtà conoscono poco inoltre, ancora oggi, la maggioranza delle insegnanti si propone come “madre”: sono quindi loro stesse a non valorizzare il loro ruolo sociale ed a non porsi come soggetto culturale autonomo. (Artese 1997, p.1)

In many ways the two ministerial documents make clear the desire of the equal opportunity committee within the Italian Ministry for Education to promote and develop a wide range of themes which relate to equal opportunity within schools. The reality is that they do not have the power to change anything. All these documents provide are recommendations, ideas and opinions. It is the responsibility of the Ministry itself, as well as the individual schools, to implement these plans and projects. In the opinion of feminists, working within the school system, it is often here that these initiatives become lost or modified beyond recognition. Conclusions to the in-service on equal opportunity (1997) emphasised the need for teachers to educate themselves in possible ways of redressing imbalance:

101 Al termine del corso, le/i partecipanti hanno concluso che è necessario un lavoro di auto-educazione, di ricerca, di pratica quotidiana e di relazione perché il percorso ed il pensiero delle donne divenga patrimonio delle/dei giovani. (Artese 1997)

Lack of support in relation to time, finances and encouragement often mean that schools and teachers are not able to implement or experiment with new ideas. What is required is real reform rather than the ineffectual tinkering that seems to be the lot of most education systems and certainly the Italian one.

3.1b Schools as Places of Reform

It has long been acknowledged that schools play an integral role in the shaping of the social fabric, even while the value of that role waxes and wanes according to the period. Certainly those involved in education see it as an important element in the maturation process of a nation’s youth. In the Italy of the late 1990s, one of the reforms will be to extend the period of compulsory schooling from eight to ten years in order to delay the need for the younger generation to lock themselves into educational/vocational choices that may not reflect their true desires and skills:

Gli stati membri sono stati invitati a posticipare il momento della scelta degli studenti e delle studentesse perché le scelte precoci sono generalmente più influenzate dai genitori e/o dagli insegnanti, e finiscono con il riprendere così soluzioni di tipo tradizionale. (CNPO 1993. P.9)

In the previous section, some of the areas for reform contained within the documents issued from the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione were set out. Some of the main themes were identified: redefining anthropological ‘givens’, increasing professionality within schools, revamping the curriculum and improving the connections between education and society in terms of responsibility as well as employment pathways. Little emphasis, however, has been placed on the existing structure of schools and how it could be more readily utilised. This is a criticism often leveled at the Ministry by teachers working within the autoriforma movement.

The more recent collections of articles on the state of the Italian school system have dealt with the exploration and definition of the concept of autoriforma – self-

102 reform. This movement began in 1994, promoted by the journals Via Dogana and La terra vista dalla luna, and pushed forward by Vita Cosentino and Giulio Armellini. The first national conference was held in 1995, with the theme: Chi valuta che e perché. The second national conference, La scuola un’autoriforma gentile, resulted in the publication of Buone notizie dalla scuola in 1998. The most recent conference, Autoriforma gentile, in February 1999, has focused on the proposed change to scuola primaria and scuola secondaria. Lori Chiti (1999) in ‘Le radici dell sgomento’ notes the achievements of the autoriforma movement, and wonders if the larger changes are not part of a backlash designed to weaken the dynamic and creative changes of the autoriforma initiatives.56 This possibility was not lost on Giovanna Romualdi, when she reported on the changes in 1998. In ‘Saperi neutri d’obbligo’ she noted that not only was Minister Berlinguer’s letter addressed to Cari Dirigenti and Cari Docenti, but all the subjects, from the experts to the students, were in the masculine. Furthermore, the ministerial document it accompanied regarding the ‘contenuti essenziali per la formazione di base’ was rigidamente sessista and, according to Romualdi, proposed initiatives reminiscent of twenty years ago. She observes that the directives do not include or even acknowledge the cultura delle donne, nor attempt to suggest that there may be different ways to approach science, cultural studies, the classics and so forth. This section will look at the way in which teachers and educators, rather than ministerial bodies, perceive the school environment.

56 Chiti 1999 “Insomma: voglio dire che questo incontro di oggi, questo scambio, esiste grazie al segno femminile del fare scuola, tanto quanto ciò che accade nella grande struttura scolastica; nel sistema; nel meccanismo appare segno e organizzazione di mente e potere maschile, un grande gioco con regole inventate dall'ispettore "a cinque stelle", quello che ha la cartella portadocumenti fatta di pelle di donna. È un fatto che nella mia mente visiva questa immagine dei figli efficientissimi dei patriarchi che rimodernano il palazzo avito (nelle vaste sale, piccoli uffici) spostando pareti e piazzando macchine, si sovrappone e si confonde con le scene dei fatti recentissimi sulla fecondazione, sulla sessualità femminile e sulla violenza che portano i segni della paura della libertà del corpo femminile, la paura dell'invasione del territorio, il bisogno di segnare il territorio, un colpo di coda (o di testa) forte, un avvertimento; o forse mi è rimasta negli occhi la figura del vecchio cardinale casto che parla con competenza del corpo della donna e che è lo stesso che viene continuamente intervistato sui problemi della libertà scolastica. Dunque: vorrei capire meglio le radici dello sgomento che provo quando mi accorgo che il sovraccarico della scuola che cambia schiaccia donne e uomini che insegnano, togliendo energia e piacere alla creatività e generando in loro una comunanza di problema, e l'omologazione di linguaggio di chi è nella stessa barca nella procella, una preoccupazione di lotta comune per contrastare il sistema, cioè una politica comune della opposizione invece che una autonoma politica della differenza.”

103 Some of the factors that are strongly present within the articles and comments by educators centre on the school environment itself. There is recognition that the present period of change and reform at European and national levels lends itself to the dual possibilities of actual change or mere superficial renaming of the same. One of the more outspoken educators in Italy, Anna Maria Piussi, discusses the reasons why the potentials of an education system could very well be lost, in her article ‘Un pensiero politico dell’educare’:

Lo sappiamo, il presente è un periodo incerto o, come si usa dire, di transizione, che non a caso sta investendo di significati, considerati decisivi, la formazione e la scuola, ma nel frattempo le sottopone a una svalutazione quasi unanime.(Piussi 1998, p. 29)

Piussi also highlights the centrality of schools in the greater social environment, and specifically in the lives of the students:

La scommessa politica forte, all’altezza del presente, è invece pensare e fare la scuola come una funzione della vita, della vita individuale e pubblica. Il che significa riconoscerne la centralità educativa nella vita attuale di ragazze e ragazzi e nelle loro avventure di crescita, la sua non intercambiabilità con altre “agenzie” presenti nel libero mercato della formazione o della comunicazione globale. (Piussi 1998, p. 29-30)

The idea that the school occupies a privileged place within the socio-political development of a nation is also shared by well-respected Italian philosopher Luisa Muraro. In her article ‘Un’eccellenza contagiosa e alla mano’ she speaks of an interview with Giovanni Pozzi, who said the place of schools was nel cuore della società - in the heart of society. Muraro continues:

l’espressione è trita, se vogliamo, eppure io la trovo felice. Invita a piantare la relazione docente nel cuore della vita sociale, pensando la qualità della prima in rapporto costante di scambio con la qualità della seconda. La metafora di Pozzi, lungi dal fare velo sul problema della qualità dell’insegnamento, invita a pensare una relazione docente qualitativamente alta. (Muraro 1998, pp. 18-19)

It is the placing of the school in the heart of society by the teachers that work within them that has led them to identify some of the more fundamental elements requiring changes in relation to gender in education. Plateau agrees, and adds that the education system has a long way to go before being able to offer an educative experience that recognises the difference between females and males:

104

Il ruolo della scuola nella riproduzione dei rapporti sociali tra i sessi fa parte ormai della legislazione, ma il cammino per la completa realizzazione dei curricula educativi è ancora tutto da percorrere. (Plateau 1997, p. 2)

That the teachers themselves are an essential element of this process at various levels is acknowledged directly or otherwise by the more recent works contained in Buone notizie dalla scuola (1998), Educare nella differenza (1989), and L’insegnante, il testo l’allieva (1992). Muraro places the necessity of teacher consultation as the basis for effective, if not radical, reform:

Disegnare la riforma della scuola a partire dall’esperienza, dalla volontà e dai desideri effettivi di coloro che nella scuola si trovano a vivere in carne e ossa, sembra semplice come dirlo, ma se si va radicalmente alla cosa, si scopre che è la cosa più sovversiva, è l’evacuazione di tutte le istanze burocratiche dall’alto e di tutti gli specialismi dal fuori, è l’attivazione effettiva delle energie e del giudizio di che era tenuto a insegnare o imparare così o colà. (Muraro 1998, p. 17)

This concept, developed particularly through the articles contained in the collection Buone notizie dalla scuola, and evident in the conclusion to the in-service by Artese (1997), is the basis for autoriforma. It is quite clearly an attempt on the behalf of the teachers to empower themselves with the necessary authority to effect change within the school. Naturally this form of activity goes beyond the recognition of gender issues within education, though as Guido Armellini states in his article ‘Il toro, Guido Cavalcanti e altri imprevisti’, Italian feminist theory plays an essential role:

Storicamente (se posso permettermi questo avverbio pomposo), il movimento dell’autoriforma è nato da un incontro di uomini e donne, e buona parte delle donne che ne sono protagoniste fanno riferimento al pensiero della differenza, il che spinge quasi a forza noi uomini a una riflessione alla quale - tranne eccezioni - non siamo abituati. (Armellni 1998, p. 86)

The need for educators to find space within the institutions in order to effect change is also discussed, though in a more direct feminist context, in Educare nella differenza (1989). The reforms contained within the greater concept of autoriforma will be fully discussed in the remaining sections of this chapter. They have intrinsic relevance to the representation and role of gender in education. One of the main elements revolves around the recognition of education as a female dominated

105 environment. There is the need for (female) teachers, at all levels of the schooling system, and in particular at the early levels, to reclaim and develop their authority, both within the school structure and within pedagogical theory. Vittoria Gallina in her comments regarding the debate ‘Dove va l’ambizione femminile’:

autoriforma vuol dire trovare dentro le nostre esperienze, e dentro le nostre pratiche, legittimazione e autorità: legittimazione verso tutte quelle/i che oggi stanno fuori e noi vogliamo portare dentro, autorità perché questa apertura non si traduce in un semplice allargamento di spazi, ma si arricchisca delle tante e diverse ricchezze che si dovranno accompagnare, anche dentro la scuola, alla continua, attenta e rispettosa pratica degli auto-riconoscimenti. (Gallina 1998, p. 273)

Piussi, in a July 1998 interview, also speaks of her present work in encouraging teachers, particularly at the pre- and early school years, to develop their own pedagogical models based on their actual experience and observation, instead of adhering to one-sided and often outdated ‘authoritative texts’. Ileana Montini noted this problem in her “Lettera di una professoressa”, ‘Quale infanzia vista dalle donne?’:

Il bisogno di professionalità degli insegnanti si è spesso in questi anni, acquietato nell’assorbimento acritico dei paradigmi di alcuni filoni psico-pedagogici, in nome, naturalmente dell’oggettività e grandezza della Scienza. Si è ripetuto, rinnovato, un atteggiamento tipico dell’ambiente scolastico: la delega, da parte degli insegnanti, agli esperti e scienziati delle scienze dell’educazione. (Montini 1998, p. 13)

The immediate need to reform the school environment, and the autoriforma movement, is apparent not only because teachers feel isolated, undervalued and otherwise disregarded, but also because they and their students are ignored by bureaucratic conventions, which exacerbates the sense of alienation:

Le norme ufficiali, che regolano la vita della scuola sembrano andare in direzione diametralmente opposta: fornire un repertorio di input rigorosamente controllati e preordinati a organismi viventi eterodiretti. Non si prevede che siano gli e le studenti a dare un loro ordine e un loro significato agli stimoli cognitivi ricevuti, ma che facciano propri l’ordine e i significati predeterminati dall’istituzione. (Armellini 1998, p. 78)

What is manifest in the changes occurring within schools is that they are driven by the philosophies of Italian feminisms. Not only is the direction of self-actualisation present (i.e. the reclaiming of authority), but this direction is being used to encourage and develop a wide range of self-reflective changes by both women and

106 men within the education system – changes that could have significant and fundamental effects on the way in which schools operate and are perceived in the larger community. One of the major elements of Italian feminisms is the philosophy of difference, as opposed to equality, and this has ‘translated’ in the pedagogical arena as educare nella differenza. The implications for this model cut across the entire educative experience, from the manner in which the school is structured and placed politically, to the contents of the textbooks in the hand of the students. This, combined with the repercussions and resistance to such a model on behalf of those within and without of the school environment, will be unraveled in the following sections.

3.2 Equality versus Difference 3.2a Defining Directions

As mentioned in the previous section and the first chapter of this thesis, the notion of equality versus difference is intrinsically important in the understanding of Italian feminist theories. Piussi ( 1989) wrote of this in the 1989 publication Con voce d donna: pensiero, linguaggio, comunicazione. Within the educational medium the fundamental mandate of difference over equality has led teachers to question the homogeneity of much of the school system and ministerial dictates. This led to the creation of the Veronese-based gruppo pedagogia della differenza sessuale, which aimed to create and articulate the concept of educare nella differenza outside the historical paradigms of equal opportunity:

La pedagogia della differenza prende le distanze dai paradigmi - che per brevità chiamerò dell’oppressione/discriminazione, e della specificità/identità - su cui si sono sviluppate le riflessioni e le politiche delle donne nei decenni precendenti in Italia, e ancor più nei paesi atlantici ed europei; su cui ancora si attestano, nonostante le novità di linguaggio introdotte, alcune tendenze presenti oggi tra le donne italiane, offrendosi come compatibili o convergenti con i progetti istituzionali conosciuti sotto il nome di pari opportunità formative. […] E mentre il coesistere e l’alternarsi di questi paradigmi segnalano lo spostamento in atto, nell’impianto teorico delle politiche paritarie, dall’eguaglianza del trattamento all’eguaglianza dei risultati (eguaglianza nella differenza, e la conseguente logica delle azioni positive), permangono ambiguità e contraddizioni non risolte, che ostacolano l’affermazione di una soggettività autonoma femminile nelle esperienze di apprendimento. (ed Piussi 1989, p. 17)

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The development of the female subject and a female genealogy will be discussed in the next section. What is important here, however, is the very clear identification of equality, equal opportunity and emancipation as being separate from the valorisation of difference and the recognition of female autonomy. What emerges from such division are some specific axioms relating to debunking the myth of male universality and the rejection of equality for difference. Giannina Longobardi and Elisabetta Zamarchi in ‘Perché una tradizione si affermi’ state:

La logica delle pari opportunità rimane ambigua poiché non rimette in discussione la misura maschile dei valori...... Offrire alle donne pari opportunità allora significherebbe operare un decondizionamento culturale per mutare le loro scelte scolastiche e professionali in modo da farle accedere a settori socialmente più prestigiosi e remunerativi. È chiaro che in quest’ottica la differenza femminile non è potenza produttrice di sapere e di valore, ma posizione di debolezza determinatasi in seguito a condizionamenti biologici e storici. (Longobardi & Zamarchi 1998, p. 28-30)

The moves towards educative homogenisation have their basis in the expansion of education for the masses. Yet the very opening up of the schools begs the question of who education is for. Plateau says:

Nella maggior parte dei paesi occidentali l’insegnamento è stato reso accessibile a nuovi strati sociali, ma è rimasto inalterato nei contenuti che erano destinati ai gruppi sociali elittari. L’adattamento as una società tecnocratica non rimette in discussione i valori che hanno sotteso un’educazione concepita per le élite, adatta all’allievo di sesso maschile e benestante. (Plateau 1997, p. 2)

As teachers working within the difference paradigm identify, educative or pedagogical trends lead, more often than not, towards the education of an homogeneous mass, rather than towards a diverse and varied group. The danger with this egalitarian model is the lowering of standards and the dulling of the potential of all students. Vita Cosentino in ‘La ricchezza di non essere uguali’ explains:

La scuola di élite selezionava in base al censo. Era classista come dicevano nel’68. La scuola di massa, che è seguita, è stata accompagnata da una forte spinta emancipatoria basata sull’uguaglianza. Di questo oggi rimane, anche a causa degli errori della politica sindacale, un’idea diffusa di egualitarismo piatto - sia tra docenti sia nei confronti di studenti e studentesse - che rischia di essere uno dei principali ostacoli al cambiamento......

108 L’egualitarismo è stato messo sotto accusa e la principale critica riguardava il livellamento verso il basso dell’istruzione. (Cosentino 1998, p. 74)

Andrea Bagni in ‘Il respiro della scuola’ agrees:

Ma non sarà che a scuola un po’ si peggiora? Non è che, alla fine, gli studenti che escono sono studenti “tendenzialmente” mediocri, più istruiti ma meno vivi di quelli che sono entrati? (Bagni 1998, p. 171)

According to the authors of these and other articles that relate to the educative experience, the major reason for the poor state of education is the lack of appreciation, promotion and recognition of difference. It is of little surprise that the issue of gender is paramount. The continued and pervasive alienation of women has been identified at both the scholastic and the greater social level. The views relating to the effect this has on the maturation and socialisation processes of girls range from Paola Azzolini’s identification of women as domesticated animals in ‘Matilde l’inaddomesticata:

Le donne, come gli animali che vivono con l’uomo, hanno definitivamente perduto la loro indole originaria, per assumere l’imprinting della società patriarcale, dove le virtù sono appunto quelle della docilità, della mancanza di carattere, in una parola, dell’obbedienza. (Azzolini 1992, p. 64) to the milder though no less confronting terms of Vita Cosentino and Gioconda Pietra in ‘Figure simboliche e formazione della soggettività: un percorso di animazione teatrale’:

Spesso ancora nella società e nell’ordine simbolico in cui anche noi siamo formate, uomini e donne non son collocati allo stesso modo: mentre il maschio infatti trova un rispecchiamento valorizzante di sé, la femmina trova invece una cancellazione o disvalore di sé e del suo genere, basti come esempio il linguaggio. (Cosentino & Pietra 1992, p. 107)

Veronika Mariaux speaking to her view of German feminism, which dichotomised the maternity/career discourse:

O il ghetto, che permetteva più autenticità ma non ammetteva in modo assoluto che una donna volesse vincere nel sociale, o l’emancipazione, cioè ’omologazione al paradigma esistente, presunto neutro, in realtà maschile, rispetto al quale la donna è anche nei casi più riusciti, sempre l’imitazione di fronte all’originale. (Mariaux 1989, p. 117)

109 These particular women are discussing the more general concepts of emancipation versus difference, while their comments have significance when one relates the assumed rightness of the androcentric worldview to the didactic material that continues to support and promote it.

What, therefore, becomes of the role of education in relation to the understanding and valorisation of difference? The need for a pedagogy that rejects emancipation and egalitarianism is noted by a number of the prominent scholars in this field. Piussi from il gruppo pedagogia della differenza sessuale states:

Non può essere vero, valido, universalmente efficace, infatti, un ordine educativo fondato su una ragione pedagogica che non dà ragione della differenza di essere uomo/donna, e che lascia la differenza femminile priva di un suo intrinseco e autonomo significato di educabilità e di educazione, una sua propria idea di perfettibilità e perfezionamento umano. (Piussi 1989, p. 81)

Another pedagogical group, il gruppo insegnanti milano, states a similar position:

Per essere all’origine della propria libertà è necessario uscire dalla subordinazione al maschile e affermare l’irriducibilità di un sesso ad un altro: pertanto la differenza sessuale non può consistere in questo o quel contentuto, ma nei riferimenti e nei rapporti entro cui si iscrive l’esistenza: in altri termini consiste nella mediazione sessuata, nella costruzione di rapporti valorizzanti tra donne non previsiti dall’ordine sociale esistente. (Gruppo Insegnante Milano 1988, pp. 9-10)

The continued insistence on didactic measures that do not take difference into account perpetuates a situation in which both females and males have difficulty in identifying and reaching their gender-based potentials. This is illustrated in Gioconda Pietra’s comments, relating to the most obvious division of physical difference:

La finalità implicita, ancora oggi troppo presente nell’insegnamento dell’educazione fisica è l’emancipazione femminile caratterizzata dal continuo e frustrante tentativo di dimostrare che le donne possono fare ciò che fa il maschio anche in campo motorio. (Longobardi & Pietra 1998, pp. 113-114)

Pietra is not saying that girls cannot nor should not participate in physical activity. She sees, in fact, the potential that it can bring to the overall development of students. In its present non-differentiated state, however, it does little to encourage and empower students:

110

Corpo sessuato non più inteso come macchina che deve funzionare alla perfezione, ma come unicum nel quale le varie aree corporea, affettiva e cognitiva sono attivate insieme e non vengono separate. (Longobardi & Pietra 1998, p. 114)

The outcome of the rejection of homogenous pedagogy would allow the development and uncovering of a female genealogy that would not only augment the space of women within the past, present and future, but would also serve to expose the supposed universality of thought and philosophy that are really androcentric, patriarchal points of view:

nel momento in cui il pensiero della differenza sessuale indica l’assurdità di una eguaglianza intensa come omologazione al maschio, che nasce la figura della lettrice come interprete. (Azzolini 1992, p. 61)

3.2b Female Genealogy – Male Universality

The birth of female genealogy versus male universality belongs to the wider global feminist movements. A female genealogy is the creation a female-centric body of knowledge. This different perspective on the world covers all aspects of existence: from the everyday to the spiritual, from the historic to the future, from literature to science. The aim is to create a continuity of female thoughts, actions, experiences and philosophies. A female genealogy has been one of the central issues to arise out of early feminist discussions, and has been recognised by educators as being of essential importance in the reformation of the education system:

La mediazione femminile rende possibile la fondazione di un simbolico sessuato e di una rete concettuale attraverso al quale pensarsi e riconoscersi in quanto soggetti. (Capobianco & Marino 1988, p. 12)

The questioning of the rightness of an androcentric world view was a focal issue of the early 1970s and in particular of the consciousness-raising groups that were prevalent at that time. The coming together of women to talk about themselves, their lives and their views highlighted the extraordinary lack of connections they had with each other and with those that came before. What was soon recognised, especially in Italy, was that with neither a female genealogy, nor the knowledge of those who had come before, and their thoughts, theories and battles, the women’s

111 movement(s) must always start from scratch – each generation having to redefine, reclaim and re-create what should already be known. Much has been written in relation to the lack of female continuity throughout history. The lack of archives on their traditions and works on their knowledge has been slowly rectified through the creation of women’s bookshops and centres. The women’s movement in Italy has a number of well-known centres and bookshops that have produced a strong network in order to preserve and promote the work being done on a female genealogy. That these centres are still marginalised and under-funded is perhaps the most telling indicator of the long road there is yet to travel.

Their aim, however, is twofold. Not only do they wish to compile a female genealogy, in itself a work of great empowerment, but by doing so they will expose the fallacy of male universality that has conditioned the directions and structure of society since the beginning of patriarchy. Piussi (1989b) in her article on language sex difference and education points out the biased nature of education. She said:

Le donne non hanno un’educazione propria, a loro conveniente, e la storia dell’educazione è storia dell’educazione maschile; così come istruzione che ancora oggi si dà è qualcosa che contribuisce a trasmettere e a formare un’immagine falsa della realtà, perché avviene su una practica di cancellazione del femminile. () Cancellazione del femminile significa proprio cancellazione della genealogia femminile, cioé ad esempio ignoranza e silenzio non solo sulle donne “comuni”, ma anche sulle donne che hanno fatto la storia, le donne eminenti. (Piussi 1989, pp. 73- 74)

As can be seen by the comments from various feminists in the previous section, the deeply embedded acceptance of male universality affects the perceptions of women and men. What Italian feminists discern is that the insidious nature of androcentric universality has led to the acceptance of emancipation as the goal of equal rights, rather than as an early and not overly fulfilling stepping-stone to self-realisation:

Come in altri ambiti di elaborazione teorica e scientifica, anche nella pedagogia il pensiero occidentale, lì dove ha considerato questo problema, l’ha fatto assumendo la differenza sessuale come oggetto di conoscenza a partire da un soggetto neutro, asessuato - in realtà sessuato al maschile - oggettivandola quindi in contentuto di sapere rispetto a cui enucleare soluzioni definitorie del femminile nella direzione ora della complementarità (<< naturale>> inferiorità delle donne), ora, più di recente, della parità/uguaglianza (assimilazione al maschile). (Piussi 1989a, p.175)

112 This predicament has led many women, particularly in Anglo-American societies, where this form of feminism is strong, to feel uneasy with the tenets of feminism in general. There is, therefore, a pressing need to construct and promote a female genealogy, in order to advocate the recognition of difference:

Costruire una tradizione femminile significa aprire una prospettiva altra, creare un nuovo ordine simbolico. In esso il sapere, la parola delle donne del passato, uniti alla nostra parola alla nostra esperienza vivente, possono divenire patrimonio trasmissibile, un’eredità tale da lasciar intravedere, alle più giovani di noi, la possibilità di significare il loro essere nel mondo in riferimento ad un orizzonte di senso che trascende le mediazioni consuete. (Longobardi & Zamarchi 1989, pp. 29- 30)

The outcomes of the growth of a female genealogy will be manifest in the strengthening of links between the past, present and future. One of the frequents laments of feminists across the globe is that the younger generations do not understand or care about the work and progress that has gone before them, the fruits of which they now enjoy. The importance of the transmission of a female past to the future is emphasised in many of the articles written in relation to this topic. The need for this transmission of information is shaped in two distinct ways. Firstly, it is seen as a way to uncover, identify, recognise and preserve the actions and lives of women throughout history, and the information these lives and experiences have to offer the present and the future. By doing so, the present state of historical, cultural and social perception will be exposed in its one-sided narrowness. Secondly, it also reinforces the generational links, and thus may serve to break the cycle of gain and loss that has crippled any real and lasting moves forward for women. In ‘Perché una tradizione si affermi’, Longobardi and Zamarchi quote from a paper given at the 1988 national conference pedagogia della differenza sessuale by Raffaella Lamberti:

Secondo Raffaella è sotteso all’uso del termine tradizione il significato di proiezione verso il futuro più che di uno sguardo volto al passato: il nostro impegno è nei confronti delle nuove generazioni. Ad esse vorremo consegnare <> perché abbia fine quel movimento carsico che ha fatto sì che ogni generazione femminile sentisse di dover ricominciare tutto da capo. Nel momento in cui parliamo di <> poniamo un problema, il problema dell’irreversibilità di un processo e delle responsibilità che quest’atto inaugurale sottende. (Longobardi & Zamarchi 1989, p. 34)

113 The central role of education and schools as a place to transmit a female genealogy is obvious, not only because of their cross-generational nature, but also because they are female dominated environments, at least in terms of quantity:

La scuola è uno tra i luoghi cruciali in cui si da la possibilità materiale di costruire genealogia femminile, perché è punto di incontro di diverse generazioni. In essa è possibile dar vita ad una rete di rapporti tra le donne che consenta la modificazione dell’esistente sul piano delle relazioni umane e nell’azione stessa del costruire e tramandare cultura, modelli, valori. (Longobardi & Zamarchi 1989, p. 27)

Piussi in ‘L’affiliazione magistrale’ also sees the advantage of promoting connections between women within the school environment. She also works to promote links between teachers and other professionals interested in exploring the concept of educare nella differenza and the methods in which it could be expressed:

Ridefinire anche in questi ambiti i rapporti sociali tra donne, valorizzando la genealogia femminile e dando priorità alla responsibilità educativa nei confronti del nostro genere, permette di lavorare e agire nelle istituzioni formative sostenendo e promuovendo gli interessi del sesso femminile, nonché di rendere visibile e in parte mediabile il conflitto tra interessi sessuati, che pure esiste ma spesso come qualcosa di implicito, per quanto, come sappiamo, efficacemente operante a detrimento del nostro sesso. (Piussi 1989a, p. 79)

The strengthening of the links between women in order to effect change will be more closely explored in the later section relating to teachers and educational professionals. The positive and negative attitudes of teachers will also be presented. Given, however, women’s central role in the creation of a female genealogy, it is useful to examine some of their perceptions in order to gain a better understanding of what a female genealogy is, and how it is perceived as different from male universality.

One scholar who has written much on this topic is Marirì Martinengo. In ‘La doppia mediazione’ (1992), she sees the problem as relating strongly to the difference between the cyclic nature of female reality versus the linear nature of male reality:

In conseguenza dei suoi ritmi biologici la donna è stata assimilata alla natura, il suo tempo definito ciclico, ripetitivo, senza movimento; il tempo dell’uomo è invece concettualizzato come lineare, evolutivo, teleologico. Il tempo e il luogo della

114 natura immobile contrapposto al tempo e al soggetto della storia in continuo progresso. (Matinengo 1992, p. 20)

In a later article written for the Buone notizie dalla scuola, titled ‘Riscrivere la storia’, she relates this concept to the way in which male historians (and we shall assume her specificity given her language choice) have manipulated the chronological methodology of historical documentation to imply totality:

Questi storici presentavano come unica e universale la loro visione del passato, dando statuto di verità a un’opinione. Uno degli strumenti, potente, per farla apparire imparziale, è l’ordinamento cronologico, che finge di dare scrupolosamente conto di tutto e, che, con l’ossessione delle date da memorizzare, finisce col prevalere sull’analisi di ciò che è accaduto; un altro è la rappresentazione della storia come progresso, che presenta l’attuale come “il migliore dei mondi possibili”. (Piussi 1998, p. 203)

This process has lead to the silencing and negating of female presence in history. It is the uncovering of this presence that constitutes one of the main aims for a female genealogy – the recognition of the basic duality of humanity, the reclaiming of the past and creation of the future. Piussi, in ‘L’uno che diventa due. Linguaggio e differenza sessuale; tracce per una pedagogia della lingua’, speaks of this originary difference:

Dove il diverso, com’è ovvio, scompare e tace, assimilato nel processo di <>. Sorte ancor più triste, perché effetto del dominio storico del Logos maschile (inteso come pensiero, linguaggio, cultura), ma insieme anche della storica reticenza femminile, è quella toccata alla differenza sessuale, la differenza di essere maschi o femmine non come diversità da ordinare accanto ad altre, anzi dopo altre, ma come dualità originaria e assoluta, essendo la specificazione sessuale <> (Vegetti Finzi, 1979). (Piussi 1992, p.174)

The creation, therefore, of a female genealogy exists in a myriad of forms. Longobardi and Zamarchi succinctly put what is essential to understanding its fundamental theoretical basis:

Nostro compito è allora ripensare il modo stesso di fare scienza, non solo e non tanto riempire gli spazi vuoti della memoria in modo complementare al sapere già dato. (Longobardi & Zamarchi 1989, p. 36)

115 That they are referring specifically to science is inconsequential, given the essential point of rethinking everything, instead of merely filling in the gaps according to the established style, the redefining of not only the material world but also of the symbolic. It is within this framework that the theories behind educare nella differenza are based.

3.2c Educare nella differenza

In many ways the concept of educare nella differenza is similar to the theory underpinning that of female genealogy. This section will look at the more specific ideas that relate to the incorporation and valuation of difference in the educational environment: what it means to educators, teachers and students alike. The formation of educare nella differenza as an identifiable concept coincided with the creation of the Veronese gruppo pedagogico della differenza sessuale. This group was formed at Verona, in October 1987, by ten women working in education at pre-, primary, secondary and university levels. Their aim was to articulate a type of pedagogical approach that recognised and promoted gender based difference:

con un progetto ambizioso: cercare i modi, le possibilità, le forme di una pedagogia della differenza sessuale. (Longobardi & Zamarchi 1989, p. 24)

The group has recently been dissolved, but the individual members are still committed to the promotion of educare nella differenza, and are continuing to be involved in the theory of difference, though not necessarily in projects specifically related to gender.57 During its formal existence, however, the group held various conferences and seminars including two national conferences; one in 1988 on a pedagogy of difference and another in 1990 on educare nella differenza. The aim of these conferences, and the various publications with which the group has been involved, has been to disseminate their theories and ideas in relation to gender and education. Piussi states in the introduction to Educare nella differenza:

comunicare ad un pubblico più vasto, in primo luogo alle donne - ma non esclusivamente a quelle che come noi hanno dirette responsibilità educative - il

57 Pers. comm. A M Piussi July 1998

116 valore della scelta politico-teorica di pensare e render efficace il nostro agire di insegnanti nel riferimento e nell’interesse del nostro genere, restituendo ad una misura nostra, una misura femminile, il pensiero e la pratica dell’educare. (Piussi 1989, p. 11)

Other groups of teachers also formed, such as the one from Milan cited earlier, in order to explore and promote the role of women as educators, and the place of the school as a medium of social transmission.

That this type of reform is a political process, and moreover a female political process, is not shied away from. The necessity, however, to accept the theories of this approach to education from a position of personal commitment is also emphasised:

inizio della pedagogia della differenza sessuale, un percorso politico e pedagogico autonomo di donne....Questa politica della e intorno alla scuola (ben diversa dalla politica scolastica) ha provato rotture e cambiamenti radicali, tuttavia non ancora completamente dispiegati. (Piussi 1989a, p. 34)

That the idea of educare nella differenza is one requiring personal commitment and has a political agenda is a legacy of the fundamental Italian feminist tenets of ‘in prima persona’ and ‘partire da sé’. What, however, is expected from those who educate with the idea of gender difference in mind? What are the real aims and projects of the theories that underpin this direction?

The two main elements can be loosely placed under the headings of female genealogy and male universality, which were discussed previously. The difference here, however, is that these themes have been explored within the direct context of education.

In Piussi’s (1989b) ‘L’affiliazione magistrale’, she discusses at length girls’ separation from the scholastic system. In a material and symbolic world that only seems to give visibility to males and the activities of men, girls are dissociated and distanced from the curricula they are supposed to be learning. They cannot find themselves within it and they have no points of reference to identify with or to belong to. The overwhelming visibility of boys or males in all facets of the school environment has

117 been identified by others as well. Vita Cosentino and Gioconda Pietra (1992) make this note in their article:

Sul piano della rappresentazione, a scuola i maschi trovano già ad ogni passo, nella letteratura piuttosto che nei film, l’iscrizione nel sistema simbolico dei rapporti tra uomini, ad esempio il rapporto padre/figlio o tra amici, per le ragazze invece questo processo va costruito. (Cosentino & Pietra 1992, p. 108)

The aim of a pedagogy of difference is, therefore, to increase the visibility of females – women and girls – within education, with the added scope of challenging the stupro simbolico of the so-called neutral, which is really an homogenised, undifferentiated masculine order. One of the major elements in the realisation of this aim is the conviction of necessity on behalf of the educators. Elvia Franco in ‘Struttura d’origine’ makes this point:

Il pensiero dei rapporti tra donne, l’assunzione della Differenza come dato Originario e l’assunzione dell’incommensurabilità dell’ordine femminile rispetto a quello maschile, possono rappresentare i varchi che la mente di donna ha trovato per esprimere, e avvalorare anche teoricamente, quello che vuole e quello che può pensare e fare a partire da sé. (Franco 1989, p. 52)

She is also very clear on the role of women within the creation of a pedagogy of difference, and that it is they who can create the new structures which will allow women to be recognised as valuable:

Solo le donne, per via diretta e tra di loro, possono tracciare la via e inventare le strutture per dare consistenza al loro desiderio di parole di donne [....] Si possono individuare queste strutture nuove nelle proposte politiche di riconoscimento di valore femminile, di genealogia fra donne, di affidamento, di affiliazione, di reciprocità d’appoggio fra donne adulte. (Franco 1989, p. 52)

The combination of personal conviction and a political agenda in the manifestation of educare nella differenza is also supported by Piussi. She makes the very relevant remark that, until the creation of il gruppo della pedagogia della differenza sessuale, little in the way of formal inclusion had happened in relation to the philosophies, theories and changes brought about by the last thirty years of Italian feminisms. She sees this lack of deliberate channeling of information as a serious omission for teachers, the school structure and students:

118 L’aver riconosciuto la necessità di una struttura di mediazione femminile nel lavoro dell’insegnare e nell’esperienze dell’apprendere, ha rappresentato per le autrici di questo libro, il salto di qualità che ha consentito loro di rimettere in gioco la progettualità politica e pedagogica sulla scuola e nel rapporto con le giovani generazioni, di attribuire un significato sociale libero alla propria professione, come alla forte presenza femminile nelle istituzioni formative, altrimenti insignificante e superflua. (Piussi 1989, p. 15)

The importance of teachers who are committed to feminist philosophies, and thus living within a different world view, and bringing those ideas into the school environment, is also expressed by Antonietta Lelario in ‘Linguaggio e ordine simbolico’:

Sto parlando del darsi la libertà di immettere nella scuola la propria esperienza sessuata per i significati di cui è portatrice e che producono mutamenti di sguardo...... Quando l’esperienza sessuata è rimessa all’origine del pensiero e dell’elaborazione culturale, la cultura perde quei caratteri di estraneità e di in/differenza che sono nemici del sapere e della relazione, fuori e dentro la scuola. (Lelario 1998, pp. 196-7)

The basis of a pedagogy of difference, and the ability to translate that into educare nella differenza, relies on the recognition of teachers as autonomous sexed beings, and their ability and conviction to bring that experience into the classroom and the educational environment in general:

La donna insegnante, che dà autorità e valore alle altre donne, vuole trasmettere non la parola del padre, ma uno stile di rapporti che permetta alle studentesse di relazionarsi con la potenza simbolica materna, perché la società non glielo insegna né lo prevede. (Gruppo Insegnante Milano 1988, p. 10)

In taking an approach that is designed to raise the visibility of women and girls within all facets of education, whether it be teaching, governing or the didactic material available, the practice of educare nella differenza has commenced. What is further required is that as these processes begin to take shape, fundamental and radical change in the approach to education itself will also be underway. The debunking of the myth of male universality and the creation of a pedagogy that begins with the duality of humanity, the philosophy of difference, changes the present approaches to education – approaches that, until now, have done little other than focus on the marketable nature of schools and students. Educare nella differenza would serve to broaden the aims of education for girls and boys and in

119 doing so would influence and support the social changes presently occurring due to feminisms’ challenging of the patriarchal social fabric.

3.3 Those Who Teach 3.3a Schools as Female Dominated Environments

One of the elements that has been recognised in both official and unofficial discourse is the fact that schools are female dominated environments (see Piussi 1989, Artese 1997). There are more female teachers than males in the early years, scuola materna (pre school) and elementare (primary school) being almost completely dominated by women in all areas of the school, and the ratio is still strongly in favour of women as the years continue. It is only at university levels that things change (a 1999 report from Il paese delle donne indicated that female professors at universities made up only 6% of the teaching population). The situation has not, according to the feminists presently working in education, been in any way exploited to its maximum potential. Schools are still perceived as being male controlled environments, often related to the fact that in the higher levels of positions, i.e. the principals and political appointments, men dominate. Men have the decision-making power outside and, ultimately, inside the classroom. If, as has been identified by those working towards a pedagogy of difference, female teachers are the key to effecting changes, what therefore is their role, and how should they attempt to incorporate this concept into their work? This process is intrinsically linked to the notion of autoriforma - the need for teachers to differentiate between external power and their own authority and skills. Those working within the educational environment need to establish links between themselves, and promote the work already being done in relation to autoriforma and gender representation, the philosophical principle being that teachers must take on the responsibility of being educators. It is often said that teaching is a vocation, not a job, yet many teachers, due to an enormous variety of internal and external pressures – often political – lose sight of the crucial role they have in the maturation process of the students who will become the adults of the future. In many ways, teachers are role models for change. The fact that schools are female dominated environments, and

120 have been for some time, should enable and empower them to incorporate the theories behind a pedagogy of difference or at the very least those purported by the equal opportunity documents of il Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione.

The dichotomy between schools as female dominated environments and the seeming reluctance of teachers, of either gender, to effect definite changes, or even initiate projects, has long frustrated educators inspired by feminism. The challenging of an overwhelming adherence to what have become outdated theories by teachers is certainly on the agenda of those working towards making schools more representative and accessible in terms of access and curricula for both genders. Consentino, in her article ‘La ricchezza di non essere uguali’, identifies some of these issues:

A me fa paura l’aggregazione per identità particolari, e credo che a scuola non si metta in crisi l’egualitarismo anche per paura che possa aprire ai settorialismi, e al ritorno a una scuola ingiusta. Se dall’intorno delle scuole non viene praticato un modo efficace di andare oltre l’egualitarismo, prevale la risposta esterna, meritocratica e aziendalistica, che è in buona sostanza un reintrodurre stratificazioni gerarchizzate, irrigidendo i rapporti vivi che animano la scuola. (Cosetino 1998, p. 75)

The necessity for teachers to reclaim and re-create their authority is vital to the future viability of schools in a social setting that is changing. Domination of the schooling system – at least in terms of the actual teaching body – by women has significantly contributed to its devaluation. Teachers are not perceived or recognised as professionals. What was once the respected place of education, politically and socially, has been diminished. Many of the educators working towards the reclaiming of respect for and authority of schools and teachers have identified the crucial role of teachers in this process. Clara Jourdan in ‘La differenza femminile’ discusses the fact that, since women have not claimed their role and responsibility in the educational environment, they are following una pedagogia della mezza verità58, linked to the fact the funzione che ha la scuola di trasmettere la cultura dominante (nel senso più normativo: valori, comportamenti sociali ecc.). She continues:

58 Cfr Egle Becchi, ‘La pedagogia della mezza verità”, Via Dogana n. 29, 1996

121

Così c’è uno strano intreccio, nella scuola, tra un non dire la verità femminile (il fingere) e ciò che resta, cristallizzato soprattutto nella struttura, nel “ruolo”, dell’educare come pratica maschile prometeica, che comporta un non dire la verità per paura di perdere il controllo sociale. Nell’insegnante, e parlo a partire da me, si costuisce, spesso inconsapevolemente, un’abitudine a mentire, che comincia con l’attenzione a come devono essere - o diventare - le cose, le persone, le situazione, più che come sono. (Jourdan 1998, pp. 249-50)

Her point being that until all teachers recognise the dominant place of women within the educational environment, as well as the responsibility for transmitting their perceptions of social change, schools will remain disempowered:

E’ una realtà prevalentemente femminile segnata da forme simboliche maschili che ormai hanno perso la loro forza positiva. Questo fa la scuola un luogo di donne e uomini ma non (ancora) un luogo di autorità femminile: per questo è un luogo non autorevole. Perciò non basta parlare di donne e uomini. La necessità di autorità femminile si pone anche per gli uomini che stanno in un luogo femminilizzato, se desiderano che la scuola sia il cuore della società. (Jourdan 1998, p. 255)

One of the problems identified with the perceived lack of authority is the teacher/mother dichotomy. Zamarchi noted:

Nella funzione di trasmettitrici poche, credo, si sentono “magistrae”: alcune forse si vivono come madri, altre come intelligenti o solo diligenti ripetitori. (Zamarchi 1988, p. 8)

Montini expresses a similar idea:

La donna insegnante è una donna asessuata: madre senza corpo di madre e tantomeno di donna. Non si comprende altrimenti la strana schizofrenia che molte insegnanti manifestano. (Montini 1988, p. 13)

The perception of teachers of younger children as extensions of the mother figure, and the reality that these positions are dominated by women, combines to invalidate not only their professionalism but also their pedagogical competence. One of the few male contributors to the 1998 publication Buone notizie dalla scuola, Guido Armellini, agrees:

Credo che la nostra politica debba consistere innanzi tutto nel riappropriarci delle nostre competenze, nel far circolare, dare valore e legittimità al nostro sapere, mettendo in questo modo in discussione i rapporti gerarchici che imbrigliano la vita della scuola. (Armellini 1998, p. 89)

122 Schools need to change to stay abreast, if not get ahead, of social changes, in order to assist and equip students for a society that has been influenced by a myriad of political, cultural and social shifts. Its present, antiquated structure can not be fixed by the ministerial directives that most teachers and feminists advocating reforms see as superficial tinkering. The very real influences that the feminist movements, national and global, have had on society need to be explored within schooling and education for what would become reciprocal advantages. This, however, is not an easily achieved aim nor one that is without controversy. The next section looks at some of the ways teachers working within feminist and autoriforma paradigms see these changes as evolving, and some of the resistance they encounter.

3.3b Resistance, Rebellion, Support, Strategies

The place of education within the present social structure is a political one. Politics manifest themselves externally – the larger European and national agenda – and internally – the everyday political machinations that are often present in any group of adults working together in a hierarchical structure. The ability, therefore, of schools and teachers to overcoming what are often crippling forms of bureaucracy, petty politics and personal resistance requires a number of strategies. Most of these strategies, in accordance with the present theory of autoriforma, are initiated within the individual school, and in the hands of individual teachers. The development of these processes then requires a more expansive outlook, an element that has also been noted by the official report into equal opportunity cited earlier in this chapter. Some of the areas that have been focused upon are teachers’ relationships with each other and their students, the omniscient school structure, pedagogical approaches and didactic material, and teachers’ – female teachers’ – role in reforming and rewriting them.

Much has already been written about the omnipresent bureaucracy that reduces schools to one-dimensional training grounds for the economic future. It must be recognised that schools are a central element in the formation of students and that much of that formation is about equipping them with skills to enter the workplace.

123 The skills they require to become participants in the greater social fabric, however, are also increasingly the responsibility of formal education and are intrinsically linked with their overall employability. If, as has been recognised by teachers, schools have become too homogeneous and detached from present social trends, what are the implications for effecting positive change?

The first step appears to relate to the structure of the school system itself. In its present format it does little to encourage teachers to explore creative options for change. Clelia Iuliani in her comments regarding ‘Dibattito - Dove va l’ambizione femminile?’ makes a salient point:

E’ vero che molte insegnanti sembrano adattarsi alla scuola così com’è, eppure ciò che vedo continuamente in alcune colleghe, il malessere personale, la depressione, le autocritiche continue confessate alla collega del cuore, i tentativi volontaristici di coprire le falle facendosi carico di tutto, mostrano che la parità con l’agire maschile, l’assunzione di quel modello di professionalità, è un’illusione. (Iuliano 1998, p. 271)

The need to recognise women’s role in education as unique and as different from men’s is clear in her comments. A core factor is the identification of their unease with their unsuccessful attempt to teach as though they were men. This unease often translates into depression and an overwhelming negativity that stifles not only their personal development and confidence levels, but also their ability to act and react with initiative and drive. Chiara Zamboni in ‘Dire la necessità’ highlights the positive and negative responses to the difficulties teachers often encounter in the school environment:

La sequela ripetitiva del lamento è segnale che il desiderio si è lasciato attrarre dal vortice della sofferenza e in più la forma coatta di un desiderio bloccato. Ora l’effetto del tutto positivo del dire la necessità, che si sta vivendo - in questo caso lo stato di cose per cui si soffre - è che la sofferenza non viene del tutto superata, però il desiderio viene aperto a un movimento nuovo. E’ una questione di tonalità. E’ un modo diverso di dire la sofferenza: dirla come un fatto, che ci coinvolge, è diverso dal dirne male. (Zamboni 1998, p. 161-2)

Her intention is to accent the importance of developing and maintaining interpersonal peer relationships. The peer relationship between teachers is often presented as one of the fundamental elements required to change the present state of schools and education. The initial step towards reform lies in teachers being

124 convinced that reform is necessary. Once that level of conviction becomes a given, the next step is to establish intra- and inter- school links with others working within the parameters of autoriforma and, at the same time, building links with the greater education community and society in general.

The necessity for the creation of this type of support network becomes apparent when one looks at some of the areas of resistance that work both consciously and unconsciously against progress and change. As mentioned previously, the often prostrating weight of political problems and bureaucratic schemes leads to individual teachers feeling isolated and unable to effect even the smallest level of change. The upholding of a strong support network in which teachers can exchange and develop ideas would go a long way towards alleviating the crushing isolation they often feel. The focus on autoriforma is a direct result of frustration with bureaucratic machinations and feminist philosophy, which emphasises the responsibility of the individual (partire da sé), while simultaneous creating interpersonal links with others, which in turn recognise difference.

One of the areas that restrict teachers’ ability to confront the issue of gender-bias has been documented by many different cultural groups. The gender- biased behaviour of the teacher is often unconscious and unacknowledged. It is often reported in education studies that boys, in a mixed classroom, attract and maintain a higher proportion of teacher attention:

Nelle classi miste i maschi tendono ad invadere tutto lo spazio e ad accaparrarsi l’attenzione dell’insegnante. Una recente ricerca psicologica dimostra che le insegnanti riservano maggior quantità di stimoli e rinforzi agli alunni e che questa forma di sessismo è agita inconsapevolmente. Le condizioni perché non si attui il sessismo non sono però garantite dalla presenza di una classe tutta femminile poiché il sessismo è un problema che investe innanzitutto la donna insegnante. (Gruppo Insegnante di Milano 1988, p. 10)

The raising of teacher awareness and the promoting of a methodology that recognises differenza is seen as necessary:

125 Le insegnanti, pur essendo in grande maggioranza rispetto agli uomini, non hanno coscienza di sè, delle proprie capacità e pertanto non sono portatrici di cultura femminista. (Artese 1997, p. 1)

It is not without conscious resistance. A major determinant of resistance is found in the attitudes of teachers. What is interesting is that this part of the teaching body is immediately split into two main groups: one of which is further dissected when looking at obstacles to change and development. The first, and not often discussed body is made up of teachers who are there ‘per caso’ (Piussi 1989 p.36) – people who have taken up teaching as a means of employment rather than as a career. Their emotional, intellectual and professional commitment to the position is, therefore, somewhat detached. The second identified group is much more diverse, and the obstructive behaviour cited ranges from passive to vociferous. Eleonora Chiti wrote a brief text entitled ‘Le nemiche delle donne’ - the (female) enemies of women. Her approximately 500 words succinctly identify a variety of behaviours and attitudes. The first one she discusses is the non-creative type, women who are unable to change their position. The second is women with blinkered ideas who are uninterested in questioning the status quo. The third is women who hold that they are people first, not women. This latter group aligns itself with the concept of universality. Another group, according to Chiti, consists of women that are willing to work together, but lack confidence. They end up following the set, accepted methodology and, like the uncreative types, claim to need such programming and structure (Chiti 1998, p. 258). Piussi expands on this last group:

[..]ci sono donne che fanno bene scuola, con passione e competenza, ma si attestano su un fare legato a uno spirito, anche attivistico, di servizio, di maternage. Così rimangono legate all’ordine simbolico del potere, continuano a dare credito a una logica dei dipositivi e delle procedure formali che ancora crede di fare ordine, mentre invece fa disordine. Queste donne restano prigioniere di una logica di accomodamento, non fanno conflitto in grande, e il loro impegno nell’insegnamento non diventa una pratica politica. (Piussi 1989, p. 37)

Apart from these groups there are those teachers opposed to the need to incorporate feminist philosophies They reason that feminism is behind them. According to their feminist critics, they have not consciously attempted to understand feminist philosophies, and therefore operate without any reflection or

126 self-examination. The result is that many women behave like men, but without real power or authority. This, combined with masculine centred teaching materials, causes difficulty between teachers and with the work they do. Longobardi in “È lavoro il lavoro dell’insegnante?”:

L’opposizione delle insegnanti si espresse, allora, nei termini, perdenti, di una difesa dell’egualitarismo. Ci siamo trovate di fronte a un’operazione simbolica molto forte, di omologazione della scuola alla fabbrica e dell’insegnamento alla produzione, che incide sul modo in cui dovremmo pensare il nostro lavoro e ne deteriora il senso. Deteriora in modo effettivo le relazioni all’interno della scuola. (Longobardi 1998, p. 39)

The interpersonal and professional relationship between teachers and students is something that is seen as extremely important in the creation and continuation of a female genealogy. That female teachers often find themselves teaching from teaching material that does not conform to either their personal convictions or social changes is significantly problematic. Not only does it affect their personal commitment and motivation for a subject that denies their subjectivity, but it also has the same effect on their students. The artificiality of this dynamic blocks both the teacher and the students’ capacity for innovative and original interpretation, co- opting them both into a perpetuation of a social perception that is at best alienating and at worst misleading and false. Zamarchi states:

Nell’ottica della differenza l’universum della cultura “neutra” che sono chiamata a riprodurre rivela la sua “distorsione androcentrica” e l’indifferenza, o l’indiscriminata dedizione ad essa, acquisiscono più propriamente il nome d’estraneità. (Longobardi & Zamarchi 1998, p. 8)

This gives rise to what Egle Becchi in Via Dogana, n.29, 1996 calls “la pedagogia della mezza verità”. Joudan explains:

La scuola è un luogo dove non si dice la verità. Non che non ci sia verità, c’è per esempio vera passione per la conoscenza e per l’insegnamento. Ma no si dice la verità nei rapporti tra insegnanti e tra insegnanti e studenti/studentesse. La tristezza, la sfiducia, lo spegnimento che è stato notato crescere nelle classi man mano che si passa dalle elementari alle medie alle superiori, secondo me si lega allo stare in un luogo dove viene coltivata la “non verità” o “la mezza verità”. (Jourdan 1998, p. 249)

127 Jourdan links this characteristic to the role of the school in transmitting the dominant culture, and the fact that, while schools are no longer populated primarily by men, an androcentric ethos prevails.

The solution for this culture of duplicity, or at least of misrepresentation, lies, according to Jourdan and others, in the adoption of la pedagogia della differenza. The use of this approach would not only liberate female teachers to develop and acknowledge their competence and aptitudes, but it would also create a more positive space in which to relate to students in general. Jourdan, in particular, sees the need for teachers to speak out about education and their role in it – loudly and publicly.

All the areas that require reform can in many ways be linked to the need for significant shifts in the style of androcentric pedagogy that has dominated the school system. The necessity to make reforms all encompassing has become more pressing. Schools, in their present form, no longer meet the needs of teachers or students – female or male. One of the areas for transformation advocated most strongly by il gruppo della pedagogia della differenza, and in particular by Piussi, is that of pedagogical theory. Piussi has been actively involved in organising courses for teachers which aim to stimulate them into not only recognising the wealth of understanding and skill they have in regards to the profession of teaching, but also in translating that knowledge into new pedagogic and didactic directions – challenging them to reflect on the assumptions received from their training and the ‘official’ propaganda as to correct teaching methods. Part of this work is the ‘rewriting’ of textbooks and other support material, but it goes beyond this. Employing a pedagogy of difference means, to those involved in it, completely revolutionising the school system. It means challenging the embedded androcentric assumptions about education and its process. Interestingly, these challenges are manifesting in many different forms, marking it as a circular action often described as the ripple effect of stones in a pond.

128 3.4 Teachers and textbooks

The main focus of the research for this thesis has been into the representation of gender in both linguistic and contextual forms in Italian educational textbooks and dictionaries. There has been little in the way of major studies on the role of gender in Italian education, outside the feminist paradigm. Much of the early work was done during the first half of the 1970s. This was followed by a lull in publication until the late 1980s, corresponding with an increase in language and gender research in particular, as was shown in Chapter Two, La Donna e la parola. The first official document regarding the manner in which females and males are presented was Sabatini’s recommendations for textbooks and educational publishing houses. A similar though more specific study was issued in 1987, also under the auspices of la Commissione nazionale per la realizzazione della parità tra uomo e donna. This study,Immagini maschili e femminili nei testi per le elementari by Rossana Pace, included the Raccomandazioni per la realizzazione di testi non discriminatori, edited by Luisa La Malfa. The basis for their work, such as was stated in the 1987 report by Sabatini et al, was the need for dynamism in response to the growing demand for changes to gender disparity.

There appears to be little formal follow up to these initial studies, until a resurgence of interest in the latter half of the 1990s. In regards to language and gender there were a number of publications, the most noted being Donna e linguaggio in 1995. As shown in Chapter Two - La donna e la parola, a number of the articles focused on the representation of women in language (see Burr 1995, Spina 1995, Von Bonkewitz 1995 & Thüne 1995). Von Bonkewitz (1995) presented some of her research results, taken from her study into Italian grammar textbooks. In her article ‘Lingua, genere e sesso: Sessismo nella grammaticografia e in libri scolastici della lingua italiana’, she discusses the philosophical orientation of Italian feminist linguists that has resulted in a focus on language as the expression of a presemiotic structure, rather than the linguistic system.59 Her point is valid. As has been shown

59 von Bonkewitz 1995 Le linguiste femministe in Italia si orientano piuttosto verso il discorso psico- analitico e filosofico della filosofia francese Luce Irigaray. Il loro punto di partenza non è tanto il

129 in both Chapter Two and this chapter, there is a strong emphasis on philosophical and theoretical discourse, but little available information on practical studies or research. Von Bonkewitz bases her research into grammar textbooks on Sabatini’s earlier study. She concludes that there has been little change to sexist language and the representation of women between 1980 and 1993.60 The absence of female representation in textbooks, according to von Bonkewitz, calls for controls being leveled at publishing houses, as has been the case in the United States, to improve the representation of women and redress the balance in textbooks.

The formation of the European body P.O.L.I.T.E. (Pari Opportunità e LIbri di TEsto) could possibly provide the means of achieving better representation of both genders. Its objective is to:

[..]contribuire ad introdurre nella scuola i mutamenti che le pratiche, le esperienze e i saperi delle donne hanno apportato nei diversi ambiti in cui, negli ultimi decenni, si è affermata e consolidata la loro presenza. (Cisem 1999)

It is a European-wide research project which will focus on the role of textbooks in Education. In this section the 1986 report into the images found in primary textbooks and the work of P.O.L.I.T.E will be presented.

3.4a Early Research

In this section the focus will be on the work conducted in 1986 for the Comitato Nazionale per la Realizzazione della Parità tra Uomo e Donna. The first document, Raccomandazioni per un uso non sessista della lingua italiana. Per la scuola e per l’editoria scolastica (Sabatini 1986) was to provide guidelines for publishers and educators that would help them produce and select textbooks that did not perpetuate discriminatory linguistic styles and expressions regarding women. Sabatini concentrated her efforts on school textbooks because she recognised the importance and lasting influence the educative experience has on students:

sistema linguistico ma la lingua come espressione presemiotica nella quale il maschile funziona come esclusivo nella quale la dualità di maschile-femminile viene velato. Il femminile viene negato totalmente o viene presentato come ciò che è diverso, che non fa parte della norma p.101 60 Her actual results will be used in Chapter Five – I testi scolastici

130

Le immagini e le parole fornite dai libri di testo della scuola elementare rimangono particolarmente impresse nella mente anche nell’età adulta ……….. E poiché queste immagini e queste parole sono, come risulta dalla ricerca, intrinse di modelli stereotipati di donne e uomini e non registrano che in minima parte la molteplicità anche contraddittoria dei fenomeno sociali ed i grandi cambiamenti dei nostri tempi, esse costituiscono, nella loro fissità di rappresentazione e con la loro veste di autorità indiscutibile, un vero e proprio ostacolo al cambiamento nei rapporti donna-uomo. (Sabatini 1986)

While researchers in Immagini maschili e femminili nei testi per le elementari undertook an analysis of the illustrations of females and males in employment- related activities, it took place in a wider framework of gender awareness. The timing for the research, according to the researchers, was excellent, as both the schools and Italy were in a period of change, and there was a growing awareness at many levels of the need to address issues of gender parity. The motivation for the research and recommendations was based on the identifiably biased nature of the textbooks in use during the 1980s. It took the form of an analysis into the stereotypical and sexist presentation of gender in elementary or primary school textbooks, as well as a summary of the previous work into this area. This very useful bibliography of earlier work incorporates writings on the role of textbooks in schools, Bibliografia sul dibattito attorno ai libri di testo: on sexist stereotypes, Bibliografia sugli stereotipi sessisti: and a Bibliografia sugli stereotipi sessisti nei libri di testo. The bibliographies contain Italian work as well as European-based studies by organisations such as UNESCO.

In the last bibliography, Bibliografia sugli stereotipi sessisti nei libri di testo, most of the work was produced during the 1970s and early 1980s. The majority of the work focused on the textbooks in the early years of schooling. The conclusions of most of the research contained in the bibliography of sexist images in textbooks was that they (the textbooks) did not reflect the social changes which were presently taking place or had recently occurred. Further to this, the textbooks actually perpetuated outdated notions of gender roles for both females and males. In the work of Gaetana Cazora Russo, Essere donna Inchiesta sullo status della donna in Italia (Milano, Rizzoli 1980), the comments are:

131

Bambino e bambina sono inseriti in realtà incomunicabili: il bambino viene presentato come modello di attività, forza, vivacità aggressività; la bambina vive la sua “natura” dolce, remissiva, protesa verso il suo ideale di “donna madre sposa”. Dalle indagini emerge sostanzialmente una scuola che veicola modelli culturali improntati su una netta differenziazzione psicologica attribuita come caratterizzante i due sessi.(Marinucci 1986, p. 25)

Included also is the work of Elena Gianini Belotti, ‘Sessismo nei libri per bambini’, which can be found in her book Dalla parte delle bambine (Belotti 1973). Her work is well known, and in this piece she examines some of the approaches outside Italy. The absence of females in school textbooks in general is compounded by the stereotypical portrayal of the few that are present. Most of the work also concluded that stereotypical presentation is damaging and restrictive for both sexes:

Sia le donne che le bambine, sia gli uomini adulti che i ragazzi vengono rappresentati allo stesso modo in attività <>. (Marinucci 1986, p. 23)

The researchers for the 1986 report intended to compare the present situation with the earlier works contained in the bibliographies, and to extend the analysis by examining the messages depicted in the illustrations, and presenting recommendations for teachers and publishers. What they were looking for were textbooks which contained a variety of different roles, means of finding identity and methods of presenting present social dynamics for school children, and not just the modernisation of stereotypes:

Non quindi la sostituzione di stereotipi ritenuti << più avanzati>>, ma la messa a punto di strumenti critici per una lettura il più possibile dinamica della realtà e del rapporto tra vissuto individuale e organizzazione social intesa in senso lato: radici, storiche, rapporti interpersonali, soluzioni giuridiche, economiche, politiche, artistiche ai problemi della convivenza tra gli individui umani. (Marinucci 1986, p. 31)

The research did not uncover a single textbook that represented gender in an unbiased and non-stereotypical manner. The presence of males outweighed females in all categories except when inside (spazio interno), where adult females claimed 54% of the total. This is explained by the breakdown of roles, where women as mothers, wives and partners account for 52% of their overall representation. The researchers maintained that the discourse of gender parity of illustrations contained

132 in primary school textbooks was ‘tutto da costruire’, and that rather than the school being the place where the ‘realtà passata e presente’ was presented dynamically, it was instead behind the times.

3.4b P.O.L.I.T.E.

The next section on research into textbooks will concentrate on the formation of the European research group P.O.L.I.T.E. A complete account of the objectives and practices of the group can be found at their internet site (www.aie.it/polite):

Polite è un progetto europeo di autoregolamentazione per l'editoria scolastica nato con l'obiettivo di garantire che donne e uomini, protagonisti della cultura, della storia, della politica e della scienza siano presenti sui libri di testo senza discriminazioni di sesso. Più in generale, Polite vuole garantire che l' immagine di donne e uomini sia trattata in modo equilibrato nei libri di studio, così che l'analisi del mondo contemporaneo e la costruzione dei saperi per le nuove generazioni proceda sulla strada di una migliore consapevolezza delle identità di genere, in grado di favorire nuove e diverse relazioni fra uomini e donne. È proprio nella scuola, infatti, che il riconoscimento delle differenze può diventare una possibilità reale e praticabile di crescita collettiva e, quindi, patrimonio personale di tutti i giovani, in una prospettiva di uguaglianza delle opportunità. Da qui l'acronimo Polite, Pari Opportunità nei LIbri di TEsto. (POLITE)

This working group was formed by the il Dipartimento per la pari opportunità, l’Associazione Italiana Editori (AIE) and il Centro per l’Innovazione e la Sperimentazione Educativa di Milano (CISEM). The group comes under the auspices of the European Union’s Fourth Action Program for the Promoting of Equal Opportunity (1996-2000), and is coordinated by Poliedra.61 Italy’s partners in this project are Spain (Federacion de Gremios de Editores) and Portugal (Comissao para igualdade e para os diritos das mulheres), as these three countries have similar characteristics, and will be able to collaborate together.

61 Ibid. Società di consulenza nell'ambito della formazione e nella elaborazione di progetti comunitari.

133 The principle aim is the elaboration of a Codice di autoregolamentazione degli editori, in order that gender becomes the ‘criterio orientativo nella stesura di libri di testo’. The text states:

Ragazze e ragazzi devono essere aiutati ad acquisire un'identità consapevole della loro appartenenza al genere femminile e maschile, una consapevolezza che sappia essere strumento per la conoscenza di sé e del mondo che li circonda, che li orienti nella scelta degli studi e delle professioni, che li motivi ad avviare nuove modalità di relazione nella sfera pubblica e in quella privata. (POLITE)

The group’s research began with the examination of the work undertaken in other European countries. This research, undertaken by Claudia Alemani and Diana De Marchi, covered thirteen countries62 and contained four major areas: the organisation of the school system, the curriculum, the evolution of equal opportunity in education and political intervention in textbook material. The resulting information would be examined in order to obtain an overview of the European situation, and relevant aspects of the debate on equal opportunity and difference would be identified.

The code of practice that resulted from this analysis and consultation between publishers and educators is designed to be a guide for the authors of school textbooks and the teachers who utilise them. The intention of the process is to realise gender difference:

Un processo educativo intenzionale, infatti, che fa proprie le culture di genere e modifica quindi i propri linguaggi, le modalità di relazione, di elaborazione e comunicazione dei saperi, consente ai giovani e alle giovani di rielaborare criticamente le diverse discipline e di acquisire nuove conoscenze storicizzandole e problematizzandole rispetto al sé, e a come le discipline stesse hanno significato nella loro evoluzione il rapporto tra i sessi. (POLITE)

The stated scope of the process is to assist students to understand what it means to be gendered female and male in the present society, and as active subjects of the future:

Tale processo, altresì, consente di acquisire maggiori strumenti di consapevolezza rispetto al proprio esistere come persone sessuate nella contemporaneità e di

62 Alemani: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France and Germany. De Marchi: Greece, Ireland, Luxemburg, Norway, Low Countries, United Kingdom and Switzerland

134 prepararsi al futuro come soggetti attivi con una progettualità che li/le metta in grado di vivere le differenze di genere come risorse personali e di elaborare obiettivi di miglioramento individuale e sociale. (POLITE)

The core of the group’s work is the modification of school textbooks. There are a number of guidelines that have been created, although the general recommendation, if not expectation, is for publishers and authors to develop their own structures, through the use of the Codice as a starting point. This position has been taken in order to avoid rigidity and false adherence to the ‘politically correct’ notions of a given time. The group has, however, selected some points for discussion – punti di discussione: stereotypes, sexism, language, representation and cognitive styles. The first one, stereotypes, concerns not only the manner in which women are excluded or under-represented, but also the ways of thinking or judging that do not allow for differentiation with a certain group or category. The second area of sexism, linked to stereotypes, examines the original assumptions and prejudices regarding gender. The third area of language is based on the Saussurean idea that language evolves with society. This point does not limit itself to the mechanics of language use (i.e. the feminisation of the language, the use of both genders etc.), rather it asks for a discussion about the deeper symbolic aspect of language use, and the recognition that language use is not neutral. The second last point concerns the representation of gender in professional, private and public situations. It is not only important to avoid sexist or stereotypical images and descriptions, but also to reflect on the nature of change itself:

la riflessione che le situazioni, i ruoli e le relazioni, anche più aggiornate, non hanno carattere di immodificabilità, ma sono suscettibili di mutamenti continui, tipici delle epoche di profonda evoluzione come le nostre. (POLITE)

The final point regards cognitive styles. This proposes changes that recognise gender difference and that also incorporates diverse styles in cognitive approaches to education, learning and subject material:

In questo modo, ancora una volta, l'accettazione e la valorizzazione di una possibile pluralità nell'accesso e nella trasformazione del sapere in risorsa personale, può divenire occasione di arricchimento anche collettivo. Le differenze anche in questo caso sono una risorsa quando non si trasformano in pregiudizi all'interno dei quali la diversità diviene gerarchia, rigidità di ruoli e destini già segnati. (POLITE)

135 It is hoped that the application of these proposals will assist in the creation of textbooks that will enhance the overall progress towards gender parity in schools:

Libri di testo e materiali didattici innovati secondo queste prospettive e ottiche culturali non possono, naturalmente, da soli garantire l'efficacia dell'azione educativa, ma sono il passaggio necessario perché gli altri protagonisti del sistema di istruzione si rendano attivi e responsabili nei confronti di una formazione rispettosa e valorizzante le differenze di genere. (POLITE)

The aim of a textbook which recognises difference would assist in the overall approach to change and diversity. In doing so it is hoped that not only gender identity, but also the relationship between the genders, will improve:

Il testo che si presenta attento e disponibile a dare spazio a diversi punti di vista insegna la disponibilità al cambiamento, insegna e rafforza la capacità di scelta tra diverse opzioni. Si apprende, in questo modo, che le differenze possono non essere gerarchiche. Si apprende, inoltre, che il tema delle differenze di genere non è tema che riguardi un solo sesso, ma i rapporti tra i due sessi e può quindi offrire strumenti e risorse per affrontare, dando prospettive di cambiamento, anche l'attuale crisi dei ruoli e dei vissuti maschili. (POLITE)

The P.O.L.I.T.E project has already undertaken studies and produced detailed reports on the situations in Portugal and Spain. These two reports provide extensive information on the various areas mentioned previously. There is also a collection of data concerning the role of the project in relation to the expectations of the European Union. The P.O.L.I.T.E website offers a forum for discussion and the presentation of ideas connected to their work.

3.5 Concluding comments

It can be seen that the educative situation in Italy is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. The official bodies, represented by the United Nations, the European Union and the Italian Ministry of Education, have taken gender disparity into account. This is clearly shown by the variety of directives, projects and reports issued by these bodies. The problem is that the underlying ideology of these directives does not seem to adequately examine the actual nature of social structure in its present form. The major objective for all of the official reports revolves

136 around the integration of women into the established social fabric and their inclusion in the work force.

This objective is primarily based on the concepts of equality and emancipation that treat females and males as allegedly undifferentiated subjects. The inclusion of the female in education is seen as being necessary on all levels, and the role of women as, at least, equal participants should become an integral and internal part of the curricula, and not a mere adjunct to the present educational situation. The problematic nature of this, in the Italian context, is that the feminist philosophy of difference rejects the equality and emancipation paradigms. Such objectives are viewed as resulting in the co-option of women’s agreement to male defined socio- cultural structures. Given this, however, it is useful to note that the gender issue is certainly on the official agenda, even if it does not fully take the Italian feminist ideologies into consideration.

The expression of feminist ideologies appears more readily in the unofficial publications and actual work of teachers aiming for change (e.g. Piussi 1989, Cosentino et al 1998, Artese 1997). The educare nella differenza paradigm looks to initiate change at all levels of education: beginning with the actual structure of the school, formation of teachers, methodology employed, material selected and textbook formation. The need to educate teachers in a way that recognises and enhances the philosophy of difference is seen as vital, not only to improve their own classroom activities, but also to encourage female teachers to produce pedagogical material that represents their own experiences as educators. The need for teachers to become proactive about change is apparent in the call for autoriforma. This movement allows for and encourages teachers to actively work for change in the educational environment by means of disseminating information through publications, conferences and other forums, and by creating networks of like-minded educators, in order to effect widespread change. The rejection of an homogenised pedagogy is the first step towards the recognition of difference.

137 The need to persist in efforts towards gender recognition in schools is still relevant in Italy today. In March 1999, the Italian Ministry of Education disbanded its internal Equal Opportunities Commission without consultation. The present changes to the structure are also causing concern, as there seems to be little consultation between the teachers and the Ministry. Resistance to real change occurs at all levels, even when outward appearances seem to indicate otherwise. Educators working within Italian feminist paradigms acknowledge that realising the goals of true gender parity is still a long way ahead.

138 Chapter Four LE FORME E I METODI

Methodology

4.0 Introduction – Focus on Research 4.1 Analysis Criteria – School Textbooks 4.1a Linguistic Layout 4.1b Contextual Categories 4.2 Analysis Criteria – School Dictionaries 4.2a Defining Details 4.2b Linking Language

4.0 Introduction – Focus on Research

The methodological approach to the analysis of the school textbooks and the dictionaries is a combination of the Raccomandazioni completed by Sabatini and her colleagues (1987) and my own analysis designed to collect data on extra- linguistic and contextual elements. The methodology of Sabatini and her colleagues, features in linguistic analysis. The extra-linguistic elements are prevalent in the contextual analysis.

The publications regarding language, education and the gender dynamic were produced under the auspices of La Commissione Nazionale Per La Realizzazione Della Parità Fra Uomo e Donna (see Chapter 2 La donna e la parola - 2.3 Il linguaggio sessuato). As discussed in the previous chapters the approach to women’s rights, feminisms and sexism in Italy is extremely culturally specific and in some ways a unique development. External theories and works in the fields of education, language and gender have a limited application. There has been some further work

133 in Italy that relates to the appearance and usage of gender specific terms for occupational titles (Spina 1995), in newspapers (Burr 1995), neologisms (Chiantera 1998) and Von Bonkewitz (1995) has monitored the use of female/male nouns in a selection of Italian grammar books.63 Overall, however, little appears to have been done in relation to officially monitoring the state of textbooks since the guidelines Raccomandazioni per un uso non sessista della lingua italiana. Per la scuola e per l’editoria scolastica (Sabatini 1986) were published in 1987. This situation has recently seen some possibility of improvement which the creation of the group P.O.L.I.T.E. (Pari Opportunità e LIbri di Testo) (see Chapter 2 La donna e la parola 2.5 Other research into Il linguaggio sessuato). Their preliminary publications regarding their aims, combined with the work already underway in Portugal and Spain which are partners in the project, suggests that the recommendations set out by Sabatini et al in 1987 are still valid guidelines to determine sexist linguistic usage in Italian.

The linguistic criteria that Sabatini (Sabatini et al 1987) used are listed in 4.1a Linguistic Layout. The criteria were used for all the school textbooks included in this research with some modifications. Having previously applied the criteria laid out in the 1987 report on sexist language usage (see Burns 1996) it was decided to separate the categories of A1a and A1b from the other categories. These categories represent the two unmarked terminologies of A1a; uomo/uomini and A1b; the masculine plural. They were combined with the results collated for actual generic terms such as person, population. While the criteria were not specifically applied to the dictionaries it was kept in mind during their examination.

The second part of the school textbook analysis and the examination of the dictionaries were individually formatted in order to explore and elicit a more detailed picture of the way in which gender was represented. The contextual analysis of school textbooks was designed to garner a more complete understanding of gender presentation than would be available by a unidimensional study of the linguistic elements. These contextual categories; themes, settings, roles, people,

63 see Chapters; Two La donna e la parola and Five I testi scolastici for more details in these studies.

134 illustrations, authors, authorities and exercises, are based on the underlying theories of Italian feminisms, in particular that of ‘the philosophy of difference’, and my own interest in the concept of space and gender (Burns 1998). A similar contextual format was used during my study into the representation of gender in Italian mass- market magazines (see Burns 1996, Burns and Bressan 1998). Language is not used in a vacuum; linguistic symbols, or words, are often accompanied by extra- linguistic symbols that assist or encourage us to interpret the meaning of the word in particular ways. Other contextual information that assists with the interpretation of meaning comes from the characters presented; the setting of the story and its theme. These elements all contribute to the greater ‘picture’ the words are trying to create or convey. Further to this, details regarding the authorship of texts and authorities cited in non-fiction text provides information that may suggest the reason for thematic choices.

The textbooks were selected from the humanities stream. The range of textbooks, therefore, includes language studies - Italian and English (EFL), literature, history, human geography, sex education and religious studies. The textbooks were selected after a careful study of the texts available from a variety of educational publishing houses. The final selection was designed to represent a good cross section of both subjects and age groups that was representative of the majority of textbooks available to schools in each area. The aim of my study was to discover whether or not the authors and compilers of these texts have incorporated any or all of the government recommendations and current feminist theories regarding gender parity into the design of the textbooks.

The dictionaries presented a rather diverse situation as their format and usage differ from school textbooks. I decided to base my study on two areas. In the first area, 4.2a Defining Details, I designed the criteria based on the Italian feminist thesaurus Linguaggiodonna (Rabissi & Perucci 1991). This publication, issued in 1991, lists a variety of words that relate to women under a number of headings; corpo, donne, cultura and so on and associates certain meanings with them. I selected a small quantity of these words that were suitable for pairing; i.e. moglie (wife) - marito

135 (husband). The second section, 4.2b Linking Language, uses these pairs but instead of concentrating on their definitions I have created word trees, noting all the words that are associated with a particular noun. I have used both female and male nouns to enable a comparative study.

The detailed construction of the methodology used in the research can be found in the appropriate sections of this chapter. It must be noted that all the textbooks and dictionaries used in this research project are presently in use in Italian schools and universities. They were ordered or obtained directly from Italy during 1997 and 1998 and were all first published in the nineties. The motivation for obtaining recent works is twofold. Firstly, it is important in a study of the contemporary gender situation in education to have materials that are current and in current use. Secondly, I wanted to use textbooks and dictionaries that had been compiled and published after the 1987 issue of the guidelines for non sexist usage in Il sessismo nella lingua italiana (Sabatini et al 1987). Following this criterion would mean I had a collection of textbooks and dictionaries that was not only representative of the overall selection available, but was also current and published after the first government-approved guidelines regarding language usage were issued. The results obtained from the analysis would therefore provide information about the actual situation in Italy during the 1990s.

136 4.1 Analysis Criteria – School Textbooks

The school textbooks under investigation are:

Textbooks - scuola elementare Subject Area: Civics Morotti, G 1997 Il nostro tempo Il novecento Giunti Marzocco. Pages: 63 Subject Area: Language and Literature Balardi, R & Galli, L 1995 La ruota delle parole 1 Juvenilia. Pages: 128 1995 La ruota delle parole 1 Juvenilia. Pages: 160 Gaeta, G 1997 Avventure tra le righe 3. Juvenila Pages: 192 1997 Avventure tra le righe 4. Juvenila Pages: 223 1997 Avventure tra le righe 4. Juvenila Pages: 255 Subject Area: Religious education Colombo, T. 1997. Percorsi di vita. Giunti Marzocco. Pages: 32 Subject Area: Social studies / Science / Mathematics Balicco, I & Craca, L. 1997. Imparo a studiare 3. Giunti Marzocco. Pages: 224 Balicco, I & Craca, L. 1997. Imparo a studiare 4. Giunti Marzocco. Pages: 288 Balicco, I & Craca, L. 1997. Imparo a studiare 5. Giunti Marzocco. Pages: 320

Textbooks - scuola media inferiore Subject Area: Civics Vergnano, I. 1992. Questa grande umanità. Paravia. Pages: 320

137 Subject Area: English as a Foreign Language Madden, J & Parvesi, L. 1995 0044 A direct call to English. De Agostini Pages: 405 Subject Area: History Aziani, P & Mazzi, M. 1996. Chronos 1. Principato. Pages: 383 1996. Chronos 2. Principato. Pages: 384 1996. Chronos 3. Principato. Pages: 384 Subject Area: Geography Bersezio, L. 1996. I territori dell’uomo 1. DeAgostini. Pages:401 1996. I territori dell’uomo 2. DeAgostini. Pages:408 1996. I territori dell’uomo 3. DeAgostini. Pages:401 Subject Area: Grammar Bottiroli, G, Corno, D. & De Mauro, T. 1995. Dire Fare Capire. Paravia. Pages: 816

Subject Area: Language and literature Mandeli, F & Rovida, L. 1993. La lampada di Aladino 1.Principato. Pages: 672 1993. La lampada di Aladino 2.Principato. Pages: 688 1993. La lampada di Aladino 3.Principato. Pages: 702 Subject Area: Religious education Bosco, T. 1993. Alla scoperta del cristianesimo. Elle Di Ci. Pages: 175 Subject Area: Sex education Giommi, R & Perrotta, M. 1994. Guida all’educazione sessuale. Juvenilia. Pages: 128

School textbooks play a fundamental role in most classrooms worldwide. They are the basis around which lessons are planned as they, usually, contain the key elements for the officially decreed curriculum. Students are required to have,

138 whether bought or supplied, the specific textbook, selected by the school, for most subject areas. What are the messages and information contained in these textbooks? Do they convey only the ministerial curriculum or is there a lot more to be found in the seemingly innocuous textbook? It is the purpose of this research to analysis the way in which gender is presented in these textbooks in order to ascertain whether the formatting and contents of school textbooks contain the stereotypical notions that perpetuate sexism and discrimination.

The books in the first section are used during the educational years of la scuola elementare.64 The books were selected in order to represent most aspects of the curriculum and there are examples from each of the five years. La ruota delle parole 1 and 2 and Avventure tra le righe 3, 4 and 5 take us through the language and literary experience of the school child from their first to fifth year. Imparo a studiare 3, 4 and 5 contain the historical, social, mathematical, scientific and geographical curriculum school children study in the later three years, also known as the second cycle. I percorsi di vita and Il nostro tempo cover, respectively, the religious and civics taught during these years.

It should be noted that the early years of schooling are necessarily more flexible than the later ones. Teachers often use a lot of extra teaching material that they have devised themselves which enhance the textbook if not relegate it to a basic tool. Obviously it would be extremely difficult to track the usage and contents of such material and for the purposes of this research it was decided to maintain a focus on the textbook. Nevertheless a close study of these textbooks from linguistic, semantic and contextual perspectives will certainly offer a clear picture of how gender is represented to school children in what is often their earliest formal contact with language. The variety of aptitudes that one finds in a classroom, throughout all the years of schooling, indicates that some children have little access to or encouragement in developing learning skills. A first year classroom could include a range of abilities from those who can read to those who have only a

64 As discussed elsewhere the changes to the system from scuola elementare e media to a combined scuola primaria is not likely to have much impact on the actual curricula for each year.

139 tenuous grasp on the alphabet. The textbook and the dictionary become points of reference with considerable influence as they portray ideas about the world that children perceive as being authoritative.

The second section contains the textbooks used during the years of scuola media inferiore. They are broken down into the areas of religious education Alla scoperta del cristianesimo, history; Chronos1, 2 and 3, grammar Dire Fare Capire, sex education; Guida all’educazione sessuale., human geography; I territori dell’uomo 1, 2 and 3,Language and literature; La lampada di Aladino1, 2 and 3, and civics; Questa grande umanità.

The linguistic and contextual analysis for each school textbook will be obtained by completing relevant analysis tables in order to compile statistical information. Each occurrence of a given criteria will be noted on the tables and totals tallied at the end. The results will be recorded on the corresponding table of each cover sheet. These details will be transferred into individual tables and graphs in order to facilitate their interpretation. The cover sheet for the textbook analysis will list the following information;

Title: Cover Sheet The tables on the cover sheet serve for the collection of all the linguistic and contextual results from each of the separate criteria. General: The Subject Area refers to the main area of study for which the book would be utilised; for example: History. The Book Title is the name of the book and this sub heading appears on all analysis sheets. The Publisher; while perhaps not crucial to the identification of a given book in a controlled research environment, ensures that it is not confused with a book of a similar title.

140 The Number of Pages on the cover sheet indicates the total number of pages of the school text. It also appears on all analysis sheets to keep track of collection process as at times more than one sheet of the same format is necessary to complete data collection.

The breakdown of the analytical information is as follows:

Linguistic Analysis refers to the results obtained from the criteria set out in the following pages. This subheading is broken down into two further areas; Grammatical and Semantic, in order to incorporate the different elements of asymmetric gender representation.

The Contextual Analysis is subdivided into a number of parts; Themes, People, Illustrations, Roles, Authorities and Authors. Each of these categories are then broken down again to facilitate the identification of the corresponding criteria. One extra table has been included specifically for the books on language teaching: Dire Fare Capire and 0044 A call to English, this sheet records the number of grammar exercises that have female and/or male subjects. Part of the analysis will also include notation on the types of settings in which girls and boys are presented. The next two sections provides a detailed explanation of the criteria with examples in Italian taken directly form the textbooks under analysis.

4.1a Linguistic Layout

The first three pages of tables were created following the format used by the earliest official study into linguistic disparity in Italy. As discussed in the introduction to this chapter the criteria were identified by Alma Sabatini and her colleagues for the production of the report on sexist language; Il sessismo nella lingua italiana for La Commissione Nazionale Per La Realizzazione Della Parità Fra Uomo e Donna. While some modifications have been suggested by recent linguistic studies (i.e. in Donna e linguaggio 1995) this present research has enlarged upon the original criteria rather than changing the basic format. One of the areas which was added was the notation

141 of the use of words such as persona/e, gente, umanità, popolo, popolazione and other similar terms which denote both sexes in a truly generic form. The quantities for this category has been incorporated in a separate table and graph along with the quantities for uomo/uomini (man/men) and the pseudo unmarked generic (i.e. gli italiani) under the heading of Generic Terms.

Grammatical asymmetry

The use of the unmarked masculine form A1 a - uomo / uomini (man/men) The use of the words ‘man and men’ to indicate humans of both gender. Example: ‘L’evoluzione dell’uomo’ Come tutti gli animali che vivono sulla Terra, l’uomo si e’ evoluto da altri animali vissuti in epoche precedenti. (Balicco & Cracca 1997c) Reason: The word ‘uomo’ and ‘uomini’ are not seen as inclusive nouns that equally represent both sexes. Some recent works have shown that even when used in a supposedly unmarked way these terms are not inclusive nor are they perceived as such. In this case under the heading of the evolution of man., the term uomo is also used extensively in the text. b - masculine nouns (nomi maschili (+ umano) The use of nouns in the masculine plural as the ‘unmarked’ or ‘inclusive’ form. Example: Bianchi, neri o gialli, gli uomini sono tutti figli di Dio e devono amarsi come fratelli. (Colombo 1997, p. 12) Reason: Similar reasons apply for A1a and A1b in regards to the supposed unmarked usage and perception of such terms. To avoid misinterpretation and to be truly representative of both sexes it is felt alternatives to the imposition of the masculine form as the unmarked noun is necessary. Here groups of racially diverse peoples are presented only in the masculine plural

142 form of whites, blacks and yellows as sons of God that should love each other as brothers.65 c - unmarked collective nouns (i sostantivi) The use of masculine nouns to included mixed sex groups Example: fratellanza - brotherhood Reason: Collective nouns that promote the idea of groups should not refer to concepts that exclude the female sex. The concept of ‘fratellanza’ (brotherhood) or similar terminology promotes an androcentric view of the groups’ members and values while at the same time denigrating or dismissing alternative forms for collectives and their associated values. d - precedence of male in pairs of opposites (precedenza del maschile nelle copie oppositive) The occurrence of male nouns preceding the female in pairs that refer to humans Example: gridano ora dal carro giovani e ragazze mascherati da satiri e ninfe, e poi tutti insieme, si mettono a cantare: (Aziani & Mazzi 1996b, p. 148) Reason: The precedence of the masculine in pairs reflects the assumptions of a patriarchal society where men are placed before women except on rare ceremonial occasions: Signore e Signori - Ladies and Gentlemen. It also is indicative of the role of the female as the absolute opposite of the male and the corresponding negative connotations of the second position.66 Here there is discrimination in regards to placement as well as the interesting indication that the term giovane/i refers to males with female needing to be added.67 e - the absorption of female subjects into nouns in the masculine plural (all’assorbimento del femminile nel maschile) When a female subject is initially identified but then later absorbed into the masculine by the use of nouns in the masculine plural.

65 The racially suspect nature of this sentence is noted but not relevant to this discussion

66 see Chapter Two – La donna e la parola 67 for an interesting summary on this point see Cordin et al (ed) 1995 Femminile e maschile tra pensiero e discorso

143 Example: NOI SIAMO NOI SIAMO BAMBINI E BAMBINE. NOI SIAMO AMICI. (Balardi & Galli 1995a, p. 48) Reason: The unmarked form of the masculine is no longer seen as being so. The absorption of the feminine in the masculine does not conform to the feminist ideology of dual occupancy and it subsumes women’s identity in the more dominant male. Male and female children are first identified separately (bambini e bambine) then absorbed into the masculine plural amici f - women identified separately (donne designate a parte) When in a list of people women are identified separately indicating that they do not belong to the other categories. Example: Uomini e donne, bianchi e neri, credenti e non credenti, conservatori o progressisti, sani o malati, tutte e tutti coloro che hanno la cittadinanza italiana hanno uguali diritti davanti alla legge e, raggiunti i diciotto anni, hanno il diritto di voto secondo il principio del suffragio universale. (Balicco & Cracca 1997a, p. 182) Reason: Singling women out for comment implies that they do not belong to all the other social sub stratas or that they are not full members of them. The use of the masculine plural in the above listing follows the initial distinction of men and women suggesting that women are not part of the other categories. g - the semantic limitations of the ‘marked, feminine (le limitazioni semantiche del femminile) When the use of the noun in the feminine serves to restrict the meaning to refer only to other females rather than to all women and men. Example: Ragazzi e bambine che giocano alla bottega, alle signore, al medico e all’ammalato, al ferroviere, all’aviatore, al maestro o alla maestra e cosi’ via imitano i comportamenti dei grandi, spesso con molta attenzione e precisione. (Madden & Parvesi 1993, p. 529) Reason: The use of the feminine can semantically limit the application of the phrase. Apart from the disparate use of ragazzi (boys) and bambine

144 (young girls – baby girls) the use of feminine titles is designed to mark games that are exclusively played by girls; shop, mummies and teachers. The significant inclusion of il maestro e la maestra indicates that the other games are the property of boys; doctor and patient, stationmaster and pilot. The use of the feminine becomes not only semantically limiting but overtly stereotypical.

A2 a - masculine titles (titoli al maschile) The use of masculine titles when referring to women in that role. Example: Ed era diventata medico anche un po’ per questo, Milena Massari. (Bosco 1993, p. 102) Reason: The use of a masculine title indicates a perception that men are more valuable and capable then women. By referring to women in this way there is a denial of their sex and an attempt to reinforce patriarchal structures that to be successful and worthy one must assume traditional ‘male’ characteristics, if not identity. Here the role of medico (i.e. male doctor) is used to refer to a woman who has decided to become a doctor. The indication being that it is a) a job for men and b) only has value when used in the masculine. b - grammatical inconsistency (sconcordanze grammaticali ) When the title is in the masculine but the corresponding grammatical information denotes a female. Example: Ed era diventata medico anche un po’ per questo, Milena Massari (Bosco 1993, p. 102) Reason: Similar reasoning applies for A2a. and A2b. The inconsistency of the grammar highlights two factors. The first being that using the male title is inappropriate and promotes androcentrism and secondly that, in fact, linguists are able to accept language change when it suits them. It is grammatically incorrect to use a masculine title when the agreement denotes a female person yet somehow this is supposedly more acceptable than the use of medica which would resolve the problem. c - use of ‘donna’ as a modifier - ‘woman’(modificatore ‘donna’)

145 When a noun or title is used in the masculine form with the addition of the word ‘woman’ to indicate that the referent is female. Example: la donna manager Reason: The use of ‘donna’ as an attachment to indicate the sex of the person in a given occupation signals that it is a traditionally male position. As with the use of male titles in A2a. and A2b., this promotes stereotypical values about work and social place. It also indicates that women are considered marginal elements of male dominated fields and that their place in them is as transitory as it is unusual. It is thus perceived as unnecessary to create a separate gender appropriate title. d - use of the suffix -essa Where a title is designated feminine by the addition of -essa to the masculine. Example: 34g 1. Malgrado la scuola, quest’anno Chiara ha svolto molte attività interessanti nel gruppo di cui e’ presidentessa. (Bottiroli et al 1995, p. 481) Reason: The suffix -essa needs to be clarified. What is objectionable in this case is that often the addition of -essa to male nouns reduces the importance of the position and/or actually changes it to something rather derogative (i.e. vigilessa). While some terms (such as professoressa) do not have negative connotations, Italian feminist maintain that no new nouns should be created though application of the -essa suffix and that alternatives should be found for those presently in use in order to avoid derogatory association. In this case there is no need to add –essa as the word ‘presidente’ is epicene to begin with.68

A3 asymmetry regarding names, last names and titles When the way in which women and men are referred to (within the same text) is different, often presenting the women as less important or frivolous by doing so.

68 see also Stewart 1987 p.186 and Cortelazzo 1995 pp.49-52

146 Example: (Pakistan) Dall’altro lato, tuttavia, presenta segni di liberalismo, tanto che proprio una donna e’ a capo del governo; un caso unico in tutto il mondo islamico. (Bersezio 1996c, p. 234) Or The Eurotunnel Treaty was signed by Mrs Thatcher and President Mitterrand in 1986; the next year, on December 15th, work started on both sides. (Madden & Parvesi 1995, p. 346) Reason: Women and men should be represented as equally valuable members of society particularly in case where their public roles are of equal import. Often very subtle changes to titles, the use of first and family names and nicknames serve to create quite different impressions of value and role. More often than not this is to the detriment of the women cited in the text. In the first example the name of the president of a country is not even named!

Semantic asymmetry

B1 asymmetric use of adjectives, altered forms, pronouns, verbs When the words used to describe women are derogatory or stereotypical. Example:. Il giovane diceva semplicemente: “E’ graziosa, la mia cuginetta!”, e pensava a lei con quella specie di commozione istintiva che un uomo prova sempre per una ragazza. (Mandeli & Rovida 1993c, p. 447) Reason: The use of stereotypical or derogatory words in association with women perpetuates the perception that women are of little or no import in society and that they are, in fact, something to be ridiculed and restrained to certain spheres of activity. This is damaging not only to women’s general position but it also affects their psyche and thus their own ability to perceive themselves as equal and valuable members of society and to change the narrow role into which they have traditionally been placed. In this case the presentation of the ‘little cousin’ as graceful and as a target for what can only be interpreted in Lolitaesque attentions certainly restricts her role to a pretty little thing to be admired and obtained.

147 B2 asymmetric use in the way which women are presented in relation to imagery and tone of the discourse. When women are presented in a way that conforms to and perpetuates stereotypical social views Example: Un ballo alla corte di Inghilterra: la regina Elisabetta I danza con il suo favorito, lord Robert Dudley. I colletti di pizzo indossati dalle donne sono di due modelli diversi: chiusi per quelle sposate, aperte per quelle non sposate. (Balicco & Cracca 1996b, p. 226) Reason: Portrayals such as this negate the other qualities of women and perpetuate the patriarchal codification of acceptable female virtues. In this case, a description of a picture, one has to ask whether this is a vital piece of historical information? No male ruler was represented doing either something frivolous and social like dancing: they were usually on horseback conquering countries neither was he noted for his dress nor his marital status. B3 identification of women in relation to men, age, profession and role. When women are not identified in their own right and only ever in relation to others or pre defined roles Example: Mentre alla moglie austriaca di Napoleone si assegna un piccolo dominio, il Ducato di Parma e Piacenza (Balicco & Cracca 1996b, p. 356) Reason: This identification of women across roles or in relation to others is indicative of social values that deny the autonomous existence of women. It relegates them to the place of ‘accessory’ or ‘associate’ and inhibits the recognition and value of their individuality and own subjectivity.

4.1b Contextual Categories

148 The second section of the research marks the extra-linguistic and contextual features of the textbooks under analysis. A similar style of methodology was developed in the earlier research on gender in mass-market magazines (see Burns up. 1996). In order to ascertain the complexity of gender representation in a given situation one must take into account a wider range of variables than just the straightforward linguistic referent. A number of criteria immediately become apparent in order to obtain a clear picture of bias or balance. The main areas, as previously identified, have been divided into six major categories: Themes, People, Illustrations, Roles, Authorities and Authors. An extra inclusion of Exercises mentioned previously (see introduction this chapter) was made for five of the textbooks. Given the gendered nature of Italian it was felt necessary to examine whether both sexes were represented in the examples and exercises of these texts.

The major areas were then broken down into subgroups: female, male and combined (i.e. containing both sexes). Under these headings, notations were made as to whether the presentation was stereotypical or non-stereotypical. A neutral category was included in some sections, particularly those of themes and grammar exercise, to account for the examples that had no sex referent at all. The methodology enables gender representation to be tracked across a variety of factors. As contextual information often interlinks at various levels it was necessary to expand the study in this way. Through the use of specific categories the areas of imbalance would be more readily perceived. This would facilitate the identification of inequitable occurrences that may otherwise be overlooked in a narrower analysis. For example all the themes of a given text may be relatively neutral; dealing with geographic and statistical information. This seeming neutrality in relation to gender may well be undermined by pictures and illustrations that overwhelming portray only one gender or by settings that exclude the activities and contributions of one of the sexes to that society. It is here that cross-referential categories allow for areas of discrepancy in relation to balanced gender representation to be identified.

149 Each category will now be dealt with separately with an explanation of the relevant criteria relating to the identification of asymmetric gender portrayal.

Themes

The first group relates to the themes of any given text. The themes are meant to suggest the overall trend of a given chapter or story. The top of the table appears like this:

Book Title Pages Theme Chapters - Titles Female Male Neutra l S NS S NS

Each chapter is written down and a mark is placed in one of the three columns to the right: Female, Male, and Neutral.

Female, - refers to all chapters or stories that have an obvious reference to women. This means that they must either be predominantly about women and their activities in any given setting; for example women in economic activities, or they must overtly refer to what are presently considered stereotypical female activities and values; for example women engaged in traditional domestic activities. This is then recorded either in the S column if they are stereotypical or in the NS column if they are not.

Male - refers to all chapters or stories that have an obvious and exclusive reference to men. This means that they must be predominantly about, or overtly refer to, men and their activities in such a way as to exclude the possibility of women’s participation. This distinction is felt to be necessary as given the present social

150 imbalance between the sexes it becomes difficult not to immediately classify any theme that does not overtly include women as being ‘Male’. While more radical theorists would validate this, a more measured approach has been taken. These activities are further broken down into stereotypical S or not stereotypical NS categories. A stereotypical category would be men at war, a non-stereotypical category would be men engaged in general economic activities

Neutral - refers to all chapters that do not overtly refer to a specific gender to the exclusion of the other. This category also incorporates themes that do not refer to any sex at all. The inclusion of this criteria was in order to establish the quantity of non gendered topics in a given text and future analysis will indicate whether in fact this is a possible direction to achieve pedagogical gender balance.

People

The category of people has two sub functions. When relating to novels and fictional stories it refers to the main characters or protagonists of that story. The leading character will be identified along with the immediate group (if any) of protagonists vital to the story. When relating to historical, political or social events this category will be used to identify the major figures being discussed, portrayed and represented in the text. The top of the sheet appears thus: Book Title Pages People

Name Fem. Male Name Fem. Male

The name column allows for the names included either in the stories or historical settings to be listed. In relation to both texts types; fiction and non-fiction, only proper names will be recorded with the notation of the sex made in the appropriate column. Designations such as ‘mum, ‘dad’, ‘sisters’ or ‘the bishop’, the politicians etc. will not be included. The totals of the two columns; female and male, will then be used in the final analysis.

151

Illustrations

This category refers to all pictorial representations of both genders in the texts under examination. The table is divided into three sections; Female, Male and Combined. The tops of the two tables appear below:

Book Title Pages Illustrations Female stereotyped Female Male Stereotyped Male non stereotyped non stereotyped

Combined stereotyped non stereotyped

The three main categories have been subsequently broken down into sub sections of ‘Stereotyped’ and ‘Non Stereotyped’. Every pictorial representation of either a woman or a man or both (i.e. Combined) is then noted in the appropriate column. For a picture to be considered stereotypical it must overtly display stereotypical characteristics which lead to a narrow and limited perception of sex roles in society. A woman holding a baby in a family photo is not considered stereotypical; a woman preparing food while a man sits at the table reading the paper, however, would be. Men involved in conflicts or wearing military outfits would be deemed as stereotypical as they are portraying an activity that is, usually, only undertaken by men. All other pictures that do not portray either men or women in overtly stereotypical roles will be deemed to be non-stereotypical.

Authorities and Authors

152

This category pertains to the Authorities and Authors used in a given text. The top of the table appears below:

Book Title Pages Authorities Authors Female Male Female Male

The first two columns relate to the heading of Authorities. In these columns all authorities cited or quoted in the text will be noted. The historical bias of learned publications means that it is unlikely many women can be quoted as sources of information or literary examples from eras other than the most recent past. It is envisaged, however, that this subcategory will at least demonstrate whether some effort has been made to rectify this imbalance.

The final two columns relate to the subcategory of Author. This is not limited to those found in the literary anthologies. It will also include the noting of all cited or quoted authors and the authors of the book. Some discrepancy is expected, given the enormous under representation of published works by women especially in historical texts.

Grammatical Exercises

The final category that relates to the analysis of the school texts was used only for the books that specifically contained grammar exercises: Avventure tra le righe 3,4 & 5, Dire Fare Capire and 0044 A Direct Call to English. This category was created in order to establish the respective quantities of examples and exercises with a gendered human subject. The table headings are set out below:

Book Title Pages Grammar Exercises

153 Female Female Male Stereo Male Non Combined Combined Neutral Stereo Non Stereo Stereo Non Stereo stereo

The three main sub categories: Female, Male and Combined were then broken down into three smaller categories. The first, Stereo (stereotyped) pertains to all incidents where the subject(s) are displayed in an overtly stereotypical manner that either limits their social role or depicts an image that is derogatory or offensive. For example: ‘Maria is combing her hair’; would not be considered overtly stereotypical unless it was paired with another sentence where boys were playing soccer or similar. ‘The girls (le ragazze) were gossiping in the corner’; would be considered overtly stereotypical as it presents a derogatory and stereotypical image of women. The second, Non stereo (Non stereotyped) relates to all examples of women and/or men portrayed in a way that is overtly non-stereotypical. For example: ‘Mario was playing with his brothers’; would not be considered non- stereotypical, ‘Mario bathed his little sister and put her to bed’; would be considered an example of non-stereotypical behaviour. This is not to suggest that these activities do not normally happen: women do get together to talk and boys do take care of their younger siblings. The former, however, presents women in a way that negates the importance of their discussion and reduces it to consisting of trivialities; the latter is a literary anomaly. The last category of Neutral is relevant for all examples that don’t contain a gendered referent.

Roles and Settings

The type of roles and settings that are found in the context will also be examined. Where necessary general comments will be made about particular roles and setting s that appear stereotypical or pejorative in their representation of gender. For example; people going shopping would not generally be considered stereotypical. If the pictures show women doing the grocery shopping, while men consider the acquisition of a car, they would be considered stereotypical as they conform to the

154 stereotypical norms that women are responsible for the day to day purchases while men are responsible for all the ‘important’ acquisitions and decisions. The types of settings women and men are most often found in will be noted in the analysis of the textbooks.

4.2 Analysis Criteria - School Dictionaries

Scholars and feminists have published works on the role and contents of Italian dictionaries (see Piano 1992, Spina 1995, Chiantera 1998). Little, however, has been published on the topic of dictionaries in educational environments. The role of a dictionary in a school setting should not be underestimated. School age children often refer or are told to refer to the dictionary when they are looking for a new word or require a definition of one unfamiliar. Dictionaries are seen as the authorities for word meaning and, even in adult society, a dictionary - particularly the more well known ones such as Lo Zingarelli for Italian or anything by Oxford University Press for English speakers - is often used as the final arbitrator for an argument.

Given the format of a dictionary it is necessary to create a different methodology to the one used with school textbooks. There have been few systematic studies of dictionaries that compares the definitions between gender pairs, such as woman (donna) man (uomo). Most have concentrated on new words relating to either the specific area of occupational titles (Spina 1995) or neologisms (Chiantera 1998).

Four dictionaries shall be used in this analysis. Three come from the publishing house Paravia and were edited by a distinguished Italian linguist Tullio De Mauro. The first is Prime Parole, an illustrated dictionary used in the early years of schooling (6 - 8 year olds). The second is the Dizionario di base della lingua italiana - Dib - the dictionary used in late elementary school - scuola elementare - and early scuola media (9 - 12 year olds). The last, in this series for the schools, is the Dizionario avanzato della lingua corrente - Daic - used in late scuola media and

155 throughout the years of scuola superiore (13 - 16 year olds). In an interview with Domenico Russo (1997) ‘Le Città lessicali dei ragazzi’ in 1997 Tullio De Mauro speaks about the dictionaries that are designed for the three levels of schooling:

[..] completa la serie dei vocabolari pensati espressamente per le tre fasce d’età giovanili, dalle elementari alle superiori. (Russo 197, p. 266)

He describes his motivations for compiling the dictionaries as relating strongly to a need to be proactive in the present linguistic situation and the rationale behind the format of each dictionary in the series. He speaks about the contents of the three education dictionaries:

Prime parole contiene solo il vocabolario di base, allo stato puro per dire così, e cerca di definire solo rigidamente col vocabolario di base le stesse settemila parole circa. In più, fa affidamento su un ricco corredo illustrativo, molto studiato e pensato per facilitate l’apprendimento, ove non si sia già verificato, come spesso accade, di parole, su giochi e su percorsi all’interno del vocabolario, è insomma un dizionario molto didatticizzato. Il Dib contiene accanto al vocabolario di base altre 12.000 parole e già comincia a essere un dizionario più aperto. Soprattutto nelle sezioni di grammatica con rapide definizioni e le indicazioni etimologiche allarga di molto il raggio delle ventimila parole che contiene. Il Daic arricchisce ulteriormente questa offerta. (Russo 1997, p.271)

The increase in sophistication and word quantity within this series of dictionaries makes it useful for analyses of the early language students are exposed to. A series such as this also facilitates the tracking of word definitions and associations across the school years: enabling the realisation of a longitudinal comparative study. The final dictionary Daic incorporates words taken directly from school textbooks:

abbiamo fatto degli spogli sistematici di testi scolastici, alcuni proprio ad hoc per il Daic, il dizionario per fine media - benino, perché, come eredità della tradizione aulicizzante di scrittura italiana, i testi scolastici tutto sono tranne che testi pensati per le possibiltà e opportunità linguistica degli alunni, compresi quelli delle elementari. (Russo 1997, p. 271)

De Mauro explains this lifting of words is necessary to keep these dictionaries relevant and accessible to students. In past, according to him, the dictionaries have been too sophisticated, making it difficult for students to comprehend word meanings and usage.

156 The article also mentions a dictionary that became the fourth inclusion in this research project; Dizionario italiano - DISC - by Francesco Sabatini and Vittorio Coletti. This dictionary was described in a 1997 review in Italiano e Oltre by Salvatore Sgroi as ‘Un dizionario finalmente nuovo’ which has resulted in the

applicazione di alcune idee forti di teoria della sintassi, di linguistica testuale, di sociolinguistica, di statistica lessicale, di storia della lingua alla descrizione sincronica (con vari addentellati storici) dell’italiano.(Sgroi 1997, p.313)

While the article goes on to describe the various merits of the new dictionary. For example; Il DISC è il primo dizionario a descrivere la grammatica del cosiddetto << italiano medio>> o (neo-standard). The supposed inclusion of recent sociolinguistic and historical information as well as neologisms in its lemmario of around 120,000 entries makes it pertinent to this study. A new dictionary that takes such elements into account should show the influence of a feminist movement which has been active over the last thirty years. A movement that has certainly published various articles and books (Magli 1985, Violi 1986, Sabatini 1987, Marcato 1995, Spina 1995 etc.) on linguistic directions since the second half of the 1980s.

Furthermore it was considered important to complete the cycle by incorporating an adult dictionary into the corpus. Sgroi, the author of the review article on DISC, comments on the use of all dictionaries:

Un dizionario fornisce una descrizione finita (e immancabilmente ‘parziale’) degli (infiniti) usi di una comunità, a livello (orto)grafico, fonetico, morfologico, sintattico e soprattutto semantico-lessicale, con indicazioni etimologiche ed esempi per lo più del lessicografo ma anche d’autore. (Sgroi 1997, p. 313)

The study of the four dictionaries, beginning with scuola elementare and finishing with one for adult usage, should proffer some interesting insights into the way Italian is used to define and construct gender.

The dictionaries will all be analysed in two main ways which will be described under the following sections defining details and linking language. They will also be scrutinised for their use of illustrations. The gender representation in this area will obviously be more fruitful in the earlier dictionaries, in particular Prime parole.

157

4.2a Defining Details

The methodology designed for this section of the examination of dictionaries constitutes the first step in what will largely be a comparative study of the definitions used for pairs of common nouns. The nouns have mostly been selected from the entries in the feminist thesaurus Linguaggiodonna and include such pairs as donna - uomo / woman – man, femminile - maschile / feminine - masculine. Added to the list of pairs are a number of words commonly used in relation to describing women or their perceived value and status such as verginità / virginity and femminismo / feminism. Their inclusion in this study is to ascertain whether they are present and in what manner are they explained. These descriptions will offer an idea of how feminist activities and theories are perceived by the compilers of the dictionaries – perhaps indicating the motivations behind the pair word descriptors - and what sort of information about these common words is being transmitted.

The definitions of each term will be noted69 and a comparison made with each set of pairs. With the other terminology the definitions will also be listed and comments made upon them. The pairs under examination are as follows:

pairs anziana/o old woman -old man bambina/o girl baby - boy baby donna - uomo woman - man femminile - maschile feminine - masculine lesbianismo - omosessualità lesbianism - homosexuality madre - padre mother - father maternità - paternità maternity - paternity

158 matriarcato - patriarcato matriarchy - patriarchy moglie - marito wife - husband nonna/o grandmother - grandfather prostituta - prostituto prostitute - sex worker ragazza/o girl - boy signora - signore Mrs/madam - Mr/Sir sorellanza - fratellanza sisterhood - brotherhood strega - stregone witch - warlock/sorcerer others diritto right(s) femminismo feminism sessismo sexism stereotipico stereotypical uguaglianza equality violenza sessuale sexual violence verginità virginity

The results from this research can be found in Chapter Six - La parola al lavoro, where they will be discussed and summarised. It is envisaged, given the large age range covered by the dictionaries in this study that not all terms will be found in all dictionaries, in particular Prime parole and possibly also Dib. In this case the word will still be listed with a notation to advise of its absence.

4.2b Linking Language

The next section of the examination will take a different format though some of the words will be repeated. The methodology will take the form of creating word trees which detail all the associated words listed as either synonyms, antonyms or

69 The full entries for each of the headwords have been transcribed and can be found in App.Two.

159 simply as further reference under one umbrella term (for example donna / woman.). This first stem will be collated from all four dictionaries under analysis in order to obtain a range of terminology that covers the earliest introduction to general reference. The first stems of the female/male noun pairs (Table 6.6 First stem noun categories for females Table 6.7 First stem noun categories for males) will then be compared in terms of quantity (Table 6.8 Order of Frequency) and quantity (the meanings-stereotypical, pejorative or otherwise).

The aim of this comparison is to ascertain whether the types of words associated with a female/male noun pair portrays the different genders in a balanced manner and whether either the tenets of Italian feminist philosophy or the official directives outlined in Chapter Three - A scuola, are present. The nouns will be divided into ten major categories to facilitate the analysis. The first category is Woman/Man. This category will be used in two ways: firstly, for the nouns that describe the relevant gender in an autonomous fashion (i.e. donna, ragazza etc) and, secondly, to record incidences of a noun being used to describe the opposite sex (i.e. Femminella – uomo timido pauroso, effeminato). The next category is Mother/Father for all nouns associated with these roles both in their internal family sense as well as the greater social notion of creation, founding and similar. The third category is Wife/girlfriend – Husband/boyfriend. This category includes all nouns that indicate the marital status of females or males or defines them according to their relationship with the opposite sex. Next is Prostitute: for all nouns that define either gender according to their sexual availability. The fifth category is Religious, which contains all nouns that refer either positively or negatively to one’s relationship to orthodox religion. This category includes words ranging from God to Demoness. There are two categories for work related nouns in order to separate domestic work from work that occurs outside the home; they are Work External and Work Domestic. The last two categories are: Neutral, for all nouns that do not indicate gender (i.e. persona); and Other, for all nouns that do not fit into the previous categories but are not numerous enough as a group to accord them an individual category.

160

The first stem of the female/male noun pairs will be totaled (Table 6.4 Totals of first stem nouns – Female and Male pairs) and placed into an appropriate category (Table 6.6 First stem noun categories - female and Table 6.7 First stem noun categories - male). The categories will be placed into a table in order of their frequency (Table 6.8 Order of Frequency). The total number of nouns occurring in each category will determine frequency. The totals in table 6.4 and the order of frequency found in table 6.8 will then be compared.

A further analysis will be undertaken with the female nouns. The first stem nouns found under the initial headword in the four dictionaries will, where possible, be used as further headwords. All the associated nouns listed under these secondary headwords will be added to form a second stem. This process will be repeated until such time as there is: no further listing, the noun is only listed in the masculine or the word is neutral and no further linking would expand the female noun links in the tree. These further stems will be placed sequentially under the first stem of the female headwords. The extra nouns will be categorised (Table 6.9 Linked language stem categories – Female) in the same manner as the first stem nouns. The initial order of frequency and the one obtained from the extended analysis will be compared in order to ascertain whether there are any changes to the types of nouns found and their frequency (Table 6.10 Order of frequency comparison). This analysis is not possible for the male headwords, as the links would not have similar final points.

The results from the research will be discussed in relation to how females and males are represented in the dictionaries. A cross-reference comparison will be made in order to elicit a clearer picture of how females and males are represented in the language and whether there are any obvious forms of disparity and/or bias toward one gender over another. The extended research into female nouns will assist in obtaining a more comprehensive idea of the way women are represented in the language according to these reference books.

161 The results from this analysis and the research into textbooks will be discussed in relation to the philosophies of Italian feminisms, the theories of Italian feminist linguists and the work undertaken by Italian feminists working in education in the final chapter. Included will also be a discussion as to how or whether these textbooks and dictionaries align with ideas and philosophies and whether they conform with the official directives initiating from bodies such as the UN, the EU and il Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione relating to education and parity.

162 Chapter Five I LIBRI SCOLASTICI Textbooks and Classrooms

5.0 Introduction – Focus on Books 5.1 Scuola Elementare 5.1a Introduction 5.1b Analysis and Data 5.2 Scuola Media Inferiore 5.2a Introduction 5.2b Analysis and Data 5.3 Concluding Comments

5.0 Introduction – Focus on Books

This chapter will set out the results collected from the analysis conducted on the school textbooks. The results will be presented book by book with the linguistic results appearing first followed by the contextual results. Each textbook will be listed alphabetically under the corresponding school sections of Scuola elementare (primary school) and Scuola media inferiore (Lower secondary school). This format is necessary in order to conduct a total approach to the representation of gender in each book. Identifying textbook information will be followed by general interpretive comments regarding the results collected and then the tables and graphs. Each section will be summarised and final conclusive comments will be made at the end of the chapter.

The linguistic analysis of each textbook will comprise of three main areas: general linguistic (table x.xa) and semantic data (table x.xb) which has been collected following the guidelines taken from Sabatini (Sabatini et al 1987), and another third area which extracts the generic terminology from these results (table x.xc). This last segment consists of three areas: the use of uomo/uomini (man/men) as

159 encompassing both genders, the generic masculine (e.g. gli italiani) and non-gender specific terminology (e.g. population). The contextual analysis will begin with Illustrations (table x.xd) followed by Themes (table x.xe), People (table x.xf), Authors (table x.xg) and Authorities (table x.xh). At times this sequence will be changed in order to facilitate comparisons and commentary.

5.1 Scuola Elementare 5.1a Introduction

The books in this section derive from the curriculum taught in la scuola elementare. As stated in Chapter Four it must be recognised that in these early years textbooks form a basis for the curriculum and many teachers would enhance their use with additional teaching materials. The textbooks will be discussed either as part of their series or individually under their subject areas which are listed alphabetically. A list of all the books is available in Chapter 4 Le forme e i metodi - 4.1 Analysis criteria School textbooks p. 144. Each book is named and then followed by the textual summary, tables and graphs.

160 5.1b Analysis and Data

Il nostro tempo. Il novecento Subject Area: Civics Author Morotti, G. Publisher Giunti Marzocco. 1997 Total number of pages: 63

The first textbook presented for analysis is Il nostro tempo by Giusi Morotti. This book is an introduction to the subject area of civics. Tables 5.1a, 5.1b and 5.1c are relevant to the discussion of the linguistic contents of the book. It is clear from the results that this book contains some evidence of biased linguistic representation in regards to gender. The absorption of female subjects into nouns in the masculine plural (A1e) is still quite prevalent. For the rest of the categories there are either minor: one or two examples, or no occurrences of sexist language. The use of the unmarked masculine is high (A1b) the precedence of male in pairs of opposites is noticeable (A1d). Discrepancy between sexist and gender inclusive language becomes more apparent in the use of non-marked or generic terms. The terms uomo/uomini appear 15 times, the ‘non-marked’ masculine plural 158 times and a truly non-gender specific word only 29 times. This would suggest that only 7% of referents include women. An interesting example of the problematic switching between gender signified to unmarked terms comes in the textbook’s inclusion of Art. 52 of the Italian Constitution:

La difesa della Patria è un sacro dovere del cittadino. Il servizio militare è obbligatorio nei limiti e modi stabiliti dalla legge. (Morotti 1997, p. 39)

If, as is assumed by its prevailing use of the ‘unmarked’ masculine in the constitution, il cittadino normally applies to both genders, Article 52 could easily signify that both young women and young men need to complete military service. The assumption is incorrect because, in Italy, it is only the male citizens that must complete military service. A factor that is clarified by the law – yet with the use of il linguaggio sessuato it would not be necessary.

161 The contextual information covers Illustrations, Themes, People and Authors. There are no Authorities cited in the text. The predominance of male oriented content increases significantly. Boys and men account for a total of 79% of the Illustrations, females and males together account for 14% and girls and women on their own account for just 7% (Table 5.1d). In regards to Themes there is a slight advantage towards boys 22% versus 78% of neutral or inclusive topics (Table 5.1e). There aren’t, however, any specifically female themes. Problematic on occasion is the combination of male centred topic with exercises asking the students to relate personally to the story. An example of this is the story of the Indios Yanomami (Morotti 1997, pp. 9-11). The text centres on the activities of a boy in the Amazon region. The exercise asks the children to imagine the differences between their world and that of a young yanomamo. The task has little relevance for girls. Males dominate in the category of People. Nine males are named in comparison to only one female (Table 5.1f). Females are also underrepresented in the area of Authors: females 14% males 86% (Table 5.1g).

It can be seen, therefore, that while the linguistic situation of the textbook is not overly detrimental towards girls it does not attempt to make them any more visible either. When placed in context with the rest of the results the androcentric nature of the information becomes clear. Girls aren’t necessarily presented in a stereotypical fashion, they’re just not presented at all.

162 Il nostro tempo. Il novecento

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.1a Table 5.1c Linguistic Categories A1a c d efg A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic masculineNon gender specific Total 15 2 7 19 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 158 Total 15 158 29

Grammatical Analysis Generic Terms 14% 7%

20

15

Frequency 10 Total 5 79% 0 A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 Linguistic Categories Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.1b Table 5.1d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non SpecificCombined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Total 0 0 0 Total 1 3 14 5 3 29

Illustrations 2% 5%

25%

54%

9% 5% Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific

Il nostro tempo. Il novecento Linguistic categories 5.1a, Semantic categories 5.1b, Generic terms 5.1c and Illustrations 5.1d Il nostro tempo. Il novecento

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.1e Table5.1f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 0 2 7 Total 1 9

Themes People

0% 22% 10%

78% 90% Female Male Non Specific Female Male

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.1g Table 5.1h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 2 12 Total 0 0

Authors

0% 14%

86% Female Male Unknown

Il nostro tempo. Il novecento Themes 5.1e, People 5.1f, Authors 5.1g and Authorities 5.1h La ruota delle parole 1 & 2 Subject Area: Language and literature Authors Balardi, R & Galli, L Publisher Juvenilia. 1995 Total number of pages: 128 & 160

These two books are used in the first two years of language learning a child encounters. In La ruota delle parole 1 the feminine form is often absorbed into the masculine plural (A1e) (Table 5.2a). A clear example was ‘Noi Siamo Bambini’ (see Chapter 4, p. 149 example A1e). This phenomenon that reoccurs in the second book: (7 and 11 respectively).

In both books the only other linguistic result noted, apart from those relating to generic terms, is the semantic limitations of the ‘marked’ feminine (A1g). Indicating that, at times, the feminine form is presented exclusively. The use of the generic masculine is much greater than the use of a non-gender specific form: 42:5 and 197:8 (Tables 5.2c & 5,3c). The second result is largely biased towards the masculine. For example in this story the grandmother is together with her grandson:

Filastrocca del c’ è ……..Se c’ è una nonna. C’ è il suo nipotino. (Balardi & Galli 1995a, p 101)

The use of uomo/uomini is fairly low: 2 and 4, though no alternative forms were considered (i.e. umanità did not appear). La ruota delle parole 2 also contains elements of semantic asymmetry (Table 5.3b). The example here is one of the many stereotypical portrays of girls it is an example of the different way girls and boys are stereotypically represented in stories. The story is of a little girl and her doll:

Le mie bambole La mia bambola, che si chiama Daniela, vuole sempre giocare alla cucina, anche quando devo scrivere i compiti. Se dico di no, si mette a piangere [....]Dopo mangiato, le mette a fare il sonnellino pomeridiano e io lavo i piatti. (Balardi & Galli 1995b, p 72)

163

The traditional stereotype of the little girl playing at being a mummy is doubly detrimental by the priority of a hungry doll/baby over the girl’s homework.

The contextual results of the two early language and literature books, for the most part reinforced the predominance of males of females. In these early years of literacy, illustrations are often valuable tools which assist students to decipher the written text. In La ruota delle parole 1, they form a key part of word recognition development. In both books the totals of male illustrations are greater than those depicting females: 30:49 and 52:79 respectively. Boys and girls together number 19 in the first book and 48 in the second. It is also interesting to note that (1)15% and (2)10% for the girls and (1)26% and (2)19% for the boys, out of each books’ totals, are sexist presentations (Tables 5.2d & 5.3d). An example of this places the illustration of a young girl above this quotation:

È bello rimettere tutto in ordine. (Balardi & Galli 1995a, p. 49)

Others showing boys and girls in stereotypical activities and settings were reasonably frequent.

In both books the themes are, for the most part, non-specific: i.e. they didn’t relate to or discriminate against one or the other sex (Tables 5.2e &5.3e). Although in the second book there is the addition of 22 stories that relate particularly to boys. This discrepancy is reflects in the fact that of all the personages named in the two books there are 20 and 49 females and 42 and 108 males (Tables 5.2f & 5.3f). The increase in male oriented stories as the age of the children increases is noticeable even at this early level. This imbalance is also somewhat worrying given that there is a fairly equal distribution of gender among the authors 24:21 and 55:56, although there are a number of stories: approximately 20 in each book, where the sex of the author is unclear (Tables 5.2h & 5.3h).

La ruota delle parole 2 also contains more representations of girls and women that were sexist as some of the examples included here indicate. The first example is

164 from an exercise on page five (Balardi & Galli 1995b, p. 5). The students must finish the sentence based on the example underneath.

Laura pensa che metterà a posto le conchiglie Il babbo pensa che dovrà tornare al lavoro La mamma pensa che dovrà andare dalla parrucchiera

Laura, a young school girl thinks about her seashells, her father thinks about going to work and her mother thinks about going to the hairdressers. While a visit to the hairdresser’s is something done by women and men in relation to the context: where Laura’s father is thinking about work, it is stereotypical. Another is found on page sixteen: the story is called Programmazione and concerns a woman getting ready for visitors:

Programmazione Una donna programmava sempre tutto Una domenica pomeriggio dovevano arrivare degli ospiti e la donna scrisse sul foglio: 1 apparecchiare la tavola 2 mettere il vestito azzurro 3 guarnire la torta 4 dare il biberon al bambino 5 chiudere il cane nel bagno 6 andare a prendere gli ospiti alla fermata del tram. (Balardi & Galli 1995b, p. 16)

In the first instance we see the stereotypical portrayal of a mother/housewife. This by itself is not overly concerning but unfortunately it gets worse. When the guests arrive unexpectedly, she no longer knows what to do and ends up making an idiot of herself. Her failure to follow directions and then improvise and /or reprioritise can be seen as a comment of women’s ability in a work situation. Women, it seems, are suitable for straightforward tasks but when confronted with a complex or shifting situation they are unable to cope. The last negative example presented here is a fairly traditional one of a little girl who spends all her time looking over her cose care which include the various bits of jewelry and Poi lo rimette nella scatola con gran cura. (Balardi & Galli 1995b, p 18)

165 Not all the contextual imagery is stereotypical. On page 111 of La ruota delle parole 1 there is male courier, fishermen and truck driver and a female taxi driver and parking inspector. In the same book there is a story about a new baby which involves all the members of the family in her arrival home from the hospital:

Quando la mamma e Valentina torneranno a casa, Patty e Pietro aiuteranno la mamma e il papà a lavare Valentina e ad asciugarla. Poi la porteranno a passeggio tutti insieme e saranno tutti molto felici. (Balardi & Galli 1995a, p. 115)

In general, however, these types of stories are the exception rather than the rule and while there is not an overwhelming discrimination towards females there is definitely a certain level of exclusion. This absence seems to become more pronounced in the later textbook as the representation of females drops well behind that of the males.

166 La ruota delle parole 1

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 1 Table 3 Linguistic Categories A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific Total 20070400000 42 Total 2 42 5

Grammatical Analysis Generic Terms

10% 4% 7 6 5 4 Frequency 3 2 Total 1 0 A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 86% Linguistic Categories Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 2 Table 4 Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non SpecificCombined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Total 0 0 0 Total 15 5 26 15 16 23

Illustrations

15% 23% 5%

16% 26% 15% Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific

La ruota delle parole 1 Linguistic categories 5.2a, Semantic categories 5.2b, Generic terms 5.2c and Illustrations 5.2d La ruota delle parole 1

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.2e Table 5.2f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 5 0 67 Total 20 42

Themes People 7% 0% 32%

68% 93% Female Male Non Specific Female Male

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.2g Table 5.2h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 24 21 20 Total 0 0

Authors

31% 37%

32% Female Male Unknown

La ruota delle parole 1 Themes 5.2e, People 5.2f, Authors 5.2g and Authorities 5.2h La ruota delle parole 2

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.3a Table 5.3c Linguistic Categories A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific Total 4 0 0 11 0700000 197 Total 4 197 8

Grammatical Analysis Generic Terms 4% 2%

12 10 8 Frequency 6 4 Total 2 94% 0 A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 Linguistic Categories Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.3b Table 5.3d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non SpecificCombined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Total 0 2 3 Total 18 14 34 34 34 45

Semantic Analysis Illustrations 10% 25% 8% 3 2,5 2 Frequency 1,5 1 Total 19% 0,5 0 19% B1 B2 B3 19% Semantic Categories Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific

La ruota delle parole 2 Linguistic categories 5.3a, Semantic categories 5.3b, Generic terms 5.3c and Illustrations 5.3d La ruota delle parole 2

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.3e Table 5.3f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 8 22 89 Total 49 108

Themes People

7% 18% 31%

75% 69%

Female Male Non Specific Female Male

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.3g Table 5.3h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 55 56 23 Total 0 0

Authors

17% 41%

42%

Female Male Unknown

La ruota delle parole 2 Themes 5.3e, People 5.3f, Authors 5.3g and Authorities 5.3h Avventure tra le righe 3,4 & 5 Subject Area: Language and literature Author: Gaeta, G Publisher: Juvenilia. 1997 Total number of pages: 192, 223 & 255

This series of books completes the literature and linguistic studies for la scuola elementare. It covers the last three years of study commonly called the second cycle. The children have moved beyond basic literacy skills and are now required to handle more complex verb and narrative structures. They are required to deconstruct essay formats and have a larger selection of fiction, non-fiction and poetry to master. The layout of these textbooks facilitates an analysis of the grammar exercises and the results from this analysis will be included here.

The first section of the analysis concerns the linguistic and semantic research. These textbooks offer some interesting examples, which have been reproduced here, in order to illustrate some of the disparities. This series shows a marked increase in the frequency of linguistic asymmetry (Tables 5.4a, 5.5a & 5.6a). The precedence of males in pairs of opposites (A1d) and the absorption of females into the masculine generic (A1e) have quite high rates of frequency. The first textbook in the series rates examples of nine out of the twelve categories and 40 examples of linguistic category A1d. All three display examples of the use of uomo/uomini and the generic masculine. There is fairly minimal use of the non-gender specific terms such as person or people: 15%, 28% and 19% respectively (Tables 5.4c, 5.5c &5.6c).

Semantic asymmetry is also quite frequent in all three textbooks and some of the more discriminatory examples are presented here (Tables 5.4b, 5.5b & 5.6b). The first examples come from Avventure tra le righe 3. The following two examples indicate the asymmetry in the description of girls using stereotypical imagery:

Non mi piaceva studiare Ero una bambina grossa, grassa, con i capelli castani, ruvidi e folti che mi invadevano meta’ della fronte, una bocca rotonda sempre aperta alle risate, alle canzoni, agli strilli di gioia…..Non avevo ne’ grazia ne dolcezza. Sembravo un maschiotto.

167

(sinonimi) Una bambina bella potrebbe essere graziosa, carina, attraente. (ed Gaeta 1997a, p.104)

In the first example, a piece by 19th century writer Matilde Serao, the story regards a girl who doesn’t display the traditional behaviours associated with girls. She’s quick to laugh, sing, give out joyous yells and she says she has no grace or sweetness: in fact, she says, she’s like a boy. When compared to the synonyms used in the second example we can see that girls are expected to be graceful, cute and attractive. Certainly not big, fat and loud. The two examples used for opposites and metaphors also depict stereotypes:

significanti contrario Buona e cattiva La fata buona – La strega cattiva. (ed Gaeta 1997a, p. 199)

and

metafora Mia zia è una balena. (ed Gaeta 1997a, p. 201)

The accompanying illustrations to these examples emphasis the disparaging tone. There are no similar depictions of males. It is also worth noting that the piece by Serao was given no historical context.

Avventure tra le righe 4 and 5 also have some disparate examples:

Paola è una bella ragazza Tobio è un ragazzo sveglio. (ed Gaeta 1997b, p. 98)

‘Le forme del verbo’ La mamma pettina Laura Laura è pettinata dalla mamma. Laura si pettina. (ed Gaeta 1997c, p. 240)

‘La forma passiva’

168 La maestra premia Matteo Matteo è premiato dalla maestra. (ed Gaeta 1997c, p. 241)

The first examples in Avventure tra le righe 4 appear in the same set. The girl is beautiful and the boy is smart. The second and third examples come from Avventure tra le righe 5. They are placed side by side and thus cause disparate contextual representation. Mummy brushes Laura’s hair, Laura brushes her own hair but Matteo wins a prize!

The grammatical exercises often display stereotypical characteristics. In all verb tables, the masculine is used exclusively in the third person singular and plural. Masculine subjects are represented more often than feminine ones in the grammar exercises: 8:28, 6:29 and 8:28 respectively. For the most part, however, the subjects of the grammar exercises are either female and male or neutral (Tables 5.4i, 5.5i & 5.6i).

In contextual area of the analysis, illustrations of males dominate with the percentages of 50%, 62% and 58% to the females 24%, 17% and 20% (Tables 5.4d, 5.5d & 5.6d). In the first two textbooks the level of stereotypical representation for females is relatively higher than those of males. Themes are predominately non- specific, although the dominance of male illustrations and the use of the generic masculine increases overall male visibility and the perpetuation of the male norm. Male themes are certainly more frequent than female themes with the disparity being more noticeable in the two later textbooks (Tables 5.4e, 5.5e & 5.6e). A comparative example of stereotypical themes has been taken from Avventure tra le righe 3. In the first one, a boy dreams of a fantastic palace filled with toys and in the second, on the successive page in the textbook, a girl receives her toy.

‘Il palazzo dei sogni’ C’erano stanze con giocattoli a molla, con trenini elettrici e aeromodelli. C’erano stanze con rarissime collezioni di francobolli, con acquari di pesci tropicali, o con monete di tutti i paesi e di tutte le epoche [……](ed Gaeta 1997a, p. 41)

‘La Bambola Agnese’

169 -Agnese! Oh Agnese! – disse con tenerezza, battendo le palpebre mentre contemplava la bambola con amore. Sollevò Agnese teneramente. La bambola aveva braccia e gambe a giunture e si poteva muovere in tutti modi, i capelli color d’oro li aveva ben pettinati. Il viso, di porcellana finemente dipinta, era bellissimo e la pelle aveva un aspetto naturale e morbido. Occhi azzurri, vivi, splendevano tra le ciglia vere, con iridi più scure. (ed Gaeta 1997a, p. 42)

The boy’s toys include electric trains, aquariums, model planes and stamp collections and money from all around the world and from every era. The girl gets a doll. On the receipt of which, she displays all the suitable girl behaviour, delighting in its physical appearance.

Another story, which has rather worrying implications, is the story of a son whose filial respect is emphasised by his unswerving belief in his father’s omnipotence:

‘Mio Padre’ Un giorno passò una donna con un bambino nella carrozzina. La carrozzina era infiocchettata e piena di giocherelli scampanellanti. Lui disse press’a poco: - Non credi che, contro il petto della sua mamma, tenuto bene in braccio, sarebbe più felice? Senza dubbio, i piccini sarebbero consolati dal puro contatto fisico con la mamma; la pelle, un odore, un tepore che loro riconoscono per proprio. Se ne sentono derubati; e strillano. E poi, il tic-tic del cuore: che conforto percepirlo! Ascoltandolo imparerebbero adagio adagio a mettersi in moto, a vivere rassicurati. Davvero non mi piace vederli distesi nella carrozzina, anziché eretti sul trono di un braccio piegato… Può darsi che io sbagli. - Hai sempre ragione tu, papà. – Ero felice di essere d’accordo. (ed Gaeta 1997c, p. 144)

What his father has to say is damning not only to the mother in the story; who is portrayed as neglectful and shameful, but is also extremely patronising towards all women. The man knows best, women require instruction in even childcare, and his dutiful son couldn’t agree more.

Masculine superiority is also apparent in the use of people in general. In the first book, females account for a third of the total: 26:40. This decreases to

170 approximately a quarter in the last two textbooks (Tables 5.4f, 5.5f & 5.6f). There are hardly any female authors in the first and second textbook and they make up only 21% on the total in the last one (Tables 5.4g, 5.5g & 5.6g).

The increase in disparate representation of the female and male genders as the schooling age advances is noticeable. There appears to be some recognition of the need to present a more inclusive and balanced representation of gender in the very early years of education as the results from La ruota delle parole 1 and 2 show. For some reason, however, as the children gain greater literacy capacity there is less emphasis on non stereotypical portray of gender as the depiction of females and males becomes more disparate and there certainly seems to be little moves towards balanced gender inclusion.

171 Avventure tra le righe 3

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.4a Table 5.4c Linguistic Analysis A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic MasculineNon gender specific Total 13 2 40 30323010 178 Total 19 178 35

Grammatical Analysis Generic Terms

8%

15% 40

35

30

25

Frequency 20

15 Total

10

5

0 A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 77% Linguistic Categories Uomo/Uomini Generic Masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.4b Table 5.4d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Specific Male Non Specific Total 5 9 4 Total 21 16 26 15 22 47

Illustrations Semantic Analysis

14%

32% 9 11% 8 7 6 5 Total Frequency 4 3 2 1 18% 0 15% 10% B1 B2 B3 Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Semantic Categories Female Non Specific Combined Non Specific Male Non Specific

Avventure tra le righe 3 Linguistic categories 5.4a, Semantic categories 5.4b, Generic terms 5.4c and Illustrations 5.4d Avventure tra le righe 3

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.4e Table 5.4f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 15 19 92 Total 26 40

Themes People 12% 15% 39% 61% 73%

Female Male Non Specific Female Male

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.4g Table 5.4g Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 6 44 14 Total 0 0

Authors

22% 9%

69% Female Male Unknown

Avventure tra le righe 3 Themes 5.4e, People 5.4f, Authors 5.4g and Authorities 5.4h Avventure tra le righe 3

GRAMMAR EXERCISES Table 5.4i Grammar Exercises Female Sexist Female Non SpecificMale Sexist Male Non SpecificCombined Sexist Combined Non Specific Neutral Total 2 6 6 22 0 16 162

3% Grammar Exercises 1% 3% 10% 0% 7%

76%

Female Sexist Female Non Specific Male Sexist Male Non Specific Combined Sexist Combined Non Specific Neutral

Avventure tra le righe 3 Grammar exercise 5.4i Avventure tra le righe 4

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.5a Table 5.5c Linguistic Analysis A1a c d efg A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic MasculineNon gender specific Total 14 1 13 4 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 84 Total 14 84 38

Grammatical Analysis Generic Terms

14 10%

28% 12

10

8 Frequency 6 Total 4

2

0 62% A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 Linguistic Categories Uomo/Uomini Generic Masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.5b Table 5.5d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non SpecificCombined Non Specific Male Non Specific Total 4 2 3 Total 12 4 19 22 36 100

Semantic Analysis Ilustrations 6% 2% 10% 4 11% 3,5

3

2,5

Frequency 2 Total 1,5 52% 1

0,5

0 19% B1 B2 B3 Semantic Categories Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Specific Male Non Specific

Avventure tra le righe 4 Linguistic categories 5.5a, Semantic categories 5.5b, Generic terms 5.5c and Illustrations 5.5d Avventure tra le righe 4

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.5e Table 5.5f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 7 32 91 Total 36 90

Themes People

5% 25% 29%

70% 71%

Female Male Non Specific Female Male

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.5g Table 5.5h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 8 87 3 Total 0 0

Authors

3% 8%

89% Female Male Unknown

Avventure tra le righe 4 Themes 5.5e, People 5.5f, Authors 5.5g and Authorities 5.5h Avventure tra le righe 4

GRAMMAR EXERCISES Table 5.5i Grammar Exercises Female Sexist Female Non SpecificMale Sexist Male Non SpecificCombined Sexist Combined Non Specific Neutral Total 1 5 3 26 0 26 141

0% 2% 1% Grammar Exercises 13% 0% 13%

71% Female Sexist Female Non Specific Male Sexist Male Non Specific Combined Sexist Combined Non Specific Neutral

Avventure tra le righe 4 Grammar exercises 5.5i Avventure tra le righe 5

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.6a Table 5.6c Linguistic Analysis A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic MasculineNon gender specific Total 26 0 23 90000001 197 Total 26 197 53

Grammatical Analysis Generic Terms

30 19% 9%

25

20

Frequency 15 Total 10

5

0 72% A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 Linguistic Categories Uomo/Uomini Generic Masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.6b Table 5.6d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Specific Male Non Specific Total 2 3 2 Total 5 7 13 40 43 120

Semantic Analysis Illustrations

2% 3% 6% 3

2,5 18%

2

Frequency 1,5 Total

1 52% 0,5 19% 0 B1 B2 B3 Semantic Categories Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Specific Male Non Specific

Avventure tra le righe 5 Linguistic Categories 5.6a, Semantic categories 5.6b, Generic terms 5.6c and llustrations 5.6d Avventure tra le righe 5

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.6e Table 5.6f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 5 26 119 Total 26 81

Themes People

3% 17% 24%

80% 76%

Female Male Non Specific Female Male

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.6g Table 5.6h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 22 77 6 Total 0 1

Authors Authorities

6% 21% 0%

73% 100% Female Male Unknown Female Male

Avventure tra le righe 5 Themes 5.6e, People 5.6f, Authors 5.6g and Authorities 5.6h Avventure tra le righe 5

AVVENTURE TRA LE RIGHE 5 GRAMMAR EXERCISES Table 5.6i Grammar Exercises Female Sexist Female Non SpecificMale Sexist Male Non SpecificCombined Sexist Combined Non Specific Neutral Total 2 6 6 22 0 16 162

1% Grammar Exercises 3% 3% 10% 0% 7%

76%

Female Sexist Female Non Specific Male Sexist Male Non Specific Combined Sexist Combined Non Specific Neutral

Avventure tra le righe 5 Grammar exercises 5.6i Percorsi di vita Subject Area: Religious education Author: Colombo, T. Publisher: Giunti Marzocco.1997 Total number of pages: 32

The textbook under analysis here is one of the early introductions to religion in the Italian school system. Religious studies are no longer compulsory in all schools though they do tend to be taught in many denominational and non-denominational education settings. This first example, used in the early years of schooling is fairly brief: only 32 pages and not overtly sexist. There is a predominate use of uomo/uomini(A1a) to indicate humanity as a whole and the unmarked masculine(A1b) is used 71% of the time:

Bianchi, neri o gialli, gli uomini sono tutti figli di Dio e devono amarsi come fratelli. (ed Colombo 1997, p. 12)

The use of masculine collective nouns to indicated mixed sex groups features in this textbook as the concepts of brotherhood and sons of God prevail. Males precede females in pairs(A1d). There is little to no frequency of the other linguistic and semantic criteria (Tables 5.7a & 5.7b). Women do not feature greatly in the contextual areas either. They make up only 9% of the illustrations (Table 5.7d), 8% of the authors (Table 5.7g) and 7% of the people named in the textbook (Table 5.7f). Female themes are completely absent with male centred themes claiming 62% and non specific themes claiming 38% (Table 5.7e). There is little stereotypical representation or sexist terminology because there is an overall lack of female presence in this textbook. The perennial absence of women from religious documentation is maintained in this early introduction to religion.

172 Percorsi di vita

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.7a Table 5.7c Linguistic Categories A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic masculineNon gender specific Total 21 10 910000000 97 Total 21 97 20

Grammatical Analysis Generic Terms

14% 15% 25 20 15 Frequency 10 Total 5 71% 0 A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 Linguistic categories Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.7b Table 5.7d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non SpecificCombined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Total 0 0 1 Total 0 4 2 4 21 13

Semantic Analysis Illustrations 0% 9% 5% 30% 1 9% 0,8 0,6 Frequency 0,4 Total 0,2 47% 0 B1 B2 B3

Semantic Categories Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific

Percorsi di vita Linguistic categories 5.7a, Semantic categories 5.7b, Generic terms 5.7c and Illustrations 5.7d Imparo a studiare 3,4 & 5 Subject Area: Social studies / Science / Mathematics Authors: Balicco, I & Craca, L. Publisher: Giunti Marzocco. 1997 No. of Pages: 224, 288 & 320

This is the last series of textbooks analysed for la scuola elementare. These three texts apply to the last three years of schooling before students move up into secondary schooling at la scuola media. They cover the areas of geography, mathematics, science and social sciences.

The three texts become progressively more complex and build upon the work done previously. In terms of the linguistic and semantic representation of women there is certainly some indication that a predominately masculine bias exists in these textbooks (Tables 5.8a/b/c, 5.9a/b/c & 5.10a/b/c). There is a high usage of the unmarked masculine form (A1b) with 72%, 57% and 61% respectively: combined with a fairly high use of uomo/uomini(A1a) to represent both sexes: 18%, 15% and 9%:

La preistoria L’evoluzione dell’uomo Come tutti gli animali che vivono sulla Terra, l’uomo si e’ evoluto da altri animali vissuti in epoche precendenti. (Balicco & Craca 1997a, p. 174)

When these two forms of linguistic representation are added together it leaves little space left for the use of genuinely non-gender specific terms. It is also interesting to note that for all three textbooks there is a relatively high frequency of the absorption of female subjects into the masculine plural (A1g). One example actually goes a long way toward hiding the role [and validity] of female industry and invention through the immediate use of what could be the unmarked generic ‘gli uomini’. The intended usage, however, is not clear given the switching between marked and unmarked male plurals:

La preistoria ‘Quasi certamente furono le donne a scoprire che le piante potevano essere coltivate: dedicandosi alla raccolta dei frutti selvatici e delle erbe commestibili, esse si accorsero che da certi semi, messi sotto terra, nascevano nuove pianticelle.

173 Cominciarono così a coltivare alcuni cereali selvatici come l’orzo, il grano, il miglio. La scoperta dell’agricoltura portò con sé enormi cambiamenti perché gli uomini iniziarono a modificare l’ambiente. (Balicco & Craca 1997a, p. 182)

There were some examples of semantic asymmetry also with phrases such as:

Molti coloni si stabilivano in quelle terre con le loro famiglie. (Balicco & Craca 1997c, p. 278)

In this sentence the masculine generic is marked, indicating male colonists and their families. Their wives are not denoted as female colonists who would have, indubitably, faced similar hardships and challenges and needed strength, fortitude and courage to survive. Women’s inclusion as part of the appendage ‘family’ is not an example of symmetric gender representation. It is worth noting that the absorption of females into the unmarked generic masculine was not always the case as this example of an old text if the historical section of Imparo a studiare 3 shows:

‘un giuramento che un vescovo francese impose ai cavalieri …..Non assalirò il contadino ne’ la contadina; non prenderò il loro denaro; non li rovinerò rubando il loro bestiame. (Balicco & Craca 1997a, p. 253)

The contextual representation of females and males is not very balanced. At times the illustrations served to contradict the alleged neutrality of the text. For example in Imparo a studiare 3, on most occasions, a male figure is used to show prehistoric people, either as hunters or in the traditional evolutionary gradations (Balicco & Craca 1997a, p. 174-5). The repeated images of prehistoric males causes some confusion. Is the text talking about the evolution of men or humanity. It would suggest, by the constant male referent in the illustrations, that it is in fact describing the presence of early man and not early humans. This renders the discovery of agriculture and cloth making by women, as activities that were soon taken over by the male members. (see quote above).

Illustrations (Tables 5.8d, 5.9d & 5.10d) portraying a male dominated world are also apparent in the later textbooks. Imparo a studiare 4 shows predominately masculine representations of the different social levels during the medievo (Balicco & Craca 1997b, p. 266) and Imparo a studiare 5 having nine masculine representations of race

174 around the globe to only three female (Balicco & Craca 1997c, p. 171). Imparo a studiare 3 certainly contributes to the stereotypical portrayal of sex roles with at least three pictures of girls in the kitchen (Balicco & Craca 1997a, p. 84,88 & 90). Yet another example of traditional family stereotypes with the illustration of a family approaching a tropical island. It appears they’re on a work junket thanks to the father/husband’s company - he’s thinking of work, his wife pictures herself lazing under a palm tree writing letters, the son of building a sandcastle and the daughter of snorkeling along admiring the beauty of the reef (Balicco & Craca 1997a, p. 119). There are also a number of examples of men in active roles and women in passive ones. One of the more commonly repeated illustrative themes is of the male shopkeeper and the female customer. (Balicco & Craca 1997b, p. 51, 153 & 264)

Illustrations are also used in a discriminatory fashion when combined with text. In Imparo a studiare 4 there is an article about maintaining a healthy weight through a good diet. The referent in the article is the alleged unmarked masculine:

Un bambino della tua età ha bisogno di circa 2,000 calorie al giorno per crescere bene. (Balicco & Craca 1997b, p. 127)

The accompanying illustrations, however, are of fat and skinny girls. The preoccupation with weight that plagues young girls and the terrible diseases associated are obviously being deliberately used to emphasis that this is really a concern of young girls not young boys. The parallels with a society that dictates certain physicality can not be ignored. The use of girls and boys to highlight text in a disparate manner is also evident in this example from Imparo a studiare 5. The boys are shown in productive and intelligent tasks while the girls are shown undertaking wasteful and damaging activities. One boy is sleeping because: dormi 9- 10 ore per notte: durante il sonno il sistema nervoso si riposa. The other is reading: esercita di continuo la memoria e cerca di imparare sempre nuove cose: il cervello mantenuto in esercizio funziona meglio. The boys, therefore, will be calm and intelligent. Girls on the other hand are doing the exact opposite by watching too much television: non affaticare gli occhi per troppe ore davanti alla televisione o al computer non esporli a luci troppo intense and playing video games: Non esagerare con

175 i videogiochi! Girls obviously can’t control themselves and are unable to make intelligent decisions about their activities.

Overall male illustrations dominate in all three textbooks. In Imparo a studiare 3 (Table 5.8d) there is a total of 58% of male only illustrations, 27% of male and female together and only 15% show girls. As we can see a number of those portrayed both sexes in stereotypical activities. In numbers 4 and 5, males domination of the illustrations increases to 69% and 67% respectively while females enjoy only 9% and 12% (Tables 5.9d & 5.10d).

The type of examples and exercises offered in the areas of math and science is also useful in the analysis of this series. It is usually difficult to ascertain whether forms of sexism and discrimination are present n these subject areas, given the reliance on numbers and theories. In these younger levels, however, it is possible to reinforce sex stereotypes as descriptive comments are often used to introduce formulas. For example in Imparo a studiare 4 the following sets of examples appear:

un fruttivendolo sta trasportando con il suo furgone 38 cassette di frutta per un totale di 501,60kg. Quanto pesa mediamente ogni cassetta?

Clara vuole ricavare 12 nastri da un rotolo di raso lungo 7,2 m. Quanto sarà lungo ogni nastro? (Balicco & Craca 1997b, p. 46)

And later in the section:

Paola ha registrato con questo istogramma le caramelle mangiate in una settimana. Calcola la media.

Gianni ha lanciato 10 freccette nel tiro a segno con questi risultati: Stabilisci la moda e la media rispetto ai punti realizzati. (Balicco & Craca 1997b, p. 79)

In both cases the girls are portrayed with either ribbons or sweets while the male characters are either driving a truck or shooting arrows.

In general women are greatly under represented in the area of People named within the books (Tables 5.8f, 5.9f & 5.10f). In Imparo a studiare 3 they make up only 25%

176 with male personages taking 75%, in both Imparo a studiare 4 & 5 they reach only 2% to the male 98%. As authors they begin at 14% in the first textbook, 26% in the second and 39% in the third (Tables 5/8g, 5.9g & 5.10g). It is intriguing that even with an increase in female authors there is no corresponding increase in female centred content, or at least a more balanced representation. In all three textbooks females do not rate at all in the section regarding authorities or in relation to themes. For the most part the themes are either technically neutral or male. It is worth considering, however, that if there is an overwhelming predominance of males in all contextual areas the seemingly neutral themes of the books actually depict a world where females are either absent or marginal.

177 Imparo a studiare 3

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.8a Table 5.8c Lingusitic Categories A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific Total 103 0 1 14 1101100 417 Total 103 417 59

Generic Terms Grammatical Analysis 18% 10% 120 100 80 Frequency 60 40 Total 20 0 72% A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 Linguistc Categories Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.8b 5.8d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Total 1 0 2 Total 3 13 17 30 46 106

Semantic Analysis Illustrations 1% 6% 8%

2 14% 50% 1,5

Frequency 1 Total 0,5 21% 0 B1 B2 B3 Semantic Categories Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific

Imparo a studiare 3 Linguistic categories 5.8a, Smeantic categories 5.8b, Generic terms 5.8c and Illustrations 5.8d Imparo a studiare 3

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.8e Table 5.8f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 0 1 4 Total 69 211

Themes People

0% 20% 25%

80% 75%

Female Male Non Specific Female Male

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.8g Table 5.8h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 6 1 0 Total 0 3

Authors Authorities

14% 0% 0%

86% 100%

Female Male Unknown Female Male

Imparo a studiare 3 Theme 5.8e, People 5.8f, Authors 5.8g and Authorities 5.8h Imparo a studiare 4

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.9a Table 5.9c Lingusitic Categories A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific Total 69 0380000000 265 Total 69 265 131

Grammatical Analysis Generic Terms 15% 28% 70 60 50 40 Frequency 30 Total 20 10 0 A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 57% Linguistic Categories Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.9b Table 5.9d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Total 0 0 0 Total 2 3 61 18 56 116

Illustrations 1% 1% 24%

45%

7%

22%

Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific

Imparo a studiare 4 Linguistic categories 5.9a, Semantic categories 5.9b, Generic terms 5.9c and Illustrations 5.9d Imparo a studiare 4

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.9e Table 5.9f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 0 2 3 Total 2 90

Themes People

0% 2% 40% 60% 98% Female Male Non Specific Female Male

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.9g Table 5.9h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 6 17 0 Total 0 4

Authors Authorities

0% 26% 0%

74% 100%

Female Male Unknown Female Male

Imparo a studiare 4 Themes 5.9e, People 5.9f, Authors 5.9g and Authorities 5.9h Imparo a studiare 5

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.10a Table 5.10c Linguistic Categories A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific Total 55 0 0 12 1000100 393 Total 55 393 196

Generic Terms Grammatical Analysis 9% 30% 60 50 40 Frequency 30 20 Total 61% 10 0 A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 Linguistic Categories Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.10b Table 5.10d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Total 1 1 1 Total 4 7 53 30 53 138

Semantic Analysis Illustrations 1% 2% 19%

1 0,8 48% 0,6 Frequency 0,4 Total 0,2 11% 0 19% B1 B2 B3 Semantic Categories Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific

Imparo a studiare 5 Linguistic categories 5.10a. Semantic categories 5.10b, Generic terms 5.10c and Illustrations 5.10d Imparo a studiare 5

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.10e Table 5.10f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 0 1 5 Total 2 104

Themes People

0% 17% 2%

83% 98%

Female Male Non Specific Female Male

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.10g Table 5.10h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 7 11 0 Total 0 7

Authors Authorities

0% 0% 39%

61% 100%

Female Male Unknown Female Male

Imparo a studiare 5 Themes 5.10e, People 5.10f, Authors 5.10g and Authorities 5.10h 5.2 Scuola Media Inferiore 5.2a Introduction

The textbooks listed here follow the same analytical format used for the textbooks of la scuola elementare. Each book will be discussed either as part of its series or individually if it stands alone. The analysis will follow the same format as that for the previous section: linguistic and semantic followed by contextual. A list of the textbooks can be found in Chapter 4 Le forme e i metodi – 4.1 Analysis Criteria School Textbooks p. 144.

178 5.2b Analysis and Data

Questa grande umanità Subject Area: Civics Author: Vergnano, I. Publisher: Paravia. 1992 Total number of pages: 320

The first textbook under analysis from the selection for la scuola media inferiore: the early years of secondary schooling, is on the topic of civics. It is a comprehensive volume which covers themes from growing up to the unification of Europe. Its aim is to introduce students into the ways in which their society functions and their place and the place of their society in the greater context.

The linguistic and semantic analysis indicate that the text portrays a very linguistically androcentric world (Tables 5.11a, b & c). There are 1656 uses of the generic masculine(A1b) compared to only 493 uses of terms that are truly non- gender specific. The textbook rarely uses uomo/uomini(A1a) in place of humanity: this referent accounts for only 1% of the overall generic referents used. Interesting in this particular area of linguistic examination, is the inclusion of examples that call in to question to genuine nature of the generic masculine:

I cittadini maschi. (Vergnano 1992, p. 152)

Art. 40. Tutti i cittadini, uomini e donne. (Vergnano 1992, p. 174)

Art 51. Tutti i cittadini dell’uno o dell’altro sesso. (Vergnano 1992, p. 179)

If the masculine plural is truly gender inclusive the addition of maschi was necessary to specify the context’s marked nature. Why then is there the need to provide gender inclusive indications after the use if Tutti i cittadini in the two following contexts? The only response can be that in fact the so-called generic masculine is not usually interpreted that way, thus, in official documents an inclusive use needs to be more overtly stated. This is not surprising given the marked use of i cittadini

179 or il cittadino that often appears in constitutional documents70. Semantic asymmetry was also present.

The textbook almost exclusively places the masculine before the feminine in pairs (A1d) and frequently absorbs the feminine into the masculine referent (A1e). It also contains a number of asymmetric representation in terms of titles and gender representation in sentences. (A2). When a form is presented for students to complete there is a use of gender inclusive language such as that present in the two examples that follow, this usage is, however, largely inconsistent:

Autoritratto Io mi chiamo Sono nato/a. (Vergnano 1992, p. 4)

Mamma, papà, figlio/a, nonna/o, altri. (Vergnano 1992, p. 21)

The contextual examination did nothing to improve the overall appearance of the textbook as representative of an androcentric society. Illustrations of males far exceed those of females: 47% compared to 14% (Table 5.11d). The index of stereotypical representation is small but still evident. Themes are generally non- specific, dealing with greater social issues such as health, work, democracy and similar (Table 5.11e). The fact that all themes are dominated by male figures either as illustrations or actual personages (males 71% to females 29% - Table 5.11f) signifies that women are largely absent from consideration even though the context doesn’t necessarily exclude them.

It is perhaps not surprising that males dominate the contextual areas of author and authorities: 82% and 94%, given the biased selection of illustrations and personages present in the textbook (Tables 5.11g & h). The book does contain one specific theme that discussed women under the heading of equality or inequality but it does little to redress the imbalance and in many ways simply pushes women’s issues into a marginalised ‘special’ pigeonhole.

70 see the example of Article 52 in the analysis for Il nostro tempo. Il novecento.

180 Questa grande umanita'

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.11a Table 5.11c Linguistic Categories A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific Total 13 6 84 57 3011330 1656 Total 13 1656 493

Grammatical Analysis Generic Terms 1% 23%

100 80 60 Frequency 40 Total 20

0 76% A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 Linguistic Categories Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.11b Table 5.11d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non SpecificCombined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Total 0 4 7 Total 4 12 11 25 71 94

Semantic Analysis Illustrations 2% 6% 5%

12% 7 42% 6 5 4 Frequency 3 Total 2 1 33% 0 B1 B2 B3 Semantic Categories Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific

Questa grande umanita' Linguistic categories 5.11a, Semantc categores 5.11b, Generic terms 5.11c and Illustrations 5.11d Questa grande umanita'

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.11e Table 5.11f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 1 1 24 Total 46 112

Themes People 4% 4% 29%

92% 71%

Female Male Non Specific Female Male

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.11g Table 5.11h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 9 41 0 Total 2 29

Authors Authorities

0% 18% 6%

82% 94% Female Male Unknown Female Male

Questa grande umanita' Themes 5.11e, People 5.11f, Authors 5.11g and Authorities 5.11h 0044 A direct call to English Subject Area: English as a foreign language Authors: Madden, J. & Parvesi, L. Publisher: De Agostini. 1995 Number of pages: 403

This book is used in la scuola media to introduce and consolidate students understanding of the English language. The textbook contains 24 units designed to build on students rudimentary knowledge. It is designed for a classroom environment as the types of tasks would be difficult without expert guidance. The text is mainly in English with diminishing explanations and prompts in Italian as students move through the text. Each unit is made up of four or five exercises relating to an overall theme: for example Unit Four centres around the home with exercise one titled ‘The new house’, exercise two, ‘Meeting the neighbours’, exercise three, ‘Unpacking’ and exercise four ‘The British at home’. The fifth lesson revises the unit’s contents and is followed by grammar exercises and notes. It is a fairly comprehensive course and would probably be used over more than one year.

The amount of Italian under analysis is quite low, given the large English content. The English has not been analysed as the criteria used to determine sexist features in English are different to those used for Italian. There are very low incidences of masculine nouns preceding the feminine (A1d) and the absorption of the feminine into the masculine (A1e). For the most part, when the plural is required, the generic masculine (A1b) is used (25 times)(Table 5.12a).

This textbook contains the example of the asymmetry regarding the use of titles (A3) used in Chapter 4 regarding ‘Mrs. (sic) Thatcher and President Mitterand’ (ref Chapter 4, p. 152 A3 – 2nd example). The use of Prime Minister Thatcher would be correct and more accurately depict her role in the proceedings. Using Mrs. Thatcher not only belittles her, but also reduces her the status of somebody’s wife. There are quite a few example of semantic asymmetry (Table 5.12b) particularly in with the identification of women through their relationship to a man:

181 La moglie del signor Liddon. (Madden & Parvesi 1995, p. 62)

The use of the generic masculine outweighed the use of non-gender specific terms (Table 5.12c) 64% to 36%. There is no use of the terms uomo/uomini.

The use of illustrations is particularly important in a subject area such as this. As with the early years of literacy, illustrations serve to reinforce and clarify the information given in the foreign language text. Illustrations (Table 5.12d) provide cultural information about stereotypes and behaviour, along with this information, it also assists, or otherwise, the accessibility of the text as it enables the reader to identify with the activities being displayed by the illustration. Given this interpretative role, the disparity of the illustration totals are significant as the use of males in illustrations is more than double the total of illustrations in which females appear: 214:90. There are also a number of sexist illustrations, which further reinforces the disparity of representation. In the following two examples girls and boys are depicted together. In the first one the males are: a winner of a race, a postman and a patient with a broken leg. The females are: a mother with a baby and a girl with a cake (Madden & Parvesi 1995, p. 31). In the second example there are four boys and one girl. The boys are, respectively, horse riding, listening to music and sharing a snack. The girl is blow-drying her hair (Madden & Parvesi 1995, p. 366). Aside from the imbalance in numbers there is also a somewhat stereotypical portrayal of the activities of each gender.

Themes (Table 5.12e), for the most part, are neutral, with only four referring specifically to male dominated activities (usually sport). The text is populated by 94 males, compared to 61 females (Table 5.12f). This result, combined with the results for Illustrations, does tend to make even the neutral themes seem overly peopled by males. The balance of Authors is only lightly in favour of the males, 5:4 (Table 5.12g) which is similar to the results for Authorities 2:1 (Table 5.12h).

The textbook has also been analysed for its grammar exercises content (Table 5.12i). The majority of the exercises are neutral: 49%, 24% are combined, 18% have

182 male subjects, while only 9% have female subjects. This discrepancy reinforces a view where males are the predominate participants in society.

The lack of linguistic analysis due to language content enables this book to initially seem fairly balanced in its presentation. A closer contextual analysis, however, reveals that there are some areas, in particular Illustrations and Grammar exercises, where the representations of the masculine serve to dominate the feminine. This leads to the perception on the part of the student, that the world is still biased towards the activities and interests of males rather than females.

183 0044 A direct call to English

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.12a Table 5.12c Linguistic Categories A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic Masculine Non gender specific Total 00310000001 25 Total 0 25 14

Grammatical Analysis Generic Terms

3 0%

2,5 36% 2

Frequency 1,5 Total 1

0,5 64% 0 A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 Linguistic categories Uomo/Uomini Generic Masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.12b Table 5.12d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Specific Male Non Specific Total 0 1 6 Total 10 9 8 80 65 206

Semantic Analysis Illustrations

2% 3% 6 2%

5 21% 4

Frequency 3 Total 2 55% 1

0 17% B1 B2 B3 Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Semantic Categories Female Non Specific Combined Non Specific Male Non Specific

0044 A direct call to English Linguistic categories 5.12a, Semantic categories 5.12b, Generic terms 5.12c and Illustrations 5.12d 0044 A direct call to English

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.12e Table 5.12f Themes Female Male Neutral People Female Male Total 0 4 20 Total 61 94

Themes People 0% 17% 39%

61% 83% Female Male Neutral Female Male

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.12g Table 5.12h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 4 5 0 Total 1 2

Authors Authorities

0% 33% 44% 56% 67%

Female Male Unknown Female Male

0044 A direct call to English Themes 5.12e, People 5.12f, Authors 5.12g and Illustrations 5.12 h 0044 A direct call to English

GRAMMAR EXERCISES Table 5.12i Grammar Exercises Female Sexist Female Non Specific Male Sexist Male Non Specific Combined Sexist Combined Non Specific Neutral Total 10 39 7 93 14 115 271

2% Grammar Exercises 7% 1%

17% 49%

3%

21%

Female Sexist Female Non Specific Male Sexist Male Non Specific Combined Sexist Combined Non Specific Neutral

0044 A direct call to English Grammar Exercises 5.12i Chronos 1, 2 & 3 Subject Area: History Author: Aziani, P & Mazzi, M. Publisher: Principato 1996 Total number of pages: 383, 384 & 384

The next selection of books under analysis is a series of three history texts. These three texts provide a progressive introduction to the history of the world, starting with prehistoric civilisations and finishing in the modern times of the Italian Republic. The first book, Chronos 1, has a high frequency of the use of uomo/uomini (A1a), which can be attributed to the prehistoric content (Table 5.13a). In most cases these terms are accompanied by illustration of boys and/men. As the historical narrative approaches modern times, this usage diminishes with totals of 48 and 26 (Tables 5.14a & 5.15a). All three textbooks have fairly equal frequencies of usage for non-gender specific terms: 16%, 21% and 24% and consequently high usage of the generic masculine (A1b): 75%, 76% and 74% (Tables 5.13c, 5.14c & 5.16c). The use of the masculine in marked and unmarked forms causes confusing situations. At times the reader cannot be sure whether the masculine is being used in an unmarked form or not. The first example is from Chronos 1 and concerns a piece on Athens:

Poiché tutti i cittadini potevano participare alle assemblee, votare ed essere eletti alle diverse cariche pubbliche, e ogni scelta per essere approvata doveva ottenere la maggioranza dei voti. (Aziani & Mazzi 1996a, p. 182)

There is no indication in the section on ancient Athens that, in fact, citizens were only free adult Athenian males. The lack of notation casts doubts on the validity of the ‘unmarked’ generic masculine. Terms such as i popoli and i Romani, (Aziani, P & Mazzi 1996a, p. 221) are not interchangeable, and the marked masculine in the following quote is also misleading as at no time is an explanation given that, in fact, only males were likely to enjoy this privilege:

Gli abitanti delle città più fedeli ottengono la cittadinanza romana, con il diritto di votare nelle assemblee, di servire nell’esercito e quindi di spartirsi i bottini; a un gradino appena inferiore vengono gli abitanti dei municipi (dal latino munus capere, ‘assumersi degli obblighì), le città che hanno diversi privilegi e diritti in cambio del dovere di versare tributi; altre città possono essere federate con Roma,

184 cioè alleate, formalmente indipendenti anche se di fatto subordinate alle decisioni dell’alleato più forte. (Aziani & Mazzi 1996a, p. 221)

One assumes that gli abitanti, that are also able to vote in the assembly and join the army, are not women. Another contributing factor to the overall lack of clarity as to the gender of the referent is the use of person to mean only men.

Traiano è il primo degli imperatori adottivi, così chiamati perché per evitare guerre e garantire il governo di uomini capaci ognuno di loro sceglie il proprio successore adottando la persona che sembra più adatta al difficile incarico.

There is no historical occurrence where that person was a woman!

ma di centinaia e centinaia di persone e delle loro famiglie. (Aziani & Mazzi 1996b, p. 353)

The female referent is often mentioned separately to the male, indicating again that the marked or unmarked status of the masculine is unclear and at times inconsistent:

Uomini e donne, bianchi e neri, credenti e non credenti, conservatori o progressisti, sani o malati, tutte e tutti coloro che hanno la cittadinanza italiani hanno uguali diritti davanti alla legge e, raggiunti i diciotto anni, hanno il diritto di voto secondo il principio del suffragio universale. (Aziani & Mazzi 1996a, p. 183)

And this earlier example, which excludes females from the categories of children and elderly and, in terms of the tone of the discourse (see Table 5.13b B2), is somewhat patronising.

Nell’Europa centrale, ricca di selvaggina, i gruppi umani vivono di caccia; invece nelle foreste e nelle stepe delle regioni meridionali la sopravvivenza è garantita dalle attività della pesca e della raccolta, che quasi certamente sono compito delle donne, dei bambini, degli anziani. La raccolta non è un’attività semplice come può sembrare a prima vista: richiede un’accurata osservazione dell’ambiente e un vasto patrimonio di conoscenze. (Aziani & Mazzi 1996a, p. 32)

This inconsistent use is also enshrined in the Italian constitution as these two examples included in Chronos 1 clearly show:

Art. 36. Il lavoratore ha diritto ad una retribuzione proporzionata alla quantità e qualità del suo lavoro e in ogni caso sufficiente ad assicurare a sé e alla sua famiglia [….]

185 Art.37 La donna lavoratrice ha gli stessi diritti e, a parità di lavoro, le stesse retribuzione che spettano al lavoratore [….](Aziani & Mazzi 1996a, p. 113)

For the most part the masculine referent of il lavoratore is meant to signify both women and men. One would assume that in Article 36 il lavoratore is ‘gender inclusive’ yet, in the very next article, women are not only unnecessarily doubly named – donna lavoratrice – they are quite clearly compared to il lavoratore. This may lead readers to infer that il lavoratore is marked and furthermore that all masculine referents are marked unless otherwise stated.

There are numerous other examples of linguistic asymmetry in these three textbooks with almost all of them obtaining a high frequency of the precedence of males in pairs (A1d):

gridano ora dal carro giovani e ragazze mascherati da satiri e ninfe, e poi tutti insieme, si mettono a cantare: [.](Aziani & Mazzi 1996a, p. 148) and the absorption of the female into the masculine referent (A1e) and, as mentioned above, the separate listing of the feminine referent (A1f). There are also a number of asymmetric semantic representations (Tables 5.13b, 5.14b & 5.15b) where the tone is patronising (see above) or overtly discriminatory:

Mentre alla moglie austriaca di Napoleone si assegna un piccolo dominio, il Ducato di Parma e Piacenza. (Aziani & Mazzi 1996a, p. 356)

Just a wife; to this backhanded compliment to Margherita la tessitrice who is only better than the four girls who do the lowest jobs: hardly an expert when compared to the men.

Margherita da Ferrara la tessitrice – Margherita è la lavorante più esperta del piccolo laboratorio, sopra di lei ci sono solo Andrea, il padrone, e Ferruccio, mentre altre quattro ragazze, tra i dodici e i diciotto anni, devono svolgere i compiti più faticosi e ingrati. (Aziani & Mazzi 1996a, p. 162)

The contextual results do not redress the imbalance in gender representation apparent in the linguistic and semantic areas. Illustrations reflect an androcentric history with women making up only 12%, 12% and 10% of the books (Tables

186 5.13d, 5.14d & 5.15d). Usually approximately half of those illustrations portray women in stereotypical activities.

Themes in the first two textbooks of the series are male dominated (Table 5.13e & 5.15e). In the second volume, the almost exclusive presentation of military and religious is reflected in the large quantity of male personages, 92% of the total, (Table 5.14e). While there are some attempts to maintain a sense of justice regarding the actual import and impact of such events on historical directions, at times the absolute focus on specific activities and personages was quite discriminatory towards women. Particularly when viewed alongside more balance or, at least, less marked portrayals. The obvious flaw is a distinct lack of women’s activities while the men are away fighting wars or their involvement in religions whether as lay participants, active members or martyrs. The only mention of women in a war context comes in Chronos 1, and even then they are listed after the slaves and with the children:

Si muovono in bande composte da arimanni, uomini liberi che si dedicano al combattimento, e da aldii, semiliberi che lavorano i campi e fabbricano oggetti; completano il gruppo servi, donne e bambini. (Aziani & Mazzi 1996a, p. 341)

None of the books include a specifically female theme. Chronos 3, which enters the modern era, maintains more of a balance between neutral and male themes, although its selection of personages is high skewed in favour of males: 92% (5.15e). The general layout of the series begins most sections with a brief introductory story, i.e. – Augusto è vissuto a lungo […](Aziani & Mazzi 1996a, p. 278) In the majority of cases these stories are dominated by male protagonists (Tables 5.13f, 5.14f & 5.15f).

Female authors rarely rate. There is one in the first book (Tables 5.13g) none in the second (Table 5.14g) and only 11, a total of 13% (Table 5.15g), in the last textbook. They fare worse as authorities: there is not one female authority in the entire series (Tables 5.13h, 5.14h & 5.16h). While it may be argued that for the most part men and male activities have dominated the accessible records of history

187 it is impossible to argue that it has only been men who have written, authoritatively or otherwise, about it.

From the history found in all the books one would think that, apart from Elizabeth the First, there were few women employed in gainful activity (from peasants to the nobility), yet in 1300, there were schools in Florence that educated girls and boys. For the most part, the women are either concubines (Diana di Poitiers) saints (Santa Caterina) or sadists (Caterina dé Medici). The aristocracy is presented with no reference to the women who were titular heads of family, active merchants, proprietors and so on. The middle class seemed to contain no women at all. Kings and Princes populated the kingdoms of Europe (although the wife of Louis XIV was partial to a hot chocolate), and women were never represented as promoting exploration, the arts and science. After a brief reference to Elizabeth the First, one of the two photos represent her at a dance, as we have already seen in Chapter 4, ‘con il suo favorito, lord Robert Dudley’. Followed by the comment that unmarried women i.e. Elizabeth, wore different collars to married women: i colletti di pizzo indossati dalle donne sono di due modelli diversi: chiusi per quelle sposate, aperte per quelle non sposate. (Aziani & Mazzi 1996a, p. 226) Is this a vital piece of historical information? No male ruler is represented doing either something frivolous – like dancing – they are usually on horseback conquering countries, nor are they noted for their dress.

Even though, in a time where the gender disparity was sanctioned by God and the State, many women played significant roles either for their countries (i.e. Elizabeth the First of England, Queen Isabella of Spain) or for their community. Women fought, died and were murdered during this period, they were persecuted as witches, mentioned only briefly; yet the reading of this history book leads one to assume that they were still locked up in the house as in Roman times.

At the same time, the books also include sections that reveal women in active roles and, in fact, one case, in Chronos 3, discusses the inequitable state of women’s rights; yet has spent the whole book ignoring them. Chronos 2 is no less guilty as it

188 contains more than one piece similar to this, yet does nothing to make women more visible in the historical text:

Il lavoro nelle città richiede una qualificazione: [….] Nelle grandi città nascono così le prime scuole pubbliche, finanziate di solito dalle corporazioni, ma spesso anche dal comune [……] Una cronaca fiorentina del 1300 precisa che si tratta sia di maschi che di femmine, e questo dato ci fa capire l’importanza delle donne nella vita produttiva della città. (Aziani & Mazzi 1996b, p. 84)

These contrary messages do much to render the so-called masculine generic marked. The addition of women to the contents in this marginalised and perfunctory manner simply emphasises their disenfranchisement from socio- historical accounts.

189 Chronos 1

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.13a Table 5.13c Linguistic Categories A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific Total 164 7 41 11 12 000120 1406 Total 164 1406 305

Grammatical Analysis Generic Terms

9% 180 16% 160 140 120 100 Frequency 80 Total 60 40 20 0 A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 75% Linguistic Categories Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.13b Table 5.13d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Total 1 3 19 Total 10 9 70 14 36 58

Semantic Analysis Illustrations

5%

5%

29% 20 18 16 14 12 Frequency 10 8 Total 6 4 36% 2

0 18% B1 B2 B3 7% Semantic Categories Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific

Chronos 1 Linguistic categories 5.13a, Semantic categories 5.13b, Generic terms 5.13c and Illustrations 5.13d Chronos 1

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.13e Table 5.13f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 0 6 1 Total 22 149

Themes People

14% 0% 13%

86% 87%

Female Male Non Specific Female Male

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.13g Table 5.13h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 1 4 Total 0 14

Authors Authorities

0% 20% 0%

80% 100%

Female Male Unknown Female Male

Chronos 1 Themes 5.13e, People 5.13f, Authors 5.13g and Authorities 5.13h Chronos 2

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.14a Table 5.14c Linguistic Categories A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific Total 48 5 40 28 7700000 1255 Total 48 1255 343

Grammatical Analysis Generic Terms 3% 21% 50 45 40 35 30 Frequency 25 20 Total 15 10 5 0 76% A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 Linguistic Categories Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.14b Table 5.14d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non SpecificCombined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Total 3 7 29 Total 4 14 52 22 48 90

Semantic Analysis Illustrations

2% 6%

30 38% 23% 25

20

Frequency 15 Total 10

5

0 10% B1 B2 B3 21%

Semantic Categories Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific

Chronos 2 Linguistic categories 5.14a, Semantic categories 5.14b, Generic terms 5.14c and Illustrations 5.14d Chronos 2

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.14e Table 5.14f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 0 5 1 Total 26 285

Themes People

17% 0% 8%

83% 92%

Female Male Non Specific Female Male

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.14g Table 5.14h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 0 14 Total 0 28

Authors Authorities

0% 0% 0%

100% 100%

Female Male Unknown Female Male

Chronos 2 Themes 5.14e, People 5.14f, Authors 5.14g and Auhtorities 5.14h Chronos 3

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.15a Table 5.15c Linguistic Categories A1a c d efg A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic masculineNon gender specific Total 26 2 21 37 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 855 Total 26 855 273

Grammatical Analysis Generic Terms 2% 40 24% 35 30 25 Frequency 20 15 Total 10 5 0 74% A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 Linguistic Categories Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.15b Table 5.15d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non SpecificCombined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Total 0 0 0 Total 7 15 78 17 64 61

Illustrations

3% 6% 25%

33%

26%

7% Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific

Chronos 3 Linguistic categories 5.15a, Semantic categories 5.15b, Generic terms 5.15c and Illustrations 5.15d Chronos 3

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.15e Table 5.15f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 0 2 4 Total 24 296

Themes People

0% 8% 33%

67% 92%

Female Male Non Specific Female Male

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.15g Table 5.15h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 11 77 Total 0 5

Authors Authorities 0% 0% 13%

87% 100%

Female Male Unknown Female Male

Chronos 3 Themes 5.15e, People 5.15f, Authors 5.15g and Authorities 5.15h I territori dell’uomo 1,2 & 3 Subject Area: Human geography Author: Bersezio, L. Publisher: DeAgostini. 1996 Total number of pages: 401, 408 & 401

The next series of textbooks cover the area of human geography. These three books are used progressively over the first three years of la scuola media. The first in the series begins with a general introduction to the study area, then focuses on introducing the students to Italy. The second expands to cover Europe, and the last covers the planet. The headings are either: countries and regions, for example La regione mediterranea; or concern the specific activities of people. Unfortunately, in the latter case, the headings all use the terms uomo/uomini, for example Gli uomini utilizzano il territorio. The title of the series is also exclusive, though perhaps not inaccurately so, given the predominance of male centred activities in the textbooks.

The linguistic results reinforce the exclusive nature of the language used in the textbooks (Tables 5.16a, 5.17a & 5.18a). The use of uomo/uomini (A1a) and the generic masculine(A1b) fluctuate throughout the three books ranging from 67% in the first, 48% in the second and third. As the textbooks progress, the use of uomo/uomini decreases from 16% to 9% and then 7%. The remaining percentage is filled through the use of non-gender specific terms such as population, peoples and persons (Tables 5.16c 5.17c & 5.18c). There is a distinct increase in the frequency of these terms when the series discussed modern times, as well as consumption such as agricultural produce. The use of uomo, however, as the protagonist of history, combined with the tendency to use more inclusive terms when presenting modern information is misleading. One could quite rightly assume that the supposedly inclusive terms of uomo/uomini are biased towards the activities of one sex: the male sex. When more obvious areas, such as the products of agriculture are cited, then the more general and certainly more inclusive terms of popolo, popolazione and persone are used (Bersezio 1996a, p. 123, 125 & 257). This is further reinforced by the thematic bias under the sections entitled Gli uomini utilizzano il territorio where there is a preoccupation with major industry in what are predominately

190 male dominated sectors (Bersezio 1996a, p. 78). This is the case for most of the chapters, the supposedly non-marked uomo/uomini is used in the description of what men, not humans, have done to the land. While it is obvious that male dominated activities have had the greatest effect, although not always a positive one, on the appearance and use of the land, it is not really a balanced portrayal. There is little or no reference to the actions; effects and necessary adaptations, women make. The continual use of the so-called unmarked plural generic masculine, combined with either neutral information regarding geography or androcentric activities, reinforces the absence of women from social, historical and geographical documentation.

There is little to no reference to women, reflected in the low incidence of the other categories (Table 5.16a, 5.17a & 5.18a). On the few occasions women are mentioned in I territori dell’uomo 3 (5.18a) the modifier donna (A2c) was often used. The examples range from the relatively innocuous:

Sopra, una donna algerina di origine berbera. (Bersezio 1996c, p. 180)

The use of donna here being merely superfluous given that the gender of the person is identifiable from the noun una – algerina: to this later example in the same textbook which is not:

Dall’altro lato, tuttavia, presenta segni di liberalismo, tanto che proprio una donna é a capo del governo; un caso unico in tutto il mondo islamico. (Bersezio 1996c, p. 234)

The text is presenting information on the political and social state of Pakistan, which at one time actually had a woman as head of government. Apart from the incredulous tone the woman in question, Benazir Bhutto, is not named in the text.

The feminine are placed in an anterior position (A1d) when in pairs and/or absorbed into the male noun (A1e). They are also often referred to in a dependent relationship to men. This example from I territori dell’uomo 1 regards the activities of immigrants and their families. The marked nature of gli immigranti is apparent

191 in the types of jobs they went to take up in the new countries: miners, labourers and traders:

gli immigranti con le loro famiglie si diressero verso gli Stati Uniti verso l’America Meridionale e anche verso l’Australia, dove andavano a lavorare come minatori, operai, commercianti. (Bersezio 1996a, p. 62)

There is no discussion of what motivated the women – were they just along as wives and mothers? What were their experiences? This type of representation can not be considered symmetric in terms of gender presentation. The semantic asymmetry of gender representation extends beyond women’s identification as a male appendage. The description of ‘mummies’ in the workforce contains not overly subtle criticism of mothers who work and therefore have little time to dedicate to their families. ‘Mummies’ who work are neglectful of their duties, their primary duties to their families:

Oggi molte mamme lavorano in fabbrica o in ufficio e ogni giorno possono dedicare poco tempo alla famiglia e ai figli. (Bersezio 1996a, p. 61)

Illustrations exacerbated the presentation of this topic as a male centred phenomenon. In I territori dell’ uomo 1 women make up a total of 24% of the illustrations and men the remaining 76% (Table 5.16d). There are no combined illustrations. In the second book the percentage proportions are 7% to 68% (Table 5.17d) and in the last 8% to 73% 95.18d). The numeric results display the increasing disparity more accurately: 23:72, 21:185 and 50:305: the number of pages is approximately 400 for each textbook. There are also many stereotypical depictions:

women working in ceramics and cloth while males are fishing (Bersezio 1996a, p. 267), men in settings of mines, car making and fishing again while women weave (Bersezio 1996a, p. 297), and the grammatical inconsistencies of pictures of girls with the corresponding text being in the masculine:

A lato, questi bambini indios[… ] (Bersezio 1996a, p. 311)

The increase in illustrations that feature only males doubles then triples. As a consequence, even though there is an increase in the use of non-gender specific terms as the themes move into the modern time, there is a parallel increase in this

192 male dominated contextual feature which does much to negate a more inclusive text.

The deceptive nature of neutral themes is clear in the results (Tables 5.16e, 5.17e & 5.18e). In I territori dell’uomo 1 none of the themes of the six main chapters, or of the smaller subsections, could be seen as being particularly male or female orientated. However, when discussions are made regarding economic activity or use of a given territory, there is a distinct focus on male dominated activities. It is difficult to perceive or categorise this as being discrimination as the very presence of male activities over the years has had a greater effect on the surrounding lands. Given that this book is less about social situations and more about the physicality of presence, it seems such a bias towards male activities is necessary. A criticism could be that it approaches the Themes from a linear categorical point of view without comments on how such actions influenced and affected the population – i.e. in a more holistic approach. This situation was similar in the second book in the series, which presents the rest of Europe while again focusing on activities which women are either minor participants, or absent.

The themes in I territori dell’uomo 3 which regard activities where men are the main protagonists, for example either as CEOs or politicians, are certainly present. It can not be stated that the consideration and study of such Themes totally exclude women. They do not, however encourage or promote the need for greater diversity in relation to solutions and/or the effect these activities have on women centred roles.

The preoccupation with naming males is clear in the Tables for the contextual category of People (Tables 5.16f, 6.17f & 5.18f). In the first textbook, there is no direct mention of personages, given the overall thematic focus on geographical features: natural and constructed. The second textbook, however, names one female to forty-four males, and the third names three females to sixty-two males. Females are also absent in the categories of Authors and Authorities (Tables 5.16g & h,

193 5.17g & h and 5.18g & h), though the quantity of males cited in these areas is also very small.

194 I territori dell'uomo 1

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.16a Table 5.16c Linguistic Categories A1a c d efg A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic masculineNon gender specific Total 151 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 639 Total 151 639 165

Grammarical Analysis Generic Terms 17% 16%

160 140 120 100 Frequency 80 60 Total 40 20 67% 0 A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 Linguistic Categories Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.16b Table 5.16d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non SpecificCombined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Total 0 3 2 Total 7 0 50 16 0 22

Semantic Analysis Illustrations 7% 0% 23%

3 0% 2,5 2 Frequency 1,5 1 Total 0,5 17% 0 53% B1 B2 B3 Semantic Categories Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific

I territori dell'uomo 1 Linguistic categories 5.16a, Semantic categories 5.16b, Generic terms 5.16c and Illustrations 5.16d I territori dell'uomo 1

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.16e Table 5.16f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 0 0 9 Total 0 0

Themes 0% 0%

100%

Female Male Non Specific

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.16g Table 5.16h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 0 6 0 Total 0 0

Authors 0% 0%

100%

Female Male Unknown

I territori dell'uomo 1 Themes 5.16e, People 5.16f, Authors 5.16g and Authorities 5.16h I territori dell'uomo 2

LINGUSITIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.17a Table 5.17c Linguistic Categories A1a c d efg A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic masculineNon gender specific Total 87 1230000000 469 Total 87 469 424

Grammatical Analysis Generic Terms 9%

100 43% 80 60 Frequency 40 Total 20

0 48% A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 Linguistic Categories Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.17b Table 5.17d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non SpecificCombined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Total 0 0 0 Total 3 1 13 18 70 172

Illustrations 0% 1% 5%

6%

25%

63%

Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific

I territori dell'uomo 2 Linguistic categories 5.17a, Semantic categories 5.17b, Generic terms 5.17c and Illustrations 5.17d I territori dell'uomo 2

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.17e Table 5.17f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 0 0 14 Total 1 44

Themes People 0% 2% 0%

100% 98%

Female Male Non Specific Female Male

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.17g Table 5.17h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 0 1 Total 0 1

Authors Authorities 0% 0% 0%

100% 100% Female Male Unknown Female Male

I territori dell'uomo 2 Themes 5.17e, People 5.17f, Authors 5.17g and Authorities 5.17h I territori dell'uomo 3

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.18a Table 5.18c Linguistic Categories A1a c d efg A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic masculineNon gender specific Total 93 2131011600 593 Total 93 593 566

Grammatical Analysis Generic Terms 7%

100 45% 80 60 Frequency 40 Total 20 0 48% A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 Linguistic Categories Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.18b Table 5.18d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non SpecificCombined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Total 2 3 2 Total 6 0 30 44 67 275

Semantic Analysis Illustrations 1% 7% 0% 10%

3 2,5 2 Frequency 1,5 Total 1 16% 0,5 0 66% B1 B2 B3 Semantic Categories Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific

I territori dell'uomo 3 Linguistic categories 5.18a, Semantic categories 5.18b, Generic terms 5.18c and Illustrations 5.18d I territori dell'uomo 3

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.18e Table 5.18f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 0 0 14 Total 3 62

Themes People

0% 0% 5%

100% 95% Female Male Non Specific Female Male

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.18g Table 5.18h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 0 2 Total 0 3

Authors Authorities

0% 0% 0%

100% 100% Female Male Unknown Female Male

I territori dell'uomo 3 Themes 5.18e, People 5.18f, Authors 5.18g and Authorities 5.18g Dire Fare Capire Subject Area: Grammar Authors: Bottiroli, G, Corno, D. & De Mauro, T. Publisher: Paravia. 1995 Number of pages: 816

The grammar book selected for the lower years of la scuola media is Dire Fare Capire. This textbook is designed to consolidate students’ earlier grammatical knowledge and introduce them to some of the more abstract ideas regarding language and its usage. The research of this textbook has included the examination of the examples and exercises as they form a large part of the contents.

The linguistic and semantic categories are well represented (Tables 5.19a & b). There are high frequencies of the generic masculine combined with a very low frequency of non-gender specific terms: 977:158. The precedence of males in pairs of opposites (A1c) and the semantic limitations of the ‘marked’ feminine are also quite high (A1g). The only areas not represented are women identified separately (A1f), the use of donna as a modifier (A2c) and asymmetry regarding names, last names and titles (A3) (Table 5.19a). It is not surprising that there is little account of the grammatical recommendations made by feminists, as even a brief overview of linguistic history fails to mention this trend:

In epoca moderna, la scoperta di moltissime nuove lingue ha portato gli studiosi a occuparsi del linguaggio in generale e non tanto della grammatica delle singole lingue (che resta più o meno quella inventata da Dionisio Trace). Nasce cosi’ la linguistica generale. (Bottiroli et al 1995, p. 50)

For the most part, there is little recognition of the female in a symmetric manner. Included in the general instructions, however, is this almost ambivalent indication:

Che cosa succede, però, quando i nomi sono di genere diverso? Di norma, prevale il genere maschile. Dunque si dirà: Paolo e Teresa sono studiosi Tuttavia, quando l’aggettivo so riferisce a nomi plurali di genere diverso, si può avere la concordanza con il nome più vicino. Dunque si potrà dire: amici e amiche generosi, oppure amici e amiche generose. (Bottiroli et al 1995, p. 171)

The use of ‘Di norma’ is one of the only indications that there may be a different way to confer agreement which was closely followed by the example of different

195 agreement when using adjectives: ‘generosi’ or ‘generose’. Neither of these possibilities for the use of the feminine agreement is found in the groups of corresponding exercises nor elsewhere in the book. The exclusion of the feminine gender from most grammatical examples is prevalent throughout the textbook. In the introduction to personal pronouns (p. 217) there are no feminine forms. On page 139, in the section which dealt with suffixes that indicate ‘chi esercita un mestiere o una professione’, there were no feminine examples. All the examples are in the masculine, including the one for ballare – ballerino. In the verb tables found on pages 288, 299, 316 and 318, just to note a few, all use egli in the third person singular and essi for the third person plural. The declination of essere in the past tense is also in the masculine for all agreements.

The examples and exercises are predominately in the masculine (Table 5.19i). There are 2089 references which use masculine subjects: 177 of which are overtly stereotypical, and only 839 which have feminine subjects. Of the feminine total, 136 are stereotypical: numerically almost the equivalent total as that for the masculine, yet the overall totals are extremely different. Only 12% of the total are combined, with a break down of 8% being sexist and 4% being neutral. Some examples of the asymmetric examples are listed here:

Riccardo ha costruito un aeroplano gigantesco A Livio piacciono i film avventurosi Chiara è una ragazza dolce. (Bottiroli et al 1995, p. 418)

Jessica è la più bella delle ragazze della nostra classe Filippo è il ragazzo più popolare della classe. (Bottiroli et al 1995, p. 425)

In these two selections the boys are doing interesting and adventurous activities and Chiara is merely sweet. Filippo is the most popular boy in the class while Jessica is the most beautiful. The examples describe the girls in terms of their temperament and appearance, while the boys are described in terms of their activities and social skills.

Other disparity occurs with exercises regarding professions. One exercise asks the students to link famous people or places. The male links are: presentatore, scrittore,

196 scienziato, attore, telecronista. The only female named is Claudia Schiffer, her link being Fotomodella (Bottiroli et al 1995, p. 426). The examples used for metaphors also perpetuate some stereotypical attributes. The young girl equates the patterns of little waves on the beach as being like the way in which a baby’s hair is combed:

una bimba vede le piccole onde che lasciano solchi sulla spiaggia e osserva: E’ come quando si pettinano i capelli di una bambina.

While the boy equates, on his first view, an elephant with a gas mask:

Un ragazzino che vede per la prima volta un elefante, dichiara: Non e’ un elefante; e’ una maschera antigas. (Bottiroli et al 1995, p. 617)

The selected imagery: girl - mother, boy – war reflects the fascist slogan: War is to man what motherhood is to women! The unequal representation of girls and boys is prevalent throughout the contextual categories as well. While there are few illustrations in a book of this type, boys managed to total 55 or 70%, compared to the girls who are presented on 18 occasions, 24% of the total (Table 5.19d). For the most part, the themes are neutral: 91% though the remaining 9% are masculine (Table 5.19e). Outside of the exercises and examples, males also predominate as the named subject of text: 58:7 (Table 5.19f). The predominance of males can perhaps be linked to an overwhelming majority of male authors: 95% (Table 5.19g) and the only references used as authorities are male (Table 5.19h).

The grammar textbook not only teaches grammar with no regard for the recommendations made by Sabatini in 1986,71 but it does little to present both genders equally in the contextual elements.

71 see Appendix One Sabatini 1987 Le raccomandazioni per il uso della lingua italiana. Per la scuola e per l’editoria scolastica -

197 Dire Fare Capire

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.19A Table 5.19c Linguistic Analysis A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic Masculine Non gender specific Total 50 3 107 34 0 12 0 1 0 57 0 977 Total 50 977 158

Grammatical Analysis Generic Terms 13% 4% 120

100

80

Frequency 60

40

20 83% 0 A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 Linguistic Categories Total Uomo/Uomini Generic Masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.19B Table 5.19d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Specific Male Non Specific Total 20 50 18 Total 4 1 20 14 5 35

Semantic Analysis Illustrations

5%

1%

50 25%

45%

40

30 Frequency 20 Total

10

18%

0 6% B1 B2 B3 Semantic Categories Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Specific Male Non Specific

Dire Fare Capire Linguistic categories 5.19a, Semantic categories 5.19b, Generic terms 5.19c and Illustrations 5.19d Dire Fare Capire

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.19e Table 5.19f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 0 6 59 Total 7 58

Themes People 0% 11% 9%

91% 89%

Female Male Non Specific Female Male

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.19g Table 5.19h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 3 88 2 Total 0 27

Authors Authorities

2% 3% 0%

95% 100%

Female Male Unknown Female Male

Dire Fare Capire Themes 5.19e, People 5.19f, Authors 5.19g and Authorities 5.19h Dire Fare Capire

GRAMMAR EXERCISES Table 5.19i Grammar Exercises Female Sexist Female Non SpecificMale Sexist Male Non SpecificCombined Sexist Combined Non Specific Total 136 705 177 1912 71 275 4% 2% 8% Grammar Exercises 22%

5%

59% Female Sexist Female Non Specific Male Sexist Male Non Specific Combined Sexist Combined Non Specific

Dire Fare Capire Grammar Exercises 5.19i La lampada di Aladino 1, 2 & 3 Subject Area: Language and Literature Author: Mandeli, F & Rovida, L. Publisher: Principato 1993. Total number of pages: 672, 688 & 702

These three textbooks are a series designed to be used consecutively during secondary schooling. Each book has been reprinted yearly since 1996. The textbooks introduce the students to a variety of genres including narrative, poetry, informative, play and screen plays and argumentative. Each of these genres are then placed in categories which enables the teacher to link different genres to one major theme.

The linguistic analysis (Tables 5.20a & b, 5.21a & b and 5.22a & b), uncovered a significant amount of asymmetric language in all three textbooks. All areas of linguistic categories are represented at some stage throughout the textbooks. The use of uomo/uomini(A1a) ranges from 45 in Aladino 2 (Table 5.21a) to 110 in Aladino 1(Table 5.20a) and 156 in Aladino 3 (Table 5.22a). Likewise, the use of the masculine generic (A1b) ranges from 627 in Aladino 2 to 686 and 769 in Aladino 3 and 1 respectively. The precedence of masculine nouns in front of feminine nouns (A1d) is apparent in all three textbook, as is the absorption of the feminine into the masculine (A1e).

There is also a fairly regular incidence of the use of masculine titles for women (A2a) and corresponding grammatical inconsistency (A2b). An exercise associated with Agatha Christie illustrates this point:

– Rispondendo alle domande potrai comprendere l’effetto che l’autore vuole ottenere sul lettore. Il racconto, che è praticamente un lungo dialogo, può essere chiaramente diviso in due parti. (Mandeli & Rovida 1993b, p. 127)

The use of donna, as an indicator of gender (A2c), features across the textbooks as well. This example is from Aladino 3:

Una donna-manager; Tina Brown, direttrice del “New Yorker”.

198 (Mandeli & Rovida 1993c, p. 440)

This example illustrates the unnecessary use of donna. The article - una - combined with the woman’s name, offer two indications of the manager’s sex. It is perhaps not surprising that women are often represented in a derogatory or negligent manner, as this following instruction to students on letter writing indicates:

• non ci si rivolge mai al destinario usando nome e cognome; • per le signore si usa meno il titolo di studio; • se si usa il titolo, si fa seguire il cognome; se si dice “Signore” o Signora”, può seguire il cognome oppure il nome. (Mandeli & Rovida 1993b, p. 613)

These instructions imply that a woman is not recognised by her profession, but rather her marital status: denigrating her abilities as well as her autonomy. This lack of parallel respect is furthered enhanced by the casualness of name or surname usage.

Semantic asymmetry is also quite problematic in these three textbooks (Tables 5.20b, 5.21b & 5.22b). There are high frequencies of all three categories: with Aladino 1 having the highest levels of all three (Table 5.20b). Some of the examples are the obvious asymmetric use of titles and roles for girls and boys in regards to role-playing (B1). Here are two examples taken from Aladino 1:

…con i loro amici e con le loro amichette. (Mandeli & Rovida 1993a, p. 498)

‘With their male friends and their little sweet female friends’. The difference in suffix emphasises the roles of little girls to be dear little things. The role of girls as younger, less than, or immature, is clear in this following example as well:

Ragazzi e bambine che giocano alla bottega, alle signore, al medico e all’ammalato, al ferroviere, all’aviatore, al maestro o alla maestra e così via imitano i comportamenti dei grandi, spesso con molta attenzione e precisione. (Mandeli & Rovida 1993a, p. 529)

That ragazzi is marked is made obvious by the addition of bambine: boys and little baby girls again. If its not marked it would mean that only boys and girls and baby girls play, which is illogical. Combined with this, is a very deliberate allocation of professions depending on gender. Boys are: doctors, patients, stationmasters, pilots,

199 teachers and so on. Girls, on the other hand, are marked as mummies and teachers. They don’t get to do anything else except go to the shop.

The asymmetric way in which women are presented in relation to imagery and tone of the discourse (B2) highlights some of the more persistent forms of stereotypical representation.

In Aladino 2 there is a summary of an adventure novel. It stands out because, in relation to all the other novel summaries, as it is the only one which deliberately uses ‘girls’ in its blurb. This indicates two things, either all the other uses of ragazzi are marked or that adventure stories aren’t really interesting for girls.

I libri di avventure di Salgari, romanziere vissuto tra la metà dell’Ottocento e i primi anni del Novecento, hanno la capacità di coinvolgere i ragazzi, e anche le ragazze, da molte generazioni. Sono proprio le avventure ‘più avventurose’ che si possono immaginare. (Mandeli & Rovida 1993b, p. 384)

Perhaps the most offensive comes from Aladino 2. The tone of the story does not indicate the use of humour:

Questa è vita. –Ehi, guarda il poliziotto – disse la donna. Joe guardò nella direzione indicata e vide che si trattava inequivocabilmente di un poliziotto (non lo avrebbe mai creduto, ben sapendo che la maggior parte delle donne non capiscono la differenza fra un poliziotto e un postino). (Mandeli & Rovida 1993b, p. 47)

The fact that Joe is a boy aged ten, the average age of many of the boys who would be reading this text, and the woman who spoke is an adult, makes this observation even more offensive.

The disparity in regards to representation continues, as the identification of women in relation to age, profession or role (B3) appears in many different forms. In this first example from Aladino 1, the mother is identified as the parent who would stay at home:

200 Papà e mamma stanno magari lontani tutto il giorno per lavoro (oppure la mamma è a casa mentre tu sei a scuola). Fatti raccontare e riassumi per iscritto come si svolge la giornata di ognuno di loro. (Mandeli & Rovida 1993a, p. 614)

Aladino 1 also offers an example of women as anonymous beings, while men are named:

C’era una madre vedova con due figlie femmine e un maschio che si chiamava Peppi. (Mandeli & Rovida 1992b, p. 71)

The first female is a mother and a widow – both terms that link her to her social place – and the other two are daughters. The son is Peppi. The representation of females in relation to their familial and social role is emphatically shown in the example from Aladino 3 used in Chapter 4 (ref Chapter 4, p. 152 B1). The male cousin refers to his female cousin using the diminutive suffix –etta and, through the use of ‘uomo-ragazza’ quite clearly defines a relationship of dominance.

In the context of the story the ‘sweet little cousin’ is being sized up as a marriageable option for the youth. His feelings for her, however, are swiftly translated in those ‘instinctive emotions a man feels for a girl’. The flirtation with a Lolita syndrome seems an unfortunate consequence of these instinctive emotions.

The use of the male generic predominated in all three textbooks (Tables 5.20c, 5.21c & 5.22c), and certainly overwhelmed the occasional use of a non-gender specific term. The three results show the generic masculine ranging between 60 and 80 percent of overall usage while the non-specific terms account for 9%, 20% and 26% respectively. The results from the linguistic and semantic analysis augment the disparity of gender representation in almost all areas.

The Illustrations (Tables 5.20d, 5.21d & 5.22d) do little to rectify this imbalance. In this series there is also a high number of stereotypical or sexist representation of gender as well. In Aladino 1 there are a total of 228 illustrations of boys or men, of which 42 are stereotypical. In Aladino 2 the total is 200, with 40 being stereotypical and in Aladino 3 the total was 141, with 20 being stereotypical. The illustrations of females do not rate very highly: Aladino 1 (Table 5.20d) has 50 (12 stereotypical),

201 Aladino 2 (Table 5.21d) contains 32 (5 stereotypical) and Aladino 3 (Table 5.22d) manages only 19, of which one is stereotypical.

Disparate gender representation is consolidated during the first year. In all three textbooks the women are presented in the narratives as evil traitors, whores or mothers. In the fantasia themes in Aladino 1, the men go out into the wild world to seek their fortunes, while the women wait: either for their skills and benevolence or just at home. This is particularly evident in the section that gives directions for the creation of one’s own fairy tale (Mandeli & Rovida 1993a, p. 628). Females’ range of activities and personalities are as limited as they are stereotypical. They are evil, dangerous witches or stepmothers (often both), naïve, helpless and stupid princesses, good fairies or just filler. On the odd occasion they may perform valiant feats, but only to win the heart/save the life of the loved one: never to express or fulfil personal goals beyond living happily ever after in domestic drudgery.

None of the textbooks offer a specifically female theme while all offered four male themes and between two and eight neutral themes (Tables 5.20e, 5.21e & 5.22e).

Males also dominate the contextual category of People: Aladino 1 (Table 5.20f) has 755 of its characters as males, Aladino 2 (Table 5.21f) and 3 (Table 5.22f) have 72% each. This means that females feature only around 255 of the time. The statistical results also display the importance of being named. For example in ‘Sperso per il mondo’ (Mandeli & Rovida 1993a, p. 171) there are three females, a widowed mother and her two daughters, who are introduced early, but it is the male son – Peppi - who is the active named protagonist. The females stay at home weaving. In this particular case not only do the women not have names, unlike the fortunate Peppi, but as soon as the son leaves home, they are not mentioned again. The lack of names for females in the stories is a common occurrence. They are the mother, stepmother, poor little girl, daughters, sisters and princesses – rarely are they autonomous ‘named’ women in their own right. In Aladino 2 (1993b) the first story with a female protagonist doesn’t appear until page 367, ‘La canzone dei

202 Nibelunghi’ with the female being, ‘La principessa Crimilde’. The disparity between the roles of females and males is also apparent in the examples as this one from Aladino 2 (Mandeli & Rovida 1993b, p. 607) displays: Cecilia Derossi writes a personal letter to her friend, Carissima Anna; whereas Rag. Giacomo Rossi writes a business letter to Spett. Direttore Ufficio Stampa SAIE.

Poetry also contains many discrepancies in regards to the balance of theme and personage. In Aladino 2 (Mandeli & Rovida 1993b, p. 282), for example the choice of poetry begins with neutral descriptions of nature and the seasons. The first female poet writes of ‘la natura, l’amore e la maternità (Mandeli & Rovida 1993b). A man writes the next poem, and the majority of the poets are male. After a few more neutral examples most of the poems begin to be of women – mothers, lovers, sisters.

In only two cases are the roles of women directly challenged; both examples occur in Aladino 3. The exercise directions for an article relating to Tina Brown – the Director for the New Yorker mentioned earlier; notes the necessity for girls to have realistic views of their future choices, and for boys, as well as girls, to understand that parity between women and men, is still problematic:

Parlarne in classe sarà utile, alle ragazze, per guardare già fin d’ora in modo realistico a ciò che dovranno affrontare nelle loro scelte future, e ai ragazzi, per rendersi conto di come la parità tra uomo e donna sia ancora un problema, la cui la soluzione dipende, nel futuro, anche da loro. (Mandeli & Rovida 1993c, p. 440)

Later in the same textbook appears the article ‘Giocattoli “giusti” e “sbagliati” by Belotti (Mandeli & Rovida 1993b, p. 657). The article discusses whether children’s toys are chosen to correspond to social norms regarding gender roles. These are two rare occasions, however, of such information. For the most part the fundamental discrimination between the two sexes is not only not dealt with but also actively perpetuated by these textbooks.

The majority of male authors and authorities used in the series could explain some of this disparity. Aladino 1 has only 13% of its narratives, poems and articles

203 written by women and boasts only one female authority. Aladino 2 has only 16% of female authored texts and cites two female authorities. Aladino 3 manages only 14% female authorship and five female authorities.

Overall it can be seen that this series of language and literature textbooks have not incorporated any of the recommendations set out by Sabatini in her guide to schools and educational publishing houses in 1986. In linguistic, semantic and contextual categories these three textbooks fail to adequately represent the female gender as an autonomous, active participant of society.

204 La lampada di Aladino 1

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.20a Table 5.20c Linguistic Categories A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific Total 110 0 55 47 1233230 769 Total 110 769 92

Grammatical Analysis Generic Terms 9% 11%

120

100

80

Frequency 60

40 Total

20 80%

0 A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 Linguistic Categories Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.20b Table 5.20d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Total 22 38 63 Total 12 17 42 38 71 186

Semantic Analysis Illustrations 3% 5% 11%

70 10% 60 50 40 Frequency 30 Total 52% 20 10 19% 0 B1 B2 B3 Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Semantic Categories Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific

La lampada di Aladino 1 Linguistic categories 5.20a, Semantic categories 5.20b, Generic terms 5.20c and Illustrations 5.20d LA LAMPADA DI ALADINO 1

GENERIC TERMS Table 3 Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic masculineNon gender specific Total 110 769 92

9% 11% Generic Terms

80%

Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific

ILLUSTRATIONS Table 4 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non SpecificCombined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Total 12 17 42 38 71 186

Illustrations 3% 5% 11%

10%

52%

19%

Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific

LA LAMPADA DI ALADINO 1 Tables Three and Four La lampada di Aladino 1

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.20e Table 5.20f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 0 4 2 Total 88 227

Themes People

0% 33% 28%

67% 72%

Female Male Non Specific Female Male

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.20g Table 5.20h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 14 91 5 Total 1 7

Authors Authorities

5% 13% 13%

82% 87% Female Male Unknown Female Male

La lampada di Aladino 1 Themes 5.20e, People 5.20f, Authors 5.20g and Authorities 5.20h La lampada di Aladino 2

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.21a Table 5.21c Linguistic Categories A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific Total 45 2 27 55 0391100 627 Total 45 627 172

Grammatical Analysis Generic Terms 5% 20%

60 50 40 Frequency 30 20 Total 75% 10 0 A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 Linguistic Categories Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.21b Table 5.21d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Total 12 17 30 Total 5 14 40 27 43 160

Semantic Analysis Illustrations 2% 5% 14%

30 25 20 Frequency 15 Total 9% 10 55% 5 15% 0 B1 B2 B3 Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Semantic Categories Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific

La lampada di Aladino 2 Linguistic categories 5.21a, Semantic categories 5.21b, Generic terms 5.21c and Illustrations 5.21d LA LAMPADA DI ALADINO 2

GENERIC TERMS Table 3 Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific Total 45 627 172 5% Generic Terms 20%

75%

Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific ILLUSTRATIONS Table 4 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non SpecificCombined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Total 5 14 40 27 43 160

2% 5% Illustrations 14%

9% 55% 15% Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific

LA LAMPADA DI ALADINO 2 Tables Three and Four La lampada di Aladino 2

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.21e Table 5.21f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 0 4 3 Total 63 191

Themes People

0% 25% 43% 57% 75%

Female Male Non Specific Female Male

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.21g Table 5.21h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 23 119 0 Total 2 18

Authors Authorities

0% 16% 10%

84% 90%

Female Male Unknown Female Male

La lampada di Aladino 2 Themes 5.21e, People 5.21f, Authors 5.21g and Authorities 5.21h La lampada di Aladino 3

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.22a Table 5.22c Linguistic Categories A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific Total 156 4 61 131 0022321 686 Total 156 686 294

Grammatical Analysis Generic Terms 14% 26% 160 140 120 100 Frequency 80 60 Total 60% 40 20 0 A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific Linguistic Categories

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.22b Table 5.22d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Total 7 10 17 Total 1 2 20 18 64 121

Semantic Analysis Illustrations 0% 1% 9% 8%

20

15

Frequency 10 Total 54% 5 28% 0 B1 B2 B3 Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Semantic Categories

La lampada di Aladino 3 Linguistic categories 5.22a, Semantic categories 5.22b, Generic temrs 5.22c and Illustrations 5.22d LA LAMPADA DI ALADINO 3

GENERIC TERMS Table 3 Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific Total 156 686 294

14% Generic Terms 26%

60%

Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific

ILLUSTRATIONS Table 4 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non SpecificCombined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Total 1 2 20 18 64 121 1% 0% 9% Illustrations 8%

54% 28% Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific

LA LAMPADA DI ALADINO 3 Tables Three and Four La lampada di Aladino 3

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.22e Table 5.22f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 0 4 8 Total 113 292

Themes People

0% 33% 28%

67% 72%

Female Male Non Specific Female Male

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.22g Table 5.22h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 18 107 0 Total 5 17

Authors Authorities

0% 14% 23%

86% 77%

Female Male Unknown Female Male

La lampada di Aladino 3 Themes 5.22e, People 5.22f, Authors 5.22g and Authorities 5.22h Alla scoperta del cristianesimo 1 Gesù Subject Area: Religious education Author: Bosco, T. Publisher: Elle Di Ci. 1993. Total number of pages: 175

One of the religious texts available for use in the lower years of secondary school is Alla scoperta del cristianesimo. It’s the first volume in a three part series designed to introduce religion to this education level. It is a relatively slim volume in comparison with the other texts that were researched, yet it has some of the highest frequencies of linguistic and semantic asymmetry. There is a high frequency of the terms uomo/uomini (A1a), 5%, and a predominance of the use of the generic masculine over non-gender specific terms: 645 to 31%(Table 5.23a). It also has the widest variety of examples in the linguistic and semantic categories (Tables 5.23a & b). The only areas not represented are the use of -essa (A2d) and asymmetry regarding names, last names and titles (A3). The only grammatical anomaly worth note is written by una giovane cristiana who wrote:

Devo mettermi in cammino verso i fratelli e le sorelle più povere, […] (Bosco 1993, p. 129)

The two noticeable inclusions here are the separation of sorelle from fratelli and the agreement of the adjective with the gender of the nearest noun. Amid a disproportional high frequency of disparate and asymmetric usage across almost all the categories, such a phrase certainly stands out.

The illustrations are predominately of men: 71 compared to 10, and there is also a high level of sexist and stereotypical portrayals with many of the men depicted as warriors, kings and overlords (Table 5.23d). Themes centre on the activities of males, often to the exclusion of any form of female participation (Table 5.23e), and there are 196 males named to only 29 females (Table 5.23f). Females are not equally represented in the last two contextual categories of Authors and Authorities, with only one being used as an author and none being cited as an authority. There are twenty-one male authors and ten male authorities (Tables 5.23g & h). Overall this

205 Alla scoperta del cristianesimo 1

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.23a Table 5.23c Linguistic Categories A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific Total 62 39 19 11 1234200 819 Total 62 819 390

Grammatical Analysis Generic Terms

70 5%

60 31% 50

40 Frequency 30 Total 20

10

0 A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 64% Linguistic categoriies Uomo/Uomini Generic masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.23b Table 5.23d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Sexist Male Non Specific Total 8 10 27 Total 3 24 51 7 24 20

Semantic Analysis Illustrations

2% 16% 30 19%

25 19%

20

Frequency 15 Total 10

5

0 5% 39% B1 B2 B3 Semantic categories

Alla scoperta del critianesimo 1 Linguistic categories 5.23a, Semantic catgories 5.23b, Generic temrs 5.23c and Illustrations 5.23d Alla scoperta del cristianesimo 1

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.23e Table 5.23f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 1 18 10 Total 29 196

Themes People

3% 13% 34%

63% 87%

Female Male Non Specific Female Male

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.23g Table 5.23h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 1 21 Total 0 10

Authors Authorities 0% 0% 5%

95% 100% Female Male Unknown Female Male

Alla scoperta del cristianesimo 1 Themes 5.23e, People 5.23f, Authors 5.23g and Authorities 5.23h textbook does nothing to redress women’s disenfranchisement from Christianity or female absence from religious studies.

Guida all’educazione sessuale Subject Area: Sex education Authors: Giommi, R & Perrotta, M. Publisher: Juvenilia. 1994. Number of pages: 128

This textbook is designed to introduce students to the basic information regarding their bodies and the reproductive system. The first section of the textbook exhibits a high usage of the generic masculine instead of non-gender specific terms: seen in the disparity between the frequency totals: 698:57 (Table 5.24c). In the last section, where there is more emphasis on the actual activities of students, the feminine and masculine forms are evident, although most of the time, the masculine precedes the feminine, as indicated by the results of A1g (Table 5.24a). At times the textbook uses gender inclusive terms:

Poi l’attenzione è posta sullo sviluppo della bambino/a e sulla crescita intesa come cambiamento fisco e emotivo. (Giommi & Perrotta 1994, p. 47)

while in other situations, where it would be opportune, the masculine generic is used:

Come ne sei venuto a conoscenza? (Giommi & Perrotta 1994, p. 132)

The text is asking the students how they gained knowledge and information regarding reproduction. Given that in the earlier example the use of inclusive language was deemed appropriate in general text, it is discriminatory not to include it in the direct questioning of students. All the student focused questions are couched in the masculine. Another area where it would seem more appropriate to use the feminine (or at least the feminine and masculine combined) is in the section dealing with abortion:

206 In realtà, molte delle indicazioni della legge sono in Italia tuttora disattese, tanto è vero che il ricorso all’aborto è ancora frequente, soprattutto fra i più giovani. (Giommi & Perrotta 1994, p. 89)

The section deals exclusively with abortion in relation to the health and welfare della donna making this inclusion of the generic masculine seem out of place and inaccurate.

Another female centred topic, menstruation, appears on the same page as virginity. The links between women (who menstruate) and the social tradition of female virginity are apparent. They are further enforced by the disparate amount of information dedicated to La verginità femminile in its historical context:

Essa ha infatti rappresentato per molte generazioni il principale segno della integrità fisca e morale della donna, integrità che andava salvaguardata fino al matrimonio per non incorrere nel giudizio sociale che associava la verginità al valore della persona e al suo ruolo nella collettività. (Giommi & Perrotta 1994)

and a very small one which speaks of a modified approach to virginity and attempts to make it a more gender inclusive phenomenon:

La verginità è collegata alla scelta del primo rapporto, restando per i giovani un aspetto importante, soprattutto sul piano emotivo, della loro sessualità. (Giommi & Perrotta 1994, p. 57)

Lame assurances after a list of religious and social taboos surrounding female virginity. The restriction of women in this textbook to the role of maiden and mother is also apparent in the section entitled I racconti delle mamme (Giommi & Perrotta 1994, p. 114). This section describes a talk by mothers on how they experienced childbirth. While the female is the major participant in the birth of a child, the lack of the father’s experience perpetuates the role of woman as primary care giver. This lack also does not expose children to the possibility that men could gain something of value from the experience of fatherhood.

The categorisation of females and males in this textbook is again visible in the section on sexual deviation and gender identity disturbances - Deviazioni sessuali e disturbi dell’identità di genere (Giommi & Perrotta 1994, p. 95) . The introductory

207 paragraphs deal with Alcune persone and there is a fairly neutral description of Esibizionismo. The second deviation, Feticismo, marks the gender of la persona. For the first time in the book appears la partner: Manifestazioni di feticismo possono riguardare l’attività autoerotica o implicare il coinvolgimento della partner nel rapporto eterosessuale. (Giommi & Perrotta 1994, p. 95)

In all earlier uses of this referent a masculine article is used, leading one to the conclusion that la persona is referring to a male. Do we, therefore, assume that the subjects for Esibizionismo, Frotteurismo, Pedofilia, Masochismo, Sadismo, and Voyeurismo are all sexual disturbances that manifest only in la persona maschile? The possibility of this assumption is added to by the switch to il soggetto a generic masculine noun under Pedophilia, Masochism and Sadism from the non-gender specific terms of la persona or Chi presenta. The covert presentation as the subject of these disturbances as male is misleading and leads to the absence of females as possible subjects.

The areas of the contextual analysis offer some interesting results that contradict the linguistic disparity and are cause for some concern. Images of females are slightly higher than those of males: 12:8 (Table 5.24d), although overall there are few illustrations included. Specifically female themes, such as menstruation, total four, and there are no specific male sections (though the one on sexual deviation mentioned earlier certainly comes close.). Non specific or combined themes dominate the textbook at 83% (Table 5.24e). Females make up 79% of the authors, though only 25% of the authorities (Tables 5.24g & h). These last two discrepancies are perturbing. Given the predominance of females as authors of the text, it is of some concern that there is little indication that the visibility and autonomy of the female subject has been considered. Furthermore, the reverse result in authorities reinforces the notion that men, even in a primarily female-authored textbook, are necessary for credibility.

There was an attempt, or an intention, to provide a textbook that would be more inclusive of both genders’ experience in society. In the first appendix there is a

208 Guida all'educazione sessuale

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES GENERIC TERMS Table 5.24a Table 5.24c Linguistic Analysis A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 A1b Generic Terms Uomo/Uomini Generic MasculineNon gender specific Total 8 1 171 20200000 698 Total 8 698 57

Generic Terms Grammatical Analysis 7% 1%

180 160 140 120 100 Frequency 80 60 Total 40 20 0 92% A1a c d e f g A2a b c d A3 Linguistic Categories Uomo/Uomini Generic Masculine Non gender specific

SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATIONS Table 5.24b Table 5.24d Semantic Categories B1 B2 B3 Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non SpecificCombined Non Specific Male Non Specific Total 0 1 0 Total 5 2 4 7 1 4

Semantic Analysis Illustrations 17% 22%

4% 1 0,8 0,6 Frequency 0,4 Total 9% 0,2

0 31% 17% B1 B2 B3

Semantic Categories Female Sexist Combined Sexist Male Sexist Female Non Specific Combined Non Specific Male Non Specific

Guida all'educazione sessuale Linguistic categories 5.24a, Semantic categories 5.24b, Generic terms 5.24c and Illustrations 5.24d Guida all'educazione sessuale

THEMES PEOPLE Table 5.24e Table 5.24f Themes Female Male Non Specific People Female Male Total 4 0 19 Total

Themes

17% 0%

83%

Female Male Non Specific

AUTHORS AUTHORITIES Table 5.34g Table 5.24h Authors Female Male Unknown Authorities Female Male Total 15 4 0 Total 3 9

Authors Authorities

21% 0% 25%

79% 75%

Female Male Unknown Female Male

Guida all'educazione sessuale Themes 5.24e, People 5.24f, Authors 5.24g and Authorities 5.24h discussion of the lack of official regulations. Reference is made to documents that can be related to the teaching of sex education. Included in these is Il sessismo nella lingua italiana, the document that forms the basis for my linguistic analysis. Yet my analysis shows that the incorporation of the recommendations included in that document are sporadic at best.

5.3 Concluding Comments

The analysis of this selection of textbooks used during the compulsory years of education in Italy indicates a damning overall result. Of the ten textbooks selected from the range available for la scuola elementare and the thirteen selected for la scuola media inferiore there is little to no evidence that awareness of gender representation has been taken into account. The first Table indicates the total number of textbooks which present stereotypical or sexist linguistic and semantic elements according to the methodological approach first used by Sabatini (1987) and implemented in this research as well. The second Table indicates the quantity of textbooks where either female or male dominate the result for each contextual area.

Table 5.25 Total number of textbooks containing asymmetric linguistic or semantic categories

209 Linguistic and semantic categories Total number of textbooks As As Total Percent A1a - uomo / uomini (man/men) 23 100% The use of the words ‘man and men’ to indicate humans of both gender. b - masculine nouns (nomi maschili (+ umano) 23 100% The use of nouns in the masculine plural as the ‘unmarked’ or ‘inclusive’ form. c - unmarked collective nouns (i sostantivi) 14 61% The use of masculine nouns to included mixed sex groups d - precedence of male in pairs of opposites 20 87% (precedenza del maschile nelle coppie oppositive) The occurrence of male nouns preceding the female in pairs that refer to humans e - the absorption of female subjects into nouns in the 22 96% masculine plural (all’assorbimento del femminile nel maschile) When a female subject is initially identified but then later absorbed into the masculine by the use of nouns in the masculine plural. f - women identified separately (donne designate a parte) 11 48% When in a list of people women are identified separately indicating that they do not belong to the other categories. g - the semantic limitations of the ‘marked, feminine 10 43% (le limitazioni semantiche del femminile) When the use of the noun in the feminine serves to restrict the meaning to refer only to other females rather than to all women and men. A2a - masculine titles (titoli al maschile) 9 39% The use of masculine titles when referring to women in that role. B - grammatical inconsistency 10 43% (sconcordanze grammaticali ) When the title is in the masculine but the corresponding grammatical information denotes a female. c - use of ‘donna’ as a modifier - ‘woman’(modificatore 9 39% ‘donna’) When a noun or title is used in the masculine form with the addition of the word ‘woman’ to indicate that the referent is female. d - use of the suffix -essa 6 26% Where a title is designated feminine by the addition of -essa to the masculine.

210 A3 - asymmetry regarding names, last names and titles 2 9% When the way in which women and men are referred to (within the same text) is different, often presenting the women as less important or frivolous by doing so. B1 - asymmetric use of adjectives, altered forms, pronouns, 13 57% verbs When the words used to describe women are derogatory or stereotypical. B2 - asymmetric use in the way which women are 15 65% presented in relation to imagery and tone of the discourse. When women are presented in a way that conforms to and perpetuates stereotypical social views B3 – identification of women in relation to men, age, 17 74% profession and role. When women are not identified in their own right and only ever in relation to others or pre defined roles.

The first noticeable result from this Table regarding the overall frequency of asymmetric linguistic and semantic use is that every category is present at some stage during the compulsory years of schooling. In regards to the categories A1a and A1b all of the textbooks contain examples of the use of terms which hide or absent women from the context.

In the research reported in ‘Lingua, genere e sesso: sessismo nella grammaticografia e in libri scolastici della lingua italiana’ (von Bonkewitz 1995) all the four books analysed contained examples of these two categories as well. The grammar books in this study were Grammatica italiana con nozioni di linguistica 1989, Scritto e parlato. Grammatica ed educazione linguistica 1988, Grammatica italiana. Con percorsi di scrittura 1993 and Lingua e linguaggi. Educazione linguistica e italiano nelle scuole medie 1980.72 Von Bonkewitz found that between 23.3% and 30% of all referents (13895 in total) referred to females and males with a male referent. Of the total

72 Von Bonkewitz 1995 p.100 Dardano, Maurizio/Trifone, Pietro Grammatica italiana con nozioni di linguistica Bologna, Zanichelli 1989, Dalla Casa, Maurizio Scritto e parlato. Grammatica ed educazione linguistica Brescia, La scuola,1988, Peressini, Laura/Ravizza, Gabriella, Grammatica italiana. Con percorsi di scrittura Milano, Mondadori, 1993 and Sabatini Francesco Lingua e linguaggi. Educazione linguistica e italiano nelle scuole medie Torino, Loescher 1980

211 number of referents the combination of male marked referents and masculine generic referents totaled between 74% and 84.1% of the total.

Returning to the corpus of this thesis ninety six percent (96%) of the school textbooks analysed contain examples of feminine nouns being absorbed into so- called masculine generic nouns (A1e) indicating that even when females are identified they are soon hidden within androcentric terminology. Furthermore sixty-one percent of the textbooks analysed use collective nouns when signifying mixed sex groups (61%).

Another case of high frequency is present in relation to the precedence of masculine nouns in female male opposites (A1d) with eighty-seven percent (87%) of textbooks using predominately this format. Lower frequency is reported in the categories of A1f –women identified separately, A1g - the semantic limitations of the marked female, A2a - masculine titles, A2b - grammatical inconsistency, A2c - the use of donna as modifier, A2d - the use of essa as a suffix and A3 - the asymmetric use of titles etc. Yet what is apparent in these particular categories is perhaps not so much a reflection of gender aware representation but rather the reinforcement of the fact that women are generally absent from these textbooks. It is not surprising that fewer textbooks make mistakes in these categories because, given the specifically female nature of the categories, fewer textbooks actually carry enough representation of women per se to make mistakes. The 1995 study by von Bonkewitz found that total number of female referents carried by the grammar books she analysed was between 13.2% and 24.1% of the overall total. Interestingly it was the 1993 publication, the most recent used in her study, to record the highest quantity.

In the categories relating to semantic asymmetry more the fifty percent (50%) of all textbooks contain examples of stereotypical and/or derogatory representation of women. The lowest percentage was fifty-seven (57%) for B1 – where the words used to describe women are derogatory or stereotypical. The next category B2,

212 jumped to include sixty-five percent (65%) of all textbooks. Indicating that women are often presented in ways that conforms to and perpetuates stereotypical social views. The final category in this section, B3 – where women are not identified in their own right and are rather identified as adjuncts to men, in relation to their age or in relation to a stereotypically defined role was found in seventy –four percent of the textbooks. These results are not dissimilar to the results in von Bonkewitz’s smaller study into grammar textbooks. Of the four books analysed in her study each contained a level of sexist representation ranging from 1.3% to 5% of the corpus.

The consistent linguistic and semantic representation of women in a stereotypical, sexist and limited manner perpetuates these negative and restrictive perceptions in society. Young children are educated to use language in this style and it, therefore, must contribute to the way they relate to each other and the greater society. The other element that is apparent at this linguistic level is also the general absence of females from educational material. The result shown in the following Table regarding the contextual results reinforces the extraordinarily one-sided view of social participants. The significance of this situation to the balanced and equitable development of each gender will be discussed in Chapter Seven.

Table 5.26 Total number of textbooks containing asymmetric contextual categories Contextual categories Male Dominated Female Dominated Total Percentage Total Percentage Illustrations 22 96% 1 4% Themes 17 89% 2 11% People 21 95% 1 5% Authorities 15 100% 0 0% Authors 20 95% 1 5% Exercise 4 100% 0 0%

213 What is interesting here, is not only the quantity of textbooks in which manifest sexist and/or unbalanced representation of gender (in the total column under each gender), but also the percentage of disparate gender representation in relation to the textbooks that actually contain these categories (in the percentage column under each gender). All textbooks carried some form of illustrations. As mentioned in the general analysis under each respective text some textbooks are highly illustrative: for example the textbooks for the early years in la scuola elementare, while others, as the student moved through the years of schooling become less so. It is apparent, however, that illustration plays an important role in highlighting, emphasising and explaining the adjacent text. In this category ninety-six percent (96%) or 22 out of 23 textbooks are dominated by male centred illustrations. Which indicates that textbooks present, almost exclusively, a world in which males are not only central but the majority of social participants.

The predominance of males and their activities is again evident in the extremely high number of textbooks that are dominated by male centric themes. Out of nineteen (19) textbooks that are appropriate for thematic analysis, seventeen (17) or eighty-nine percent (89%) are biased, in some cases quite significantly, towards masculine themes. The populations of these textbooks are also somewhat androcentric. Twenty-two (22) of the textbooks contain personages, characters, protagonists and other historical or famous people. In twenty-one (21) or ninety- five percent (95%) of them these people are overwhelming male and far surpass the presence of females. Females are dominant in only one of the textbooks and the margin is almost non existent. In fifteen of the textbooks certain authorities are cited to reinforce or validate certain text. In all fifteen textbooks where this occurs males are, at times, the exclusive majority. This is almost repeated in the category of Authors where out of a possible twenty-two (22) textbooks which carry text where the author is identified, twenty-one carry mostly or only male authors and only one has slightly more females. Again it must be noted that the margin is slight and hardly an example of a female centric production. The final category of exercises, which is taken from four of the textbooks, again registers the domination of males over

214 female. In all cases there is a prevalence of male subjects, which in some cases is almost triple the presence of female ones.

Over all it can be seen that females are, for the most part, a significant second (and in many cases a sorry third behind so called neutral themes) to males. Not only are they absented by the use of linguistic elements that do not recognise them separately, they are often presented semantically in such a way that it would almost be preferable not to be mentioned at all. Their absence or vilification in text is further reinforced by their overwhelming absence and occasional sexist and stereotypical portrayal in the contextual categories that serve to illustrate, illuminate, direct and populate the textbooks. Some of this disproportionate representation could be attributed to the minority of female authors but even in the few textbooks where female authors are present in reasonable numbers such disparate representation still occurs.

The significance of these findings will be discussed in relation to the philosophies of Italian feminisms and the expectations of the educational community in the final

chapter.

215 Chapter Six LA PAROLA AL LAVORO School Dictionaries

6.0 Introduction – Focus on Results 6.1 Talking Pictures - Introduction 6.1a Data Tables and Graphs 6.1b Talking Pictures - Analysis 6.2 Defining Details – Listing Lexicon 6.3 Linking Language - Introduction 6.3a Language Trees 6.3b Linking Language - Analysis 6.4 Concluding Comments

6.0 Introduction – Focus on Results

The information contained in this chapter focuses on the extractions and analysis of the dictionaries used in the research. The first section 6.1 Talking pictures presents the data taken from the analysis of the illustrations and pictures contained in the dictionaries. Sections 6.2 Defining Details - Listing Lexicon and 6.3 Linking Language – Introduction, contain the actual lexical information taken from the four dictionaries. In each section a comparative summary follows each of the pairs selected for analysis. Incorporated into 6.2 Defining Details, which primarily focuses on the contrast of definitions for opposites, will be a list of single definitions taken for words associated with the major theme of this thesis into gender, feminism, parity and discrimination. As mentioned in Chapter Four - Le forme e I metodi, it is useful to see how these words/concepts are described and whether they have been included for presentation to school aged children. The remaining section of the chapter - 6.4 Concluding Comments, will summarise the total analysis of the data in 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3. This information, as with the data and

209 summaries contained in Chapter Five, will be combined into a conclusion regarding Italian education and the representation of gender in the final chapter.

6.1 Talking Pictures - Introduction

The first section in this chapter concerns the illustrations contained within the four dictionaries under analysis. As expected the earlier dictionaries contain much more illustrative material than the latter one. Prime parole contains a large number of pictures though it is not an ‘illustrated’ dictionary, i.e. it does not follow a picture - word format but rather uses the illustrations to enhance the meaning intended. The middle two dictionaries Dib - Dizionario di base and Daic – Dizionario avanzato dell’italiano corrente do not contain illustrations in the main volume. They are, however, supplemented by a visual dictionary, which contains illustrations and lexicon. The last dictionary DISC Dizionario italiano also contains no illustrations throughout the text. In a small illustrations section at the back there are some illustrations though there are only eleven of humans, for the most part anatomical, in all examples a male figure is used.

The analysis will, therefore, concentrate on the three school dictionaries. The primary distinction used is the same as that used for the school textbooks presented earlier. The illustrations were counted and divided into the headings of female sexist, female non-sexist, male sexist, male non-sexist, combined sexist and combined non-sexist. These results have been presented in table and graph form.

A further breakdown is also used given that the majority of illustrations pertain to some form of work status. Each illustration depicting an activity is then divided into the headings of; professional (e.g. doctor), skilled (e.g. white-collar workers), unskilled (e.g. laborer ), domestic (e.g. housewife ), forces (e.g. police officer/ soldier), sport (e.g. athlete) and non categorised (e.g. thief ). These results are also presented in table and graph format based on the division of gender. The graph,

210 therefore, will show the profession category and the separate totals of females and male in each one.

As discussed in Chapter 4 - Le forme e i metodi, the analysis of illustrations should clearly depict how men and women are presented in the dictionary format. Do they represent a true picture of society? Do they reflect some of the theories of feminisms in Italy or, given their educational context, some of the theories underpinning the philosophy of educare nella differenza (see ed Piussi 1989, 1992 & Lelario et al 1998) or do they continue to perpetuate inequality and restrictive ideas by the use of stereotypes and traditional roles? And finally are some of the pivotal words concerning feminisms – i.e. femminisimo, sessimo ecc. - presented in a manner that is appropriate to the aims of Italian feminist theories. Examining the results of this analysis should shed some light on the direction these school dictionaries have taken. The following section contains the data tables and corresponding graphs from the two tiers of the research into illustrations. Directly following these graphs will be the analytical discussion of this information.

211 6.1b Talking Pictures - Analysis

As can been seen from the series of data contained in the tables and graphs a number of discrepancies arise in the presentation of gender. As has been mentioned elsewhere in this thesis the population of Italy is roughly divided into equal amounts of women (c51.1%) and men (48.9%). There would be a reasonable expectation, regardless of the activities of the feminist and liberation movements of the twentieth century, that a dictionary would reflect this social statistic by incorporating equal representation.

That this isn’t the case becomes immediately noticeable in the first dictionary, Prime parole. The pie graph, which corresponds to Prime parole - Table 6.1a Prime Parole, clearly shows the enormous disparity between the choice of illustrative topics. Men outnumber women in a ratio of 490:75, further to this almost half of the illustrations of women are stereotypical; 33 out of the total of 75. This means that women are mainly depicted in domestic situations, traditional forms of employment (e.g. seamstress, teacher) or as witches, princesses and fairies. Men, on the other hand, only appear in 22 cases of overt stereotypical roles usually referring to armed combat or some other form of violence or misbehavior (e.g. thieves or prisoners). They are most often portrayed in a professional role as doctors, police officers, journalists and the like or as athletes or heroes. A good example of this appears under the entry for giacca. The illustration is of a man in a suit jacket carrying a briefcase and the description’s example is:

Per andare al lavoro gli uomini indossano spesso la giacca. Giuliana osserva le giacche esposte in vetrina. (Prime Parole 1997, p. 232)

Men go off to work wearing a jacket. Women simply go shopping for them. Another illuminating example of males portrayed in an active dynamic fashion and females in a passive one appears under the heading of Guardaroba (Prime Parole 1997. p.247). There are four separate illustrations. In the first one the little girl watches through the window while her big brother goes off to school. This division; male outside, female at home, is oft repeated. The next one is a beach

212 scene. In the foreground a boy and girl stand together on the sand, in the water behind them another boy snorkels while another swims. The girl’s pose is reminiscent of most bathing beauties - hands on hips- one foot in front of the other. The third picture shows a mother standing to one side watching two boys playing soccer in the park. This scene is repeated in the last illustration where the son shoots off down the hill on a pair of skies while his parents and sister look on.

The Dizionario di Base - Dib shows little improvement along with its counterpart the Dizionario avanzato dell’italiano corrente – Daic as Table 6.1b and Table 6.1c and the corresponding pie graphs clearly show. Since, for the most part, the illustrations are identical these dictionaries will be discussed together. The Dib has a total ratio of women to men of 29:69 while Daic had a slightly larger margin of discrepancy with a female: male ratio of 25:99. It must be noted, however, that the overt stereotypical content is reduced to one example for each gender.

There are two interesting examples, however, that highlight some of the problems still existing in gender representation. In Dib there is a picture of a doctor and a nurse under the heading of “work” - il lavoro (Dib 1997 p.87). The doctor is labeled as medico and the nurse as infermiera, the usual doctor/nurse gender stereotype. In Daic, under the same heading of il lavoro (p.108), the same picture appears though this time they have swapped sides and the female is now the doctor and the male the nurse. A valiant attempt to redress the balance is unfortunately seriously undermined by the incorrect use of il medico for the doctor. This usage contravenes a number of the recommendations made by Sabatini et al (1987) where the most appropriate title would have been la medica. La medica not only ascribes the correct gender but also circumvents the problem of using titles in the masculine to denote worth or importance73; nurse is correctly transcribed as un infermiere. The second example appears in both dictionaries; Dib I trasporti (1997 p.96) and Daic I trasporti (1997, p.35. On the steps of a plane there are il pilota, il comandante, lo steward and una hostess – the (male) pilot, the (male) commander, the (male) steward and a (female) hostess. The first three; who hold the key roles in the plane’s crew, are all

213 men, the hostess isn’t even accorded a direct title through the use of the indirect article - she is just an hostess/flight attendant - one of many interchangeable parts. This inequality is made obvious by its comparison to the direct titles afforded to each of the men in the picture.

73 see section 4.1a linguistic layout A2a- masculine titles

214 The second series of data tables for this section refers more specifically to the roles that were presented for females and males. The first series of tables and graphs correspond to the total number of females and males that were presented in some type of occupational role. These graphs reinforce the inordinately large number of role illustrations that feature men over the few that feature women. The roles are then divided into eight main categories; A – Athlete, D – Domestic, F – Forces (including police and armed), N – No category (for roles such as princess and pirate), P - Professions, R – Religious, S – Skilled (but not professional), U – Unskilled. The two categories of F and M represent Female and Male.

Again the breakdown shows some serious inequalities in terms of representation and, by extension, expectation. Women, for the most part feature in domestic (D) (20), skilled (S) and unskilled (U) work with a total of 15 roles out of their total number of 49 depictions. Men feature strongly and in comparatively exaggerated numbers in the areas of professional (P) 75:9 and skilled work (S) 56:12, they are the only representatives for the forces (F) (21) which includes not only soldiers but also police and traffic officers. They also dominate in the area of sport (A) 22:1, though they don’t rate at all in the category of domestic (D) 0:20. Overall men are depicted in 216 different roles compared to women who are active in only 49.

Table 6.3a Prime parole - Roles

Totals A D F N P R S U F 1 20 0 1 9 3 12 3 M 22 0 21 10 75 7 56 25

It is through the use of comparative analysis both within each book and within the series that enables the representation of gender to become clear. The further data extracted from the two later dictionaries concerns the types of roles men and women are shown in. the categories of division are the same as those for Prime parole.

Table 6.3b Dib - Roles

215 Totals A D F N P R S U F 1 0 0 0 2 0 3 0 M 10 0 0 2 11 0 16 4

Table 6.3c Daic - Roles

Totals A D F N P R S U F 2 0 0 0 4 0 3 0 M 11 0 0 0 26 0 17 6

As the tables for Dib and Daic show the variety of roles that men and women were portrayed in reduced four; A – Athlete, P – Professions, S – Skilled and U - Unskilled. The total number of males in all categories and in both dictionaries exceeds that for the females. For the category of Athletes (A) women are represented only once in Dib and twice in Daic while the men are shown in ten and eleven different athletic roles respectively. The difference in the professional category is 2:11 in Dib and a much greater 2:26 in Daic. Skilled and unskilled labour doesn’t differ greatly between the books though it certainly does between the sexes; Skilled 3:16 and 3:17 and Unskilled 0:4 and 0:6.

It is clear that in all dictionaries men not only total the larger amount of actual representation but are also predominate in the professional, skilled and unskilled employment and athletic categories. The minimal representation of women in these roles signifies the perception of women as lesser participants in the larger social environment. Their over-representation in domestic roles, which is their highest category total for Prime parole sends the unambiguous message to younger school children that their mothers and women in general are found in home/domestic oriented environments. As the children move through their years of schooling the percentage of women drops to between 12 and 14 percent; hardly representative of the labour force let alone the population in general. The lack of women presented in professional and skilled roles through the dictionaries reinforces this stereotypical and outdated notion. It is also pertinent to note that for the most part women that are represented in professional or general employment are often

216 seamstresses, hairdressers, librarians and teachers. While these roles are valuable ones, they have long been devalued and attributed as suitable ‘women’s work’. The rare example of a Doctor or Journalist, both considered much more ‘important’ roles does little to correct the overall impression of women as non contributors and, for the most part, simply absent.

The use of illustrations in the school dictionaries serves to perpetuate much of what is stereotypical and restrictive about the genders in Italy. Women occupy a minimal amount of illustrative space and are, for the most part, still depicted in the traditional environment of the home or in low skilled occupations or those with little comparative respect i.e. doctor versus kindergarten teacher. Men are portrayed in a vastly superior manner in terms of their numeric appearances as well as their activities and adventures. The next two sections will closely examine the lexical terms used to depict females and males.

6.2 Defining Details – Listing Lexicon

This section looks closely at the actual headwords and definitions used in the four dictionaries under analysis. A selection of headwords is listed in Chapter Four – Le forme e i metodi. These words will now be listed along with a summary of what was found in each dictionary. The full entries for all the headwords in each book can be found in the Dictionary Appendix 2. It is felt that while it is useful to have that information available it is unnecessary to list the full definitions as part of the analysis.

All words are listed alphabetically, placing the femmine noun first in the four cases of same word entries (e.g. ragazza/o). It becomes immediately apparent, however, that where the gender differentiation occurs only through the use of the final vowel (i.e. a-o) that the noun is usually only presented in the masculine.

217 The general reference dictionary - Dizionario italiano by Sabatini and Coletti, has been included for two reasons. The first is it offers valuable information as to what is considered the final, general definitions in the greater community and secondly, as mentioned previously, Francesco Sabatini wrote an introductory piece for Il sessismo nella lingua italiana, the guidelines for non sexist usage issued by the Commissione Nazionale per la Pari Opportunità in 1987. The entries, however, that can be found in the dictionary he co-edited do not reflect the importance he once gave to non-sexist language use. Concluding comments will be found at the end of this section.

Anziana – Anziano

Summary The first pair of anziana/anziano shows an immediate disparity. In the first entry of Prime parole (p.34) the listing appears only in the masculine form - anziano. This format repeats itself throughout all the dictionaries. Anziana never appears as a separate entry and, in fact, is only directly referred to in the Prime parole entry. The first time is as a perceived courtesy;

In tram ho ceduto il mio posto a un’anziana signora (Prime Parole 1997, p. 34)

Given that in all other entries descriptions use either the unmarked generic masculine;

i nonni sono oramai anziani, tuttavia sono persone ancora molto attive.(Prime Parole 1997, p. 34) or

Bisogna rispettare gli anziani (Dib 1997, p. 88)

Anziana becomes a rather disparaging position on the frailty of old women in particularly, rather than the respect or dynamism of others. The only other time anziana is mentioned is as the female for at the end of the Prime parole entry. The other three entries do not even offer the alternative a-e endings.

In these entries anziano is used in the unmarked masculine with referents to persona or the plural form being common;

218 Bisogna rispettare gli anziani (Daic 1997, p. 70) or

Persona di età intermedia tra la maturità e la vecchiaia (DISC 1997, p.148)

Yet there is always the sense that the masculine terms refers to men. Dib and Daic begin the examples with an example of an uncle;

Mio zio è ormai anziano. (Dib 1997, p.80, Daic p.70)

Overall the lack of direct reference to anziana lends itself to perpetuating the invisibility of women and, in particular, older women in the society.

Bambina – Bambino

Summary The entries for bambina/bambino are varied though it is only in Daic that bambina appears autonomously to that of bambino. The Prime parole entry uses it as an example to represent immature adults;

persona adulta, ma ingenua o immatura: Non fare la bambina; sei oramai troppo grande per fare ancora i capricci con i tuoi genitori (PP p.62)

The other examples use the masculine. Again placing the feminine form at the end of the main entry. Dib lists it with a direct referral to the masculine entry

bambina (bam.bi.na) s.f, vedi bambino (Dib p.147)

while Daic is the only one to list it with a description (Daic p.130). In both examples the bambina is a daughter. DISC does not list it separately.

DISC begins the entry with the descriptive;

L’individuo umano dalla nascita alla fanciullezza S marmocchio, bimbo:

This individuo umano quickly becomes a male with the use of the masculine in all other examples - figlio, bimbo, etc and its status as the unmarked generic is questionable given the first example:

219 una classe di bambini e bambine; educare un b.

The only other appearance of the femmine form, apart from the early referent (f.- na) is under the listing of infantile and extremely young;

Infantile, giovanissimo: il tuo volto è ancora b.;una sposa b. (DISC p.249)

A bambina is, therefore, a baby/daughter, an immature woman, a student or child bride. Boys are also babies, sons, students and, at times, immature adults but they are also have genius;

Mozart era un bambino prodigio (Daic p.130)

and one makes/waits and expects their arrival;

2. estens, Figlio: desiderare un b., ha due b., un maschio e una femmina ll aspettare un b., nel 1. familiare, essere incinta l fare un b., concepire, partorire un figlio (DISC p.249)

Donna – Uomo

Summary In this selection of the comparative entry study one can easily see the enormous discrepancies between the way in which woman (donna) and man (uomo) are presented in dictionaries. The first difference that can be noted is the difference in size of the entries Prime parole 30:61 Dib 113:338 Daic 112:360 and Disc 512:1259. While it is also true that one of the entries under Uomo regards its use as a dual gendered term - even though this is not acceptable usage according to Italian feminist philosophies - even in the case of the largest dictionary DISC this number only used 217 of the 1259 words. The allocation of space, therefore, is damning evidence of the disparate way in which these terms are regarded. Given that there is a no more fundamental way to nominate the difference sexes this early observation does not bode well.

As each description is analysed it becomes clear that, from the earliest educational level, women and men were presented in acutely different ways. In Prime parole, as the first dictionary, women were afforded the mere biological term

220

* persona adulta di sesso femminile (PP p.174) and while the first entry under uomo may have been referring to uomo in its generic usage it certainly isn’t clearly marked as such;

* individuo che appartiene alla specie umana. * persona adulta di sesso maschile (PP p.561)

The uomo entry also refers to the history of the word - a courtesy not afforded to donna. The descriptions were far from equitable also;

Nella nostra famiglia ci sono più donne che uomini. Non sei più una bambina, sei una donna oramai (PP p.174 )

versus

I lavoro di fatica sono lavori da uomini (PP uomo p.561)

Women being presented in the context of family and physical maturity while men are presented as strong, hard working and tireless. A good thing really if, as we are to believe from the entry under donna, women outnumber them and are always growing.

The second dictionary; Dib, holds no improvement. There are only five entries under donna;

donna 1 persona di sesso femminile. 2 persona di sesso femminile adulta. 3 moglie, fidanzata,compagna. 4 domestica:( Daic; donna (di servizio), collaboratrice familiare) 5 carta di gioco francese che rappresenta la regina. (Dib p.451) compared to seven under uomo where the seventh entry lists eight subentries which describe different types of men or their activities:

uomo 1 persona appartenente alla specie umana.(Daic; che si distinge per la posizione eretta, lo sviluppo elevato delle funzioni mentali più complesse e l’uso di un linguaggio articolato per comunicare esperienza e conoscenze) 2 maschio della specie umana; persona adulta di sesso maschile. 3 persona di sesso maschile di cui non si conosce l’identità. 4 addetto a un’attività lavorativa, a un incarico. 5 soldato dell’esercito, ella marina, dell’aeronautica. 6 componente di una squadra sportiva maschile. Marcatura a uomo. 7 a memoria d’uomo,( Daic; Andare a passo d’uomo), Come un sol uomo,. Uomo

221 d’azione,. Uomo della strada,. Uomo di mondo,. Uomo di paglia, Uomo d’onore, Uomo nero (Dib p.1434)

Women are described biologically, as partners to men (moglie, fidanzata, compagna), cleaners or a picture card. The men, on the other hand, begin with belonging to the human species and are workers, soldiers, sportsmen and so on. These vastly different ways of viewing what are supposedly two equally valid members of the same species are repeated in the types of written descriptions proffered. Again women are noted for their physical growth, usefulness as a companion or domestic

L’ultima volta che ti ho vista eri una bambina e ora sei già una donna. Lo zio é fortunato ad avere accanto a sé una donna come lei. Se non avesse una donna di servizio la mamma, dovendo lavorare non potrebbe sbrigare da sola tutte le facende domestiche. (Dib p.451 Daic [underlined additions] p.409)

The underlined section of these quotes indicate the additions made in the later dictionary Daic. These differences and the addition of the terms; donna (di servizio), collaboratrice familiare under 4. rather than domestica are the only changes found in the two dictionaries’ entries. The fact that the descriptive entry for the use of a domestic refers only to woman (domestica and da sola) and the rather pointed addition of ‘la mamma, dovendo lavorare’ in the entry under Daic places domestic duties definitively in the realm of women’s work. One assumes that ‘il papà’ works too, though obviously he does not need to worry about combining that ‘dovere’ with ‘le faccende domestiche’.

The last dictionary entry to be analysed for the entries under women and men is the DISC. Donna appears at p.792 and uomo at p.1314

Given the size of the entries they will not be dismantled piece by piece but rather a number of key areas have been extracted in order to illustrate the disparity and the overt stereotypical nature of the entries. The categories are; adjectives, professions, phrases, descriptions and references to (the opposite sex). The first one is adjectives. Under the donna entry women are described as;

222 alta, magra, robusta, slanciata, formosa, bella, brutta; d. intelligente, sensibile, spiritosa, colta, affascinante; di animo semplice, buono, generoso- d. di classe, colta brillante, ricca di stile.

Men are;

un bell’u. un u. alto, ben fatto, robusto, muscoloso, magro, piccolo di statura; u. giovane, maturo, attempato, anziano, vecchio. buon u., brav u. potente, semplice, affabile e cordiale, estremamente generoso, (Marito, compagno).

They are, however, also described in another way;

l’u. della strada, l’u.del momento del giorno, l’u. massa, l’u. qualunque, l’u. nero, parlarsi da u. a u., pover’u. ,sant’u. ,una perla d’u., un grand’u., un u.buono, un pezzo d’u., u. alla mano, u. d’azione, u. di coscienza, u. di cuore,u. di fiducia, u. di gusto, u. di merito, u. di mondo, u. di parola, u. di poche parole, u. di spirito, u. di talento, u. d’onore, u. finito, u. forte, u. navigato, u.nuovo.

While there are some obvious similarities; bella - bell’u., robusta/o, alta/o and differences between the straightforward adjectives; formosa - muscoloso there are also some choices that are considered somewhat stereotypical - women are; spiritosa, colta, affascinante, di classe, colta brillante, ricca di stile. Overall the type of attributes associated with the necessity of being ‘ladylike’ while men are giovane, maturo, attempato, anziano, vecchio, brav u. potente, semplice, affabile e cordiale. A much more diverse range of characteristics. This follows with a long list of ways of being a man for example; u. di fiducia, u. di gusto, u. di merito, u. di mondo, u. di parola. The entry under donna certainly does not contain a similar extensive listing and even though there are a few negative entries (e.g. pover’u.) they do not redress the obvious discrepancy.

The next category is Professions. Under woman the professions listed were;

donna-poliziotto; donna soldato II d. di casa - con valore antifrastico, donna sessualmente disponibile, prostituta, d. di servizio (o assol.la d.), domestica - d. di strada, da marciapiede, di vita, di malaffare, prosituta - gentildonna, padrona, governatrice:

under the entry for uomo there were;

223 parrucchiere per u. u. di affari, operatore economico e finanzario, u. d’arme, soldato, u. di chiesa, ecclesiastico, u. di legge, avvocato, giurista, magistrato, u. di lettere, letterato, u. di mare, marinaio, addetto: l’u. della luce, del telefono, della manutenzione, l’u. delle pulizie; l’u. del gas, giocatore, atleta, componente di un’unità militare, dell’equipaggio di una nave o di un aereo, controllore di volo, sommozzatore, u.-sandwich, u. ragno, u. gol, u. partita, u. media.

The difference has become more marked than before. Women are, for the most part, depicted as prostitutes (7:16) or domestics (4:16). Referents to prostitutes figure seven times in an entry containing sixteen professions. They are related to the domestic environment four times, the only two non stereotypical examples; donna-poliziotto; donna soldato were included as anomalies and the last three are made up of an honorific; gentildonna, a title; padrona, and governatrice, the latter usually carries connotations of an outdated teaching job rather than the prestigious governing role of its male counterpart.

Under uomo, however, the choice is much more extensive and interesting. The inclusions range from blue collar work; addetto: l’u. della luce, del telefono, della manutenzione, l’u. delle pulizie; l’u. del gas,; to white collar; u. di affari, operatore economico e finanzario u. di legge, avvocato, giurista, magistrato, u. di lettere, letterato,; the armed forces; componente di un’unità militare, soldato to highly paid and well known positions as soccer players; u. gol, u. partita, giocatore, atleta. There are no gigolos, house cleaners (though there is one cleaning man but he’s the uomo delle pulizie and not the domestico) or honorifics.

The next category of Phrases serves to move the two entries even further apart. Under donna Disc offers these examples;

se quella santa d. la smettesse di occuparsi di mezzo mondo! chi dice donna dice danno. le donne ne sanno una più del diavolo. chi vuol vivere e star sano, dalle donne stia lontano. la mia d. II le mie d.

and under uomo there are these entries;

224 Essere umano adulto di sesso maschile, nelle sue caratteristiche peculiari, nelle sue funzione sociali, nei suoi attributi anche morali, spec. in contrapposizione a bambino o a donna un u. non piange mai!; cerca di cavartela, ormai sei un uomo. Essere appartenente biologicamente all’ordine dei Primati, l’u. delle caverne, preistorico, primitivo, origine, comparsa, evoluzione dell’u la storia dell’u; l’anima , la natura, la psiche dell’u.; la coscienza,l’intelligenza, l’inventività, l’immaginazione, la memoria, la moralità, la volontà dell’u.; la lotta dell’u. contro la natura; il dominio dell’u. sull’universo; l’u. antico, moderno; l’u. greco, medievale, rinascimentale, contemporaneo; i diritti e i doveri dell’u.; a memoria d’u. U. di Neanderthal, U di Cromagnon

These two categories are hardly comparable. Women are depicted as negative, evil forces that ruin a man’s life; danno. una più del diavolo, and sano or interfering pests; quella santa d. While men, baring one references to their need to suppress their emotions, do not even come close to level of misogynistic phrases contained under donna.

The references to the opposite sex contained under each entry is also indicative of the limited and derogatory view of women. A man is only directly referred to once in donna and that is as a figlio di buona d. or more plainly speaking; son of a prostitute. The indirect references again places women in the roles of whore (andare a donne) or, at best, an object to obtain (correre dietro alle d). Unfortunately the entries for women under uomo do not give them back their dignity. They are the nervous wife - la moglie aspetta con ansia il suo u.; and the lowly secretary with her new boyfriend - è il nuovo u. della segretaria.

Femmina – Maschio

Summary Each entry has a separate listing for this pair of opposites. In Prime parole, Dib and Daic femmina is primarily referred to as an essere vivente while under maschio for Prime parole and Dib is an animale o essere umano. The necessity for a distinction is the second case is unclear. Daic lists both as essere vivente. In the category that directly relates to humanity women are donna;

persona di sesso femminile, donna: (PP p.202 Dib p.503 & Daic p.583)

225 Donna, essere umano di sesso femminile ( DISC p.939)

while men are figlio, bambino, ragazzo and uomo.

figlio di sesso maschile, bambino, ragazzo (PP p.311) ragazzo, uomo (Dib p.825& Daic p.749) di sesso maschile (DISC p.1498)

In the first three entries there is not much difference between the format. Females are fertilised, males fertilise, merely continues the passive/active dynamic and the explanation of figli (children) as un maschio and una femmina is unlikely to satisfy Sabatini’s recommendations74. What is more concerning is the inclusion under the Daic entry of femmina in the section referring to principle nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs that belong to the same word family;

L’effeminato agg. “che ha un atteggiamento lezioso, poco virile”,

To be effeminate is to be simpering and affected, terms most often used in a pejorative context. Describing a man’s behaviour as female like, i.e. effeminate, is still considered a grave insult. Placing this description under the entry of femmina not only reinforces this association but also the notion that ‘female like’ behaviour is unacceptable and without social value.

The specific entry in DISC incorporates the generic description of femmina as donna with the adjunct of its often pejorative nature;

2. Donna, essere umano di sesso femminile; spesso con valore spreg.: <> (Dante); in tal senso, in passsato si distingueva nettamente da donna; oggi invece, accentua (in rapporto a femminilità) il richiamo sensuale che l’uomo coglie nella donna (DISC p.939)

The entry places women in a disparaging position(Dante) and then objectifying manner (il richiamo sensuale che l’uomo coglie nella donna). In stark contrast the entry for maschio in DISC begins with maschio as a human entity;

74 see section 4.1a linguistic layout A1b - unmarked masculine and A1e absorption into the unmarked masculine.

226 1. Di sesso maschile 2. estens. Che rivela energia, risolutezza S virile, energico, duro, vigoroso, forte: linementi m.; forza m.; animo m. (DISC p.1498)

and the descriptions are varied and dynamic. The second description deals with the maschio as a generic propagator - in the entry under femmina reproductive capacity came first. The other examples deal with the use of the terms in an inanimate context and are not relevant for the purposes of this analysis. Overall the first three dictionaries have a discrepancy of size between 20 and 30 words in favour of maschio, while DISC has the reverse with 168 to 210.

Femminile – Maschile

Summary The difference between these sets of entries is interesting. Femminile is allocated more space in terms of words; in all but one entry, Daic has a difference of only two words in favour of maschile, the difference is between twenty and forty words. The conclusion could be drawn that being femmine is considered valuable. The descriptives are unusually different. Under femminile for the school dictionaries the examples refer to sport and fashion;

Gioco nella squadra femminile di calcio. Questa camicia è femminile, perché ha i bottoni a sinistra. (PP p.202)

Sono entrata nella squadra di palavolo femminile della mia scuola. La moda di quest’anno propone grosse novità per l’abbigliamento femminile. (Dib p.533 and Daic p.483)

while the male examples only refer to a voce maschile on the phone.

In DISC femminile is immediately placed in a sexual context;

‹ agg. 1. Caratteristico della femmina: sessualità f. 2. Proprio della donna (si contrappone a maschile e virile) S donnesco, muliebre: psicologia f.; associazione f.; acconciatura f (DISC p.939)

though for maschile the referents are more varied;

227 ‹ agg. Di, da maschio (contrapposto a femminile) S mascolino, virile: classe m. e femminile, volgere al femminile alcuni nomi m. ; sesso m.; abito m.; atteggiamento molto m. (DISC 1498)

What is also noteworthy, though not of direct relevance, is the necessity to specify the sex of la tigre as female - E’ una tigre di sesso femminile - or similar variations - appear in the three school dictionaries. The use of a corresponding qualification in the case of a noun in the masculine gender for a masculine entity rarely occurs.

Fratello – Sorella

Summary The listings of fratello and sorella appear in all four dictionaries. In the first three; Prime parole, Dib and Daic, sorella appears only as a female person born to the same parents;

persona di sesso femminile, nata dagli stessi genitori: ho una sorella più piccola con cui vado molto d’accordo. (PP p.501)

Fratello appears as a son born to the same parents as other children. It is interesting to note that figlio needs to be qualified with the use of maschio even though it is only in the plural that it is considered to represent both sexes. The difference between these entries and the corresponding entries for sorella is marked and it is inconsistent that fratello is primarily described as son while sorella is not specifically identified as daughter. In Dib and Daic, as brothers with a deep or originary connection;

3 amarsi come fratelli: amarsi profondamente. Fratelli di latte: allattati dalla stessa donna. (Dib p 567. Daic p.514)

The entries under sorella and fratello in DISC reinforce this difference. Fratello is described in a much more generic fashion than sorella;

1. Persona legata ad altra o ad altre da un vincolo di parentela derivante dai comuni genitori ( di sesso maschile, se al sing., opposto a sorella; di entrambi sessi se al pl.) (fratello - DISC p.1008)

228 1. Persona di sesso femminile che ha entrambi i genitori in comune con un’altra o più persone (sorella - DISC p.2492 )

The use of fratelli as an unmarked generic is not appropriate according to non sexist language usage in Italian and it is this usage that influences nine of the ten different entries under the first description. It is, however, one entry that illustrates the inappropriate inclusion of two genders in a noun that is also used to identify a single sex group. The need to differentiate fratello and sorella when it comes to love; amarsi come f. e sorella, in order to indicate an ‘amore forte e casto’ suggests that to say amarsi come fratelli is not really sufficient to indicate a mixed sex couple or group.

The next entries for both fratello and sorella are religious though again the entry under fratelli depicts its asymmetric use as an unmarked masculine/generic form, further compounded by the selection of phrases such as gli uomini in quanto figli. The repeated use of unmarked masculine nouns excludes the existence of females. Fratello as a member of the priesthood also appears. Sorella appears only as a member of a religious order and is not used within any generic or encompassing context.

In terms of close links fratello is also used to denote a close relationship either in a personal, a professional or a group context. In the sense of a communal origin both fratello and sorella are used to delineate a close or linked relationship. For the most part the use of fratello, outside that of its direct familial context, is represented in terms of the concept ‘fratellanza’ or brotherhood. The exclusive nature of this terminology and indeed concept is not qualified but is rather highlighted by the use of specifically masculine concepts for example; f. d’armi, commilitoni - brothers in arms

229

Fratellanza – Sorellanza

Summary The entries for fratellanza and sorellanza only have their own headword in DISC. (Fratellanza p.1008 and Sorellanza p.2492). The description of the word meanings is indicative of two very different applications. Fratellanza incorporates the concept of a ‘natural tie or connection’ between brothers;

‹ 1. Legame naturale; vincolo affettivo tra fratelli:

and extends that idea into a more global sense in terms of agreement on ideas or in a more formal sense of membership to an association.

2. estens. Sentimento, affetto e solidarietà che lega più persone tra loro come fratelli; comunanza di ideali e di intenti S fraternità: 3. Denominazione di varie associazioni laiche o religiose con fini umanitario o caritativi; società con scopi di mutuo soccorso tra gli aderenti S confraternità

Sorellanza focus more specifically on the links of affection between sisters and only briefly mentions the notion of greater female solidarity;

‹ 1. Vincolo di parentela intercorrente tra due sorelle; estens. Solidarietà femminile.

It also notes a rapport of interdependency or affinity between things but not people. Arising again is the use of a masculine term as an unmarked generic as well as a marked noun while the femmine is restricted to indicating only feminine nouns.

Lesbica – Omosessuale

Summary These two words are not necessarily the most accurate of opposites. Lesbica is a relatively innocuous term to describe a woman that prefers relationships with other women rather than men and its relation to the poetess Sappho gives it a perceived credibility. For males DISC lists finocchio and gay as terms to describe male

230 homosexuals, the first however has pederast connotations and the second is a forestierismo - a borrowed word. The neutrality of omosessuale sees it used in conjunction with lesbica and this has lead to its increasing usage to describe male homosexuals rather than both females and males

Neither lesbica nor omosessuale appear in Prime parole and lesbica’s first appearance is in the adult dictionary DISC. Omosessuale appears in Dib, Daic and DISC. The first two entries for omosessuale are fairly vague;

uomo o donna che sente attrazione per persone del suo stesso sesso: In Olanda i matrimoni fra omosessuali sono consentiti dalla legge. (Dib p.918 Daic p.834)

The entry under DISC is also brief for both lesbica and omosessuale. This pair does not directly discriminate against women, though lesbica is not found until DISC. It does, however, highlight the discrimination of Italian society towards male homosexuals and the perception that male deviation from the socially defined sexual norm would naturally encompass all forms of deviant sexual behaviour.

Madre – Padre

Summary There are some noticeable discrepancies between the two words analysed here. In the first three dictionaries madre is described as someone who looks after her children, an animal that suckles her young and a nun with authority

Ogni madre cura il proprio bambino con immenso amore. (PP p.302) Pur avendo un lavoro impegnativo quella signora è una madre attenta e premurosa verso i suoi figli. (Dib p.800 Daic p.727)

I cuccioli dei mammiferi vengono allattati dalla madre. (PP p.302) Il mio gattino viene ancora allattato dalla madre (Dib p.800 Daic p.727)

La madre superiora dirige il convento (PP.p.302) Andremo a parlare con la madre superiora del convento (Dib p.800 Daic p.727)

While fathers are presented in a much more varied ways which encompass the spectrum of paternal/patriarchal manner. They are the generators of children, the

231 founders of the arts and other disciplines, religious members and enjoy the formal titles which refer to their many other social roles. Most of these specified roles begin to appear in the Dib. The diversification of women’s roles as mothers does not vary from mother, animal and nun until DISC. The main areas of parental/family oriented roles, spiritual, founder and originator and other will be discussed below, the nouns and phrases for women will be highlighted to facilitate differentiation.

The first area is terminology relating to parental/family roles;

essere una seconda m. per qlcu., detto di una donna che si dedica alla cura di qlcu. con amore e affetto come se fosse un figlio fare da m. a qlcu. crescerlo con dedizione e affetto materno m. di famiglia, che accudisce con dedizione i figli e si occupa della casa

fare da p. a qlcu, allevarlo, educarlo, assisterlo amorevolemente aiutandolo a crescere proprio come dovrebbe fare un padre fare le veci del p., assumere le funzioni buon p.di famiglia, criterio elastico indicante la condotta dell’uomo medio p.adottivo, chi ha adottato un figlio p.putativo, che è ritenuto p.di qlcu., pur non essendolo realmente p.di famiglia, il p., inteso come colui che ha la responsibilità del sostentamento e dell’andamento di una famiglia

The roles of a mother and a father are quite clearly different in the area of parental/family responsibility. A mother si dedica alla cura - con dedizione e affetto materno - e si occupa della casa. A father, on the other hand, has a much more varied and detailed set of responsibilities - assumere le funzioni - in regards to, not only a child’s upbringing: allevarlo, educarlo, assisterlo amorevolemente aiutandolo a crescere but also the family’s place and success in society in general - p.di famiglia and buon p.di famiglia. One could say that the role of the father remains similar to the traditional concept of pater familias where the father has absolute authority of the family and the education and upbringing of the children. The mother’s role remains restricted to that of carer and even in the earlier example found in Dib and Daic75 where even though ‘quella signora’ has employment she takes very good care

75 Pur avendo un lavoro impegnativo quella signora è una madre attenta e premurosa verso i suoi figli. (Dib p.800 Daic p.727)

232 of her children. This type of definition does not recognise the amount of education and effort that a mother daily expends on raising her children.

This notion is reflected in the types of adjectives used to describe mothers and fathers. Mothers are tenera, affettuosa while fathers are buon, cattivo, affettuoso, esemplare, indulgente, and severo. Women make men fathers rendere p. by giving them a child dargli un figlio and strangely enough it is only by the loss of a father that a child becomes an orphan; restare orfano di p - the same description does not appear under madre. The terms ragazza madre and ragazzo padre indicate a social judgement more so than a neutral comment;

ragazza m., che ha partorito uno o più figli senza essere sposata

ragazzo p., nel 1. familiare e in senso scherzoso, uomo, per lo più in giovane età, che alleva da solo uno o più figli, non essendo presente la madre

was the ‘boy’ also unmarried or is this an unnecessary piece of information given that the mother has obviously abandoned her children, either through death, misfortune or deliberately - non essendo presente la madre and given the notification that it is a lighthearted term one assumes that the percentage of ‘boys’ left in this position is comparatively small. The other social comment implied in this difference is the essential role of the female and male. The female must give birth to the child, there is always, if only temporarily, a mother. She is a mother, or in this case a ragazza madre, and the presence of a male is mentioned only in terms of her lack of one. The male, on the other hand, only becomes a father – ragazzo padre - through the absence of a mother.

The generational connections also have a place in the greater familial context. The maternal line gets only two mentions in DISC; parente per parte di m. in linea materna, along with the earlier reference to a matriarchal society in Daic (p.727) as well as the more oblique one of; aver succhiato qlco. col latte della m.. The terminology for men is more defined;

233 di p. in figlio, di generazione in generazione di figlio in p., andando a ritroso nel tempo parentela per parte o per via di p., seguendo la linea paterna and finally the biggest role of all;

S antenato, avo, capostipite, progenitore: Adamo è il p. del genere umano; tornare alla terra dei p.; nel 1. letterario, fondatore di una stirpe: il p. Enea, Romolo, Abramo

Similar terms under mother are more abstract; m. patria madrepatria

The next section is the one which incorporates direct and indirect references in a spiritual or religious context. Women get two references that also appear in similar forms in the earlier dictionaries;

m.spirituale, madrina la m. superiora; la m. badessa; mi ascolti m. and the direct reference to the Christian figure of the Madonna;

M. di misericordia, di grazia, dei peccatori ecc.

The mother concept is also used for the overall title of the church;

Chiesa m. santa m. Chiesa,

Men have a far greater amount of activities under the role of moral or spiritual guides

gli ha fatto da p.; in lui ha trovato un p. p.spirituale, Padri della Chiesa, S frate: reverendo p.; p.guardiano, priore, provinciale; i p.benedettini, cappuccini, francescani; padri della Dottrina Cristiana, della Fede Beatissimo p., Santo p. p.conciliari padri del deserto, santi p. p.immediati p.missionari p.coscritti

234 When the concept of mother and father becomes less concrete the description are similar in number though somewhat diverse in placement. Female as spiritual mother is the ancient earth mother;

la gran m. - prima, antica m. m. natura. tornare a m., alla gran m., alla antica m.

while male as spiritual father is the omniscient ‘God’ of the pantheon and Christian heaven;

Divinità creatrice del mondo e in partic. dell’uomo: Giove Dio p.celeste, eterno; il P., il Figlio e lo Spirito Santo ll p.nostro,

In terms of founders, leaders and originators the roles of mother and father are again quite different. Mothers are listed only as the irrelevant regina m. Men, however, get to be the founders of states and countries;

p.della repubblica, della patria, fondatore o salvatore dello stato S fondatore, iniziatore, maestro, promotore p.nobile,

Indirect referents to madre as founder again refer to an abstract notion; idea m. and scienza m. It is worth noting that the ‘fathers’ of science are usually those that win awards. The concept of mother in terms of originator is described in rather pejorative and perhaps incongruous ways;

la guerra è m.di molti orrori la m. di tutte le battaglie, quella decisiva

and in terms of a pivotal point it echoes the woman as irrational and excessively melodramatic;

scena m. di un romanzo, di un film, di una commedia, quella in cui si verificiano gli avvenimenti più importanti; da qui la loc. fig. fare una scena m., improvvisare una scena d’effetto, con toni melodrammatici e accessi, con ira o con pianto

The other two direct referents to mother do not have corresponding male terms; they are m. coraggio and m. in affitto. The first term describes a mother involved in a cause for social justice and the other refers to a women that offers her uterus in exchange for money.

235

Mamma – Papà

Summary In Prime parole these two entries are similar and require little comment. Dib and Daic repeat the stereotypes of madre and padre. La mamma, even though she works, still looks after the house and the children;

la mia mamma lavora tutto il giorno, ma si occupa anche della casa e dei figli. (Dib p.810 Daic p.736)

Dads, on the other hand, are out working and socialising. The implication that they are also the financial benefactors is also clear in the second example used to illustrate the use of papà;

2 nome con il quale ci si rivolge affettuosamente al proprio padre: Papà, mi regali la bicicletta? (Dib p.867 Daic p.954)

The difference of size between mamma (p.1469) and papà (p.1795) is DISC perhaps alludes to the importance in Italian society placed on the role of mother in a woman’s life - 429 compared to 216. This is one of the few headwords where the entry for the feminine referent far outweighs that of the masculine. Papà receives a single line explanation;

Padre; è usato sempre come appellativo là dove non si usa babbo where as mamma begins with;

Donna che ha generato figli, spec. nel 1. familiare la propria madre S madre: and incorporates the secondary;

Persona, in genere donna, che si occupa di qlcu. facendogli da madre o da guida morale e spirituale: la sorella maggiore ha fatto da m. ai fratellini; m. dei derelitti as well as the animalistic;

anche, femmina di animale che ha generato: m. gatta; m. chioca ll

236 Other terminology that appears under mother refers outwardly rather than in a generative sense;

bello di m./ cocco di m. / come m. l’ha fatto,/ essere attaccato alle gonne della m.

There are no similar entries under papà.

Maternità – paternità

Summary Maternità and paternità are not included in Prime parole. Maternità appears as a head word in the remaining three dictionaries while paternità is only included as an adjunct to paterno in Dib and Daic, though it is a separate head word in DISC. Maternità is variously described as the;

1 l’essere , il diventare madre: Lucia non ha ancora provato le gioie della maternità (Dib p.828 Daic p.752)

It is unfortunate that in the description of the hospital ward the patients are, naturally, female while the doctor is rather stereotypically male;

2 reparto ospedaliero dove vengono ricoverate le partorienti: Conosco un medico che lavora in maternità. (my bold)

DISC adds the relationship, affectionate and legal between a mother and child;

il rapporto affettivo della madre con il figlio: le gioie della m.; il rapporto anagrafico-giuridico tra figlio e madre: dichiarare paternità e m. (p.1505)

In the entries under paterno for paternità it is also; l’essere o il diventare padre”, though the more general usage as ‘author’ is also applied;

ma anche “attribuzione di un’opera a un autore”. (Dib p.973 and Daic p.883) Condizione di autore, di ideatore di un’opera artistica, di un concetto, di un sistema di pensiero (DISC p.1836)

All the entries for maternità include its use as leave from employment; entrare, essere in m and as its hospital ward; Reparto ospedaliero di ostetricia e ginecologia. DISC includes it use in the religious art of the Madonna col Bambino

237

DISC is more expansive in its entry under paternità with a word comparison differentiation of 197 to 101. This suggests an obsession with legal paternity with three of the four subheadings being related to the determination of fatherhood;

ricerca della p., esami di laboratorio compiuti sul DNA, che consentono di identificare con certezza il padre di un bambino l presunzione di p., quella per cui il figlio della donna sposata si considera generato dal marito, salvo azione di disconoscimento l disconoscimento della p., azione legale mirata a negare la p., presumendo che il nato sia frutto di una relazione extraconiugale della moglie (p.1836)

The other entries under paternità relate to spiritual nomination rather than material matters.

Matriarcato/Matriarca – Patriarcato/Patriarca

Summary There is no listing for matriarcato/matriarca in Prime parole or Dib and nothing for partriarcato/patriarca in Prime parole. The first entry for matriarcato appears in Daic (p.752) and offers a qualified explanation of matriarcato;

1 sistema sociale in cui secondo l’ipotesi di alcuni studiosi la donna era a capo della famiglia e dominava il gruppo. 2 per estensione, famiglia o società in cui la donna ha una considerevole autorità.

Dib and Daic don’t list patriarcato either as an adjunct to patriarca or as a headword. Their listing of patriarca are similar and list a number of explanatory options; elder, religious fathers, eastern orthodox church head and as a title for archbishops. There is no hint of dubiousness nor vagueness and quotes are given to legitimise the statements;

Abramo, Isacco e Giacobbe sono i tre patriarchi. Il patriarca di Venezia è stato eletto papa. (Dib p.974 Daic p.752)

DISC lists both matriarcato/matriarca (p.1505) and patriarcato/patriarca (p.1838). The dubious qualification made in Daic does not appear in these entries. The listings for matriarcato and patriarcato initially appear similar though there are

238 some telling divergences. The first entry for matriarcato deals with it as a social system;

1. etnol. Istituzione sociale in cui la donna ha il predominio e il potere in quanto madre e capo di famiglia (si contrappone a patriarcato): il m. mondo antico

This is the second entry for patriarcato;

2. etnol. Sistema sociale caratterizzato dalla posizione di assoluto predominio del più anziano discendente maschile (contrapposto al matriarcato)

A matriarchy is a social institution where the women holds power only in her role as mother and head of the family. This is further defined by its common usage as the woman who holds sway over a family, a group or a social situation;

2. estens. Predominio della donna in una famiglia, in un gruppo, in un ambiente sociale ecc

A patriarchy, however, is defined much more globally, a social system where the oldest man has absolute power and furthermore describes an illustrious and powerful ecclesiastic career;

1. eccl. Dignità di patriarca e durata della sua carica; territorio soggetto alla sua giurisdizione e, anche, sede del patriarca

The appearance of matriarca and patriarca in DISC reflect the more common usage of terms associated with patriarchy and the limited, if not questionable validity of matriarchy and its allied words. Matriarca is limited to a woman who belongs to a matriarchal society or the decisive and severe head of a numerous family. Patriarca is divided into four different semantic meanings. The first one covers the social system regarding the male head of un vasto gruppo familiare, con piena autorità sui discendenti diretti e indiretti. The other three relate to religious focused descriptions that included;

2. i p.citati nell’ Antico Testamento 3. p.della Chiesa greco-ortodossa, russo-ortodossa il p.di Antiochia, di Aquileia, di Gerusalemme and 4. estens. Fondatore di un ordine religioso

239 The etymological listings for matriarca and matriarcato give them as coming into usage in 1975 and 1927 respectively which is rather puzzling as matriarcato is supposedly :

E comp.di lat. mater (genit. matris) “madre” e -arca con ato, sul modello di patriarcato z a 1927

but matriarca didn’t come in common usage until 1975;

E comp.di lat. mater (genit matris) “madre” e -arca, sul modello di patriarca z a. 1975

Patriarca and patriarcato is listed as having an etymological date of - zsec. XIII. Interestingly the New Oxford Dictionary of English notes the usage of matriarchy - being based on Latin origin, as beginning in the seventeenth century.76 This usage predates the entries in DISC by some three hundred years. Why, given the Latin origins, did these words regarding female centric social constructs take so long to become recognised in the Italian dictionaries when they had long been recognised and in use as Latin derivatives in another language? Discrepancies such as these could indicate resistance at social and linguistic levels regarding the recognition of women as valuable and dynamic participants.

Marito - Moglie

Summary The listings appear in all dictionaries. For the first three there is a similar key semantic description;

coniuge di sesso maschile (Prime parole p.310 Dib p.822 Daic p.746) coniuge di sesso femminile (Prime parole p.326 Dib p.861Daic p.782)

Dib and Daic add the term; Prendere moglie: sposarsi (detto di uomo). under the headword of moglie as well as adding three synonyms;

S consorte, sposa, signora

76 Ed. Pearsall. J. (1988) The New Oxford Dictionary of English Oxford University Press p.1142 - ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from Latin mater ‘mother’. on the false analogy of patriarch

240 There are some interesting distinctions in the DISC entries which highlight the manner in which marriage is represented in Italian society. Under marito (p.1492) a married man is considered such in relation to his wife;

Uomo sposato, considerato in relazione a sua moglie

a woman, however, having married a man is a wife;

La donna congiunta in matrimonio con un uomo (p.1578)

There are also some discrepancies in the descriptive terms. Under both entries one can be husband and wife, and have a husband or wife but the remaining entries under moglie describes her in a passive if not objectifying manner;

chiedere in m.; essere separato dalla m.;( ) avere m. e figli

The other entries under marito refer to women being married;

aver m., essere sposata l prendere m., sposarsi.

Or a girl being ready for a husband;

da m., in età da m., si dice di ragazza nell’età ritenuta giusta per il matrimonio

That there is no similar term under moglie for a boy alludes not only to the social status attributed to becoming a wife but also of the lack of necessity for male youths to worry about ‘taking’ one.

A brief comment should be made on the proverb that appears in both listings and the other sayings and proverbs that appear under moglie. The joint proverb is;

tra moglie e m. non mettere il dito, se un estraneo si intromette nei rapporti personali fra coniugi per aiutarli a risolvere i loro problemi, peggiora la situazione

This unqualified inclusion in a dictionary entry does little to dispel the myths surrounding the inviolable privacy of the family unit and the abuse that such privacy often hides. The other proverbs are only under moglie;

moglie e buoi dei paesi tuoi, è meglio sposarsi con una donna del proprio paese che ha abitudini, conoscenze simili

241 volere la botte piena e la moglie ubriaca, detto di chi vuole ottenere qlco. senza sacrificare nulla

That these quaint sayings are somewhat objectionable in their portrayal of a wife as the equivalent of a cow or a drunkard. The final saying of; essere come la m. di Cesare, even con valore ironico, certainly suggests that wives can be untrustworthy things as well. It is interesting that there appears to be no corresponding types of sayings directed at the value and activities of husbands.

Nonna - Nonno

Summary Nonna only appears as an adjunct to the entry of nonno in Prime parole (p.341). It does appear as a separate headword in Dib (p.898), Daic (p.815) and DISC (p.1675). The two school dictionaries do not overtly discriminate though the lack of examples for nonna and the lengthy one for nonno is noticeable. What is also noteworthy is that the semantic description under nonna contravenes the recommendations of Sabatini in that it uses the unmarked generic masculine of genitori77 yet the entry under nonno actually conforms with its use of the separate nouns; del padre o della madre.

The two listings under DISC are evident of the discrimination directed towards older people regardless of their gender, but the entry under nonna is significantly more condemnatory of grandmas and their ways;

fig. della n., antiquato, datato, superato: il vestito, i mutandoni, le trine e i merletti della n.; le idee della n.; è stanca, n.?; posso aiutarla, n.? con valore spreg., persona lenta, impacciata: essere una n.; guidare come una n.; che nonna!

The only positive attributes appear to be their ability to cook;

con valore positivo, genuino, casalingo: i biscotti, la torta, la marmellata, il rosolio della n.

77 see section 4.1a linguistic layout A1b - unmarked masculine

242 Grandfathers don’t get off lightly either, they suffer from an incompetence of mind and body;

pensare, vestire, vivere come i n. in modo antiquato sì, mio nonno!, nel 1. familiare, formula usata per negare o per esprimere incredultià nei confronti di affermazioni che si ritenga inverosimili si sieda nonno!; vuole una mano n.?

They are, however, also accorded the respect of being the progenitors or founders; estens. gli antenati S avi. progenitori: al tempo dei nostri n. and the term nonno is also ascribed to the one with the most experience and closest to discharge; Nel gergo militare, soldato prossimo al congedo.

The difference, therefore, is telling and reflects more general stereotypes of women being of social value only in the home while men have a much wider range of activities ascribed to them.

Prostituta - Prostituto

Summary A very different set of circumstances are found under the entries of prostituta - prostituto. In a similar fashion to lesbica/omosessuale it is difficult to find an adequate masculine declination that corresponds to prostituta. DISC does list prostituto though does not offer any synonyms - slang or formal. Prostituta appears first in Dib (p.898) as a woman that gives her body for money; donna che ha rapporti sessuali a pagamento. Daic’s (p.964) listing is identical; donna che ha rapporti sessuali a pagamento.. The listing under DISC (p.2062) is not more complex though rather more formal;

‹ Donna che esercita la prostituzione S volg. puttana; lett. Meretrice

Under prostituto two specific qualifiers are included;

‹ volg. 1. Omosessuale, spec. passivo, che si prostituisce 2. Uomo che si fa mantenere (p.2062)

243 A man who sells his body for money does so, like women, to other men or behaves in the manner of a gigolo. This term has only come into common usage since the late eighties; E deriv. di prostituta * z a. 1989 whereas prostituta has been used since z sec XIV. It is one of the few cases where social change, in terms of its appearance in language, have been incorporated in the dictionaries under analysis.

Ragazza - Ragazzo

Summary As with most of the entries that signify gender difference by the use of diverse endings ragazza doesn’t appear in Prime parole nor Dib. It does however have its own headword in Daic (p.995). The entry is brief and describes a girl as a youth/adolescent and a girlfriend;

1 giovane, adolescente di sesso femminile: E’ una ragazza gaia e intelligente. 2 fidanzata: La mia ragazza ha deciso di sposarmi. Evviva! (p.995) S giovanetta, fanciulla, signorina (nel significato 1; innamorata nel significato 2).

Ragazzo receives similar treatment in Prime parole (p.424) in that he is a youth/adolescent or a boyfriend. Dib (p.1806) and Daic (p.995) add the term; ragazzo di bottega: giovane apprendista. Furthermore, while in Daic a girl is bubbly and intelligent, in Dib and Daic boys are the future of humanity and workers;

Si dice spesso che i ragazzi sono il futuro dell’umanità. Il mio ragazzo ha finalmente trovato un lavoro

There is also a lack of clarity as to when the so called generic terms are being used as the two sentences above indicate. One perhaps assumes that i ragazzi means all young people but when coupled with il mio ragazzo, which, one then assumes, is referring to a male (in this case a boyfriend), the possibility of interpreting the former sentence to mean the male youth occurs. It is only later in the entry that the plural is noted as having the possibility of pertaining to a mixed group; G al plur. può indicare i giovani senza distinzione di sesso

244 The DISC entries (p.2132) are more extensive for both ragazza and ragazzo though the masculine one is more comprehensive. A ragazza is a young woman and described as being;

una bella, una brava r.; è una r. per bene;

in a more direct sense she is also a housemaid; r. alla pari, a prostitute; r. di vita, r. squillo and an unmarried mother; r. madre, or unmarried in general; Donna nubile S signorina though possibly attached to a man;

Giovane donna a cui si è legati sentimentalmente S innamorata, fidanzata: avere, farsi la r.; porta sempre con sé la foto della sua r.

Ragazzo enjoys a much longer and more diversified listing and there are a few noteworthy anomalies. Firstly he is a young man who is;

gentile, educato, scontroso, maturo, tranquillo, and one must; non trattarlo da bambino, ormai è un r.

Like una ragazza he can also be an innamorato, fidanzato added to which is anche il compagno abituale. He is also a;

3. Figlio maschio (al pl. può indicare maschi e femmine): ha due r. e una bambina; i r. stanno bene

Which has no corresponding entry under ragazza78.

If he steps outside the norm he can be considered a; r. difficile, or part of a group of recalcitrant youths; ragazzi di vita and if this behaviour appears again as an adult he is exhorted to;

per favore, cercare di ragionare, non fare il r.!; or, more positively

nonostante gli anni mi sento un r.;

He is described in similar terms as a ragazza madre in that he is simply an unmarried father; r. padre, padre di condizione celibe, This is in contrast to the asymmetry of the entries for madre/padre. An, unlike under the entry for girl, he

78 see section 4.1a linguistic layout A1b - unmarked masculine

245 could be an extraordinarily intelligent boy; r. prodigio. Included under the entry for ragazzo is also the role of apprentice, worker and clerk or the old term of servant. Apart from ‘helping out’ as a ragazza alla pari girls are certainly not described in any autonomous terms.

The other terms are general though they use the exclusive form of the unmarked masculine;

da r., all’età in cui si è ragazzi: da r. abitavo in campagna; siamo stati amici fin da r. ragazzi è ora di muoversi!; a presto, ragazzi! ll bravi r., brave persone l

The unmarked nature of these terms is somewhat contradicted by the inclusion of Ragazzi del’99, which quite specifically refers to an all male group.

In total ragazzo was presented in 18 different ways across the four entries, seven of those terms referred to work and, apart from five references to being a boyfriend, the other terms were also autonomous terms. Girls, on the other hand were most often described in relation to a boy/man; six out of a total of eleven terms - two of which referred to them as prostitutes and at no time were they presented in an autonomous or independent manner.

Signora – Signore

Summary The terms signora and signore are listed separately in all four dictionaries. Prime parole (p.492) indicates the use of signora to indicate a married woman as opposed to the use of signorina. The use of examples perpetuate the at home/outside dynamic as la signora is described inside while il signore is outside;

E’ in casa la signora? Ho incontrato la signora del piano di sopra. Il signore è appena uscito. Ho visto un signore che correva.

The entries in Dib (p.1248) and Daic (p.1143) are the same for the respective entries. In comparison, however, it is easy to see the difference in usage and meaning. This

246 is reflected not only in the selection of terms but also in the order they appear. La signora is firstly the mistress of a house, then a wife or a woman that’s married;

1 padrona di casa, per domestici e ospiti: E’ in casa la signora? 2 moglie: Il signor X e signora. 3 appellativo di cortesia per donne, specie se sposate: E’ venuta la signora Carla. Lei signora, che ne pensa? Sì, signora.

The fourth description is religious and refers to Mary of the Christian religion and finally the indirect term of a city dominating the sea or the world. Il signore, in contrast, is firstly depicted in the context of dominator;

1 padrone, dominatore: E’ lui il signore del castello. I Medici furono signori di Firenze.

followed by the religious terms of God and Jesus Christ;

2 per eccellenza, Dio : I credenti pregano ogni giorno il Signore. Nostro Signore: per i cristiani, Gesù Cristo.

After these he is the master of a house, then there are two terms which indicate his sex and his maturity.

In DISC (p.2491) there are seven terms which refer to signora and nine for signore. Both initially indicate its usage as a title of courtesy for the first two entries. Signora is then presented as an indicator of a woman’s married status;

3. Moglie, donna sposata, in contrapposizione a signorina: l’invito è esteso anche alla tua s. tanti saluti alla s

followed by her social status;

donna particolarmente raffinata, elegante, cortese; avere modi da s.

The entry for signore precedes the examples of social status with the use of signori to indicate both sexes (3. (al p.) Insieme di persone di entrambi i sessi). The social status for signori, which follows, is more varied than that for signore;

4. Uomo ricco e benestante, che può vivere di rendita senza lavorare; appartenente ai ceti elevati

247 5. Uomo particolarmente cortese, sensibile, educato S gentiluomo: comportarsi da s.; si vede che è un vero s.

The use of signora as a dominator appears here with the qualification that it is not in common usage; 5. non com. Dominatrice: Genova, s. del mare Tirreno though il signore still enjoys direct dominion even though the indirect term is also out of favour;

6. Chi esercitava il proprio dominio su un territorio: il s. di un feudo: I Medici erano i s. di Firenze; uomo di stripe nobile: appartiene a una famiglia di signori

La signora is still the mistress of the house though according to DISC il signore is less often used in this context. We are also reminded of the earlier use of signora to indicate a madam of a brothel;

un tempo direttrice o tenutaria di case di tolleranza

The last two listings for both entries designate the use of signora (7. (iniziale maiusc.) Epiteto della Madonna: nostra S. di Lourdes ) and signore (9. (iniziale mauisc.) Per antonomasia, Dio, Gesù Cristo, spec. nelle invocazioni e nelle preghiere: nostro S. Gesù Cristo; sia fatta o S., la tua volontà; Ave o Maria, piena di grazia, il S. è con te ) in their religious application. It also should be noted that while both these terms have autonomous listings, under signore there is a reference to signora (f. signora Æ) which is not mirrored in the masculine entry. One draws the conclusion that signore is considered the key term while signora is merely a derivative - a notion which is born out by the addition under signora of;

E f. di signore zsec XVI

Signorina - Signorino

248 Summary The necessity to know whether a woman is married or otherwise is found in the continued usage of signorina/signora. It is not only in the recommendation of Sabatini that this dual usage is found to be abhorrent and irrelevant. Even though DISC lists the opposite term of signorino (the other three do not) its usage as either an outdated and classist term or with irony, contrasts with the serious examples under signorina. Signorina is presented as the alternative to signora in order to differentiate between married and unmarried females.

titolo di cortesia per una ragazza o per una donna non sposata: E’ in casa la signorina Adele? Lei è signora o signorina? (PP p.492 )

L signorina sost. f. “donna non sposata”, parola che si usa anche per indicare donne non più giovani. (Dib p.1248 Daic p.1144 )

In DISC (p.1492) the reiteration of this point seems somewhat superfluous;

1. Appellativo di cortesia con cui si rivolge a una donna giovane non sposata, o a una donna non più giovane ma comunque nubile, premettendolo eventualmente al nome, al cognome

2. Donna giovane o non giovane, non ancora sposata:

The third description again indicates a young, unmarried girl coincides with the earlier example under marito of a girl at marriageable age;

da m., in età da m., si dice di ragazza nell’età ritenuta giusta per il matrimonio

3. Ragazza che ha ormai raggiunta la pubertà: diventare in breve tempo una s.

The last description in DISC reveals even more of the social expectations of young girls and women. The restrictions on their activities are clearly illustrated in the following;

4. fig. In frasi per lo più negative, si usa come termine di confronto per rilevare caratteristiche fisiche o psichiche ritenute tipiche del sesso femminile: questo non è uno sport per signorine!; quel bar non è certo un ambiente per signorine.

Women, therefore, are addressed in terms of their married status and age. This very stereotypical form is not reflected in the masculine, which has almost completely disappeared, and does little to change expectations that a female’s married status is

249 the primary indicator of her position in society and her age also contributes to her value and viability in the marriage market place.

Strega - Stregone

Summary The different meanings and usage of supposedly opposite pairs is no more strongly indicated than in the diversity between strega and stregone. The first term applies to a female witch - la strega – and is presented in a highly stereotypical and disempowered manner with links to demonology and possession while wizard - lo stregone is endowed with spiritual and supernatural powers. The female/male distinction is clearly indicated by the singular attribution of articles - all female for strega and all male for stregone. Prime parole, Dib, Daic and DISC all list strega though stregone doesn’t appear until Dib. The entry in Prime parole (p.520) sets the tone for the later entries. A witch is;

nelle favole, donna maligna dotata di poteri magici: La regina cattiva di Biancaneve è in realtà una strega.

Much could also be said on the stepmother/witch/crone stereotypes that figure significantly in fairy tales and fables in all languages. Dib (p.1321) and Daic (p.1211) add the demonic element to a witch’s activities;

1 donne alle quali, nel Medio Evo e nel Rinascimento, venivano attribuiti poteri magici, in ragione del rapporto che si supponeva avessero con il diavolo: Le streghe furono perseguitate con particolare ferocia.

The inclusion of an example comment regarding their persecution after having described the women murdered during the early witch hunts as being in cohorts with the devil would influence one’s immediate idea as to the justification of what was a ferocious persecution.

In Dib (p.1321) and Daic(p.1211) stregone seems like a different entity all together. This noun is not presented as epicene - i.e. able to take either masculine or feminine articles so it must be assumed that it is referring to male persons;

250

presso molte tribù indigene, persona che ha autorità sacrale e comunica con gli spiriti della natura e degli antenati, agendo per il bene della comunità : Gli stregoni sono considerati indovini e guaritori.

It is also worth noting that the verb stregare, with its negative connotations is only listed under strega;

L stregare v.tr. “sottoporre qualcuno o qualcosa a un maleficio” e, in senso figurato, “affascinare”.

The introduction of affascinare is expanded on in DISC (p.2642) under strega. Strega begins with the association of women and the devil in medieval times and the various terms that represent the activities and ideas of witches, some of which continue to this day;

1. Donna che, secondo una superstizione popolare iniziata nel Medioevo, sarebbe dotata di poteri malefici derivanti dai suoi rapporti con il demonio S fattucchiera, diavolessa - caccia alle s. and

pop.Colpo della s., acuto dolore paralizzante nella regione lombare dovuto a traumi, sofferenze vertebrali, sforzi o contratture muscolari

There is also the link to fables and the character of the wicked crone though here DISC also lists the general usage;

Donna bruttissima, repellente; donna perfida, sadica, senza cuore S arpia, megera: è una vera s.

As mentioned earlier the use of strega to indicate an attractive woman appears here in a more direct sense. The supposed witchcraft used by women to entrap a man is a well known stereotype;

3. Maga, maliarda; estens. donna molto seducente

The other entries are not directly related to gender and the originary term of witch as a natural healer is not mentioned. The listing for stregone is much briefer and again refers more to the notion of witchdoctor or shaman than witchcraft in the same manner as witch.

251 Summary

It can been seen that for the most part females are not equally represented in the four dictionaries under examination in this research. When they are represented in their socially stereotyped roles; that of mother, wife, prostitute and lady, there is more information given. In fact it is only under the headwords of moglie (wife), mamma (mummy) and prostituta (prostitute) that women enjoy a greater number of descriptions than their male counterparts. Prostituta, for example, first appears in Dib; the dictionary used in late primary school/early secondary school. Prostituto doesn’t appear until DISC – the major general reference. Mamma had a word quantity of 429 compared to Papà’s 216, emphasising the importance of that role. It is also interesting to note that while nonna enjoyed her own headword in Prime parole, Dib and Daic, anziana, bambina and ragazza did not. The role of nonna/mamma are seen as valuable while the more autonomous roles of girl and old woman are not. The other autonomous listing donna supports the secondary and restrictive representation of the female that is apparent in all the dictionary entries. The descriptions under donna (woman) never equal more than half those that are listed under uomo (man); even without the inclusion of the use of uomo as a generic term for humanity. It is also pertinent to reiterate here that for the most part the descriptions about women gravitated to the four roles of companion, saint, servant and whore. Hardly a suitable range of activities for depicting the women in the modern age.

2.3 Some singular definitions

Given the focus of this thesis on the role of gender in education and the influence on recent theories founded in the actions and philosophies of Italian feminisms it is useful to track the development in complexity of some of the key words. A selection of words was made which directly related to the recurring themes in this research. These words were then supplemented from the lists found in

252 Linguaggiodonna79. The thesaurus was complied by Adriana Perrotta Rabissi and Maria Beatrice Perucci in 1991 in order to address some of the linguistic disparity that occurs in mainstream reference works;

Essa costituisce l’esito di una sperimentazione per la messa a punto di linguaggi documentari che consentano la visibilità e la valorizzazione dell’esperienza di vita e di pensiero femminile e della riflessione delle donne su se stesse e sul mondo.(Perucci & Rabissi 1991, p. 10)

The words here are by no means an exhaustive list of relevant terms. They do, however, constitute the fundamental and oft used expressions that are used by feminists and within the paradigms of feminisms.

The words will be listed along with their definitions and a short summary will follow each entry.

Femmisimo

Prime parole No listing

Dib (p.533) femminismo (fem.mi.ni.smo) s.m. vedi femminile G G dall’agg.derivano il sost.femm. femminilità “temperamento femminile, fascino femminile” e il sost.masch. femminismo “movimento che rivendica la parità di diritti delle donne”.

Daic (p.483) femminismo (fem.mi.ni.smo) sost.m. vedi femmina L L effeminato agg. “che ha un atteggiamento lezioso, poco virile”, femminismo sost.m. “movimento nato nel XIX secolo per rivendicare la parità di diritti delle donne; negli anni Sessanta, movimento femminile che promuove un cambiamento

79 Rabissi. A. P and Perucci, M.B. (1991) Linguaggiodonna Primo thesaurus di genere in lingua italiana. ES/Synergon. Milano Italy.

253 del ruolo delle donne nella società e propone valori alternativi a quelli tradizionali”, femminista sost.m. e.f. “seguace del femminismo”.

DISC (p.940) femminismo [fem-mi-nì-smo] s.m. _ ‹ Movimento sorto nell’ottocento che propugna la perfetta parità di diritti fra la donna e l’uomo; oggi ha esteso la perequazione (o la richiesta di essa) a ogni campo della vita sociale, dal mondo del lavoro alla casa, puntando alla valorizzazione della sensibiltà e della cultura femminile _ E fr. féminism, deriv. dal lat. fèmina “femmina” z a. 1896

Summary femminismo does not appear as an autonomous listing until the adult dictionary of DISC. It does not appear at all in Prime parole and has only associated listings under femminile in Dib and femmina in Daic. The focus on equal rights - la parità di diritti - has been qualified in Daic and DISC by the addition of goals that are more closely aligned with the philosophies and theories of Italian feminisms. This is most succinctly found in the Daic entry:

femminismo sost.m. “movimento nato nel XIX secolo per rivendicare la parità di diritti delle donne; negli anni Sessanta, movimento femminile che promuove un cambiamento del ruolo delle donne nella società e propone valori alternativi a quelli tradizionali”, femminista sost.m. e.f. “seguace del femminismo”. (my bold and italics. Daic p.483)

DISC is more ambiguous and the overriding focus on parity across all areas undermines the latter part of the definition which only vaguely alludes to the philosophy of difference;

puntando alla valorizzazione della sensibilità e della cultura femminile. (DISC p.940)

It is unfortunate, however, that it is not until DISC that the entry obtains its own headword rather than being placed as an adjunct to associated words and, in the case of Daic, follows the rather pejorative term of effeminate.

Sessismo

254

Prime parole No listing Dib No listing Daic No listing DISC (p.2458) sessismo [ses-sì-smo] s.m. _ ‹ Diversa, spesso diseguale considerazione dei sessi, più freq. a svantaggio di quello femminile; discriminazione sessuale _ E fr. sexisme deriv. di sexe “sesso” sul modello di racisme “razzismo” z a. 1974

Summary Sessismo does not appear in any of the dictionaries targeted towards the school market. It does not even appear as an associated word and for this reason the headword of Sesso has been included in this list as it does make some references to the stereotypes found in gender descriptions. Sessismo only appears in DISC and the listing is brief. It does, however, note that sexism is a phenomenon that is mostly detrimental towards women. As a term coined in the mid seventies and combined with a fairly active movement of educational reform originating from within education (see Piussi 1987) it is surprising that it has not been included in school dictionaries published in the late nineties.

Sesso

Prime parole No listing

Dib (p1237) (111 words) sesso (sès.so) s.m. 1 l’insieme dei caratteri che differenziano gli individui d’una stessa specie in maschi e femmine: In Italia, la legge stabilisce la parità dei diritti senza distinzione di sesso. 2 sesso forte, sesso debole: secondo vecchi pregiudizi, i maschi e

255 le femmine. Terzo sesso: le persone omosessuali. 3 gli organi sessuali maschili e femminili: Per alcune popolazioni non è considerato sconveniente che si veda il sesso. 4 la vita sessuale delle persone: Molti genitori parlano tranquillamente di sesso con i figli, ma altri trovano difficile o sbagliato farlo. E dal lat. sexus; da cui derivano sexuàlis, che ha dato origine all’agg. sessuale “relativo al sesso” e, attraverso questo, al sost.femm. sessualità “attività sessuale”

Daic (p1133) (90 words) sesso (sès.so) sost.m. 1 l’insieme dei caratteri che differenziano gli individui d’una stessa specie in maschi e femmine: In Italia, la legge stabilisce la parità dei diritti senza distinzione di sesso. 2 sesso forte, sesso debole: secondo vecchi pregiudizi, i maschi e le femmine. Terzo sesso: le persone omosessuali. 3 gli organi sessuali maschili e femminili: Per alcune popolazioni non è considerato sconveniente che si veda il sesso. 4 la vita sessuale delle persone: Molti genitori parlano tranquillamente di sesso con i figli, ma altri trovano difficile o sbagliato farlo. E dal lat. sexus.

DISC (p.2458) sesso [sès-so] s.m. _ ‹ 1. Insieme dei caratteri anatomici e fisiologici che contraddistinguono, all’interno di una specie, il maschio e la femmina, spec. con riferimento agli organi di riproduzione: s. maschile; s. femminile; differenza di s.; ammettere in una scuola bambini di ambo i s. ll s. forte, in senso scherz., gli uomini l s. debole, il gentil s., in senso scherz., le donne l cambiare s., detto di uomo, assumere gli attribuiti anatomici della donna con l’aiuto della chirurgia, e viceversa l s. sicuro, impiego di misure igieniche e profilattiche nell’attività sessuale, per evitare la trasmissione di malattie o gravidanze indesiderate l fig. discutere sul s. degli angeli, disquisire di problemi astratti e insolubili 2. Gli organi genitali: gli appartenenti a certe tribù hanno il s. scoperto 3. estens. Tutto ciò che attiene all’attività sessuale S sessualità: discutere sui problemi del s.; spettacoli televisivi dominati dalla violenza e dal s. E dal lat. sèxum z sec. XIV

256 Summary Prime parole does not list sesso even in it most simplistic form. Dib and Daic have similar definitions and DISC contains the largest entry. In the three entries there was one description that appeared and, under the conditions of this research, seemed the most appropriate to focus on. This was the sexist and stereotypical opposite of the stronger/weaker sex. In all cases the entries were qualified; Dib and Daic with the more accurate; secondo vecchi pregiudizi and DISC to a lesser extent by terming the usage as scherzoso.

Stereotipo

Prime parole No listing

Dib (p.1312) stereotipo (ste.re.ò.ti.po) s.m. pregiudizio rigido e semplificato che impedisce di capire i fatti reali. E dal franc. stéréotype, comp.del greco stereós “solido, rigido” e týpos “immagine, idea”.

Daic (p.1203) stereotipo (ste.re.ò.ti.po) sost.m. pregiudizio rigido e semplificato che impedisce di capire i fatti reali: Evita di esprimere giudizi su queste persone basandoti su stereotipi! E dal franc. stéréotype, comp.del greco stereós “solido, rigido” e týpos “immagine, idea”. L stereotipato agg. “che si ripete sempre nello stesso modo, che è privo di originalità”, “convenzionale”.

DISC (p.2632) stereotipo [ste-re-ò-ti-po] agg., s. _ ‹ agg. tip.Relativo alla tecnica della stereotipia: ristampa s. ‹ s.m. 1. psicol. Idea preconcetta, non basata sull’esperienza diretta e difficilmente modificabile 2. Nel 1. comune, comportamento convenzionale e

257 ricorrente, che tende alla generalizzazione e semplificazione; schema fisso, luogo comune S cliché: lo s. dell’uomo forte; gli s. proposti dalla pubblicità 3. ling. Sequenza fissa di parole che ricorre convenzionalmente in un certo tipo di linguaggio; frase fatte: il gergo dei giovani è fatto spesso di s.; “portare avanti” e “nella misura in cui” sono stati degli s. _ E comp.Di stereo- e –tipo, su base fr. stéréotype z a 1821

Summary The headword of stereotipo makes its first appearance in Dib, the second of the school dictionaries. Dib and Daic are again similar, though Daic has the addition of an example. The entries, in both cases, are fairly simple, encompassing only the basic concept;

pregiudizio rigido e semplificato che impedisce di capire i fatti reali.

DISC is more complex and includes the problems of the perpetuation of stereotypes through advertising and slang expressions. It also comments on the fact that stereotypes are often opinions and ideas that are parroted from ignorance and a lack of conscious experience.

Uguaglianza

Prime parole No listing

Dib (p.1423) uguaglianza (u.gua.glian.za) s.f. 1 mancanza di differenza tra le caratteristiche di due o più cose o persone: Il maestro ha trovato una completa uguaglianza nei nostri compiti, ma nessuno di noi due ha copiato. Tra i gemelli, più che somiglianza c’è uguaglianza. 2 assenza di differenziazzioni o di irregolarità, uniformità: Tra i due scrittori vi è uguaglianza di stile. 3 equivalenza tra figure geometriche o fra quantità aritmetrica; segno di uguaglianza, è il segno =: E’ corretto scrivere il segno di uguaglianza tra (5+3) e (4+4). 4 parità di condizioni, di diritti e doveri che deve

258 esistere fra gli uomini: L’uguaglianza di tutte le persone è un diritto fondamentale, ma non è ancora attuato in tutte le parti del mondo. G si può scrivere anche eguaglianza. E der. di uguagliare. S identità (nel significato 1); corrispondenza (nel significato 2); equivalenza (nel significato 3). C differenza, diversità (nel significato 1); difformità, discontinuità (nel significato 2); disuguaglianza (nel significato 3); ineguaglianza (nel significato 4).

Daic (p.1305) uguaglianza (u.gua.glian.za) s.f. 1 mancanza di differenza tra le caratteristiche di due o più cose o persone: Tra l’opera originale e la copia realizzata dal falsario vi era una perfetta uguaglianza.. Tra i gemelli, più che somiglianza c’è uguaglianza. 2 parità di condizioni, di diritti e di doveri che deve esistere fra gli uomini: L’uguaglianza di tutte le persone è un diritto fondamentale, ma non è ancora attuato in tutte le parti del mondo. 3 assenza di differenziazioni o di irregolarità, uniformità: Tra i due scrittori vi è uguaglianza di stile. 4 in matematica, equivalenza tra figure geometriche o fra quantità aritmetrica; segno di uguaglianza, è il segno =: E’ corretto scrivere il segno di uguaglianza tra (5+3) e (4+4). G si può scrivere anche eguaglianza. E der. di uguagliare. S identità (nel significato 1); corrispondenza (nel significato 2); equivalenza (nel significato 3). C differenza, diversità (nel significato 1); ineguaglianza (nel significato 2), difformità, discontinuità (nel significato 3); disuguaglianza (nel significato 4). L ineguaglianza sost.f. “l’essere ineguale”.

DISC (p.2854) uguaglianza [u-gua-gliàn-za] o eguaglianza, ant. iguaglianza s.f. _ ‹ 1. Condizione, proprietà di due o più enti di avere le stesse caratteristiche: u. di aspetto, di colore, di età, di forma; c’è stata tra noi u. di risultati; anche parità, corrispondenza: u. di intenti; in campo si è avuta u. di gioco tra le due squadre ll

259 gramm. comparativo di u., che esprime una qualità presente in ugua misura nei due termini del paragone 2. Condizione di pari dignità, senza distinzione di privilegi, tra tutti i cittadini di uno stato o tra tutti gli uomini; assenza o irrilevanza di differenze di diritto: l’u. dei cittadini davanti alla legge 3. Assenza di asperità, di dislivelli, uniformità: u. del terreno; anche fig.: u. nell’esposizione 4. mat. relazione tra grandezze caratterizzate dalle proprietà riflessiva, simmetrica e transitiva S equivalanza ll segno di u., il segno = l criteri di u., quelli che permettono di stabilire se due enti sono uguali, sulla base dell’u. di alcuni loro termini _ E deriv. di uguagliare (o eguagliare) con –anza z sec. XIV

Summary One of the fundamental tenets of Italian feminisms is the philosophy of difference, this does not, however, exclude the need for parity and equality in terms of rights and opportunities in order to be able to express and explore that difference. In the entries found in the last three dictionaries there is only a generic description of parity that does not mention the activities of the second wave of feminisms. In all listings equality is portrayed as equality of men (sic) as this entry from Dib/Daic shows;

4 parità di condizioni, di diritti e doveri che deve esistere fra gli uomini: L’uguaglianza di tutte le persone è un diritto fondamentale, ma non è ancora attuato in tutte le parti del mondo

In terms of feminist linguistics the use of gli uomini is somewhat problematic though at least in the example this is changes to the more inclusive le persone. In DISC the entry is couched in masculine generic terminology throughout the definition and example. And is thus considered unequal.

Vergine/Verginità

Prime parole (p.572) vergine (vér.gi.ne) * che è intatto, allo stato naturale: In alcune zone della Terra ci sono ancora delle foreste vergini.

260 AGGETTIVO

Dib (p.1458) vergine (vér.gi.ne) 1 s.f. persona che non ha avuto rapporti sessuali completi. 2 come epiteto della Madonna: Preghiamo la Vergine che ci protegga. 3 costellazione e segno dello zodiaco che riguarda il periodo compreso fra il 24 agosto e il 23 settembre: Sara è nata sotto il segno della Vergine. 4 agg. non manipolato: Quest’olio vergine è gustosissimo. 5 mai esplorato: Il Sahara ha grandi territori ancora vergini. G anche agg. nel significato 1. E dal lat. virgo, vìginis. S illibato, casto, puro (nel significato 1); puro, grezzo (nel significato 4); incontaminato (nel significato 5).

Daic (p.1336) vergine (vér.gi.ne) 1 s.f. persona che non ha avuto rapporti sessuali completi. 2 per antonomasia, la Madonna: Il santuario della città è intitolato alla Beata Vergine dei Miracoli. 3 costellazione e segno dello zodiaco che riguarda il periodo compreso fra il 24 agosto e il 23 settembre: Sara è nata sotto il segno della Vergine; persona nata sotto tale segno. 4 agg. di olio d’oliva, non manipolato chimicamente: L’olio extravergine ha un’acidità non superiore all’1%. Dischetto, nastro vergine: sui quali non è mai stato inciso o registrato nulla. Lana vergine: lana pura. 5 mai esplorato o coltivato: Il Sahara ha grandi territori ancora vergini. G anche agg. nel significato 1; si scrive con l’iniziale maiuscola nei significati 2 e 3. E dal lat. virgo, vìginis. S illibato, casto, puro (nel significato 1); puro, grezzo (nel significato 4); incontaminato (nel significato 5). L verginità sost.f. “la condizione di chi è vergine”.

(p.1337) verginità (ver.gi.ni.tà) sost.f. vedi vergine L

DISC (p.2854)

261 vergine [vér-gi-ne]. _ ‹ s.f. 1. Donna che non ha avuto rapporti sessuali completi; per antonomasia, con l’iniziale maiusc., la Madonna, che ha mantenuto la verginità pur generando Gesù Cristo: s. Brigida, v. e martire; invocare pregare la V. 2. Lett. Ragazza, giovane donna << Pietosa insonnia che fa cari gli orti / de’ suburbani avelli alle britanne vergini>> (Foscolo) 3. astr. (iniziale maiusc., solo sing.) Costellazione zodiacale dell’emisfero boreale nella quale il sole transita nel periodo che va dal 24 agosto al 23 settembre 4. astrol. Sesto segno dello zodiaco dominate tale periodo; estens persona nata sotto tale segno 5. mar. tipo di paranco dell’attrezzatura navale 6. v di Norimberga, strumento di tortura diffuso fino al Cinquecento in Spagna e in Germania, consitente in una statura di ferro apribile e vuota, rivestita all’interno di punte acuminate e taglianti che trafiggevano il corpo del condannato chiuso dentro tale congegno D dim verginella --, verginetta_ E lat. vìrginem z sec. XIV

DISC (p.2854) verginità [ver-gi-ni-tà] ant. virginità, virginitade, virginitate s.f. inv. _ ‹ 1. Condizione di chi non ha avuto rapporti sessuali completi; nella teologia cattolica, il dogma relativo alla Madonna, che ha mantenuto la castità verginale pur diventando madre di Gesù Cristo S castità, illibatezza: conservare, perdere la v.; la v. è una tipica virtù cristiana 2. fig. purezza, integrità morale ll rifarsi una v., in senso ironico, recuperare il buon nome, la stima di cui si godeva prima e che si era perduta o era stata gravemente compromessa: dopo lo scandolo, il ministro riuscì a rifarsi una v. politica_ E dal lat. virginitàtem (apocope in verginità e virginità), deriv. di virgo (genit. virginis) “vergine” z sec. XIV

Summary The listings for vergine and verginità are non gender specific in the main definitions found in the school dictionaries. Prime parole does not consider the sexual interpretation of it at all. Dib and Daic use the generic form of persona/person in the indication of someone who has not had complete sexual relations. There could be some allusion to the fact that it is a term more commonly associated with females by the inclusion of the referent to the Christian icon of Mary directly

262 afterwards though this is only casual. DISC, on the other hand is absolutely gender specific;

‹ 1. Donna che non ha avuto rapporti sessuali completi; per antonomasia, con l’iniziale maiusc., la Madonna, che ha mantenuto la verginità pur generando Gesù Cristo: s. Brigida, v. e martire; invocare pregare la V. 2. Lett. Ragazza, giovane donna << Pietosa insonnia che fa cari gli orti / de’ suburbani avelli alle britanne vergini>> (Foscolo)

It also links the state of being a virgin with the Christian morality of the Madonna cult and the associated virtues. This is repeated in the entry in DISC for virginity. Even though the first part of the definition refers to Chi, a non gender specific pronoun, the second part of the sentence directly infers that it is a state to which all good catholic girls should aspire;

‹ 1. Condizione di chi non ha avuto rapporti sessuali completi; nella teologia cattolica, il dogma relativo alla Madonna, che ha mantenuto la castità verginale pur diventando madre di Gesù Cristo S castità, illibatezza: conservare, perdere la v.; la v. è una tipica virtù cristiana

The preservation or loss of a woman’s virginity is associated with the stereotypical norms that are the legacy of a strongly Catholic Italy. The notion of a female’s virginal state as having tangible market value is obviously still an issue in a society that is only beginning to change. The fact that DISC refers specifically to women while the earlier two do not suggests that there have been some changes in attitudes at least among the younger generations.

Violenza sessuale

Prime parole No listing

Dib (p.1469) violenza (sessuale/carnale) in violenza Violenza carnale, il costringere con la forza una persona ad avere un rapporto sessuale: In Italia nel 1996 la violenza carnale è stata formalmente dichiarata delitto contro la persona.

263

Daic (p.1347) violenza (sessuale/carnale) in violenza Violenza carnale, il costringere con la forza una persona ad avere un rapporto sessuale: In Italia nel 1996 la violenza carnale è stata formalmente dichiarata delitto contro la persona.

DISC (p.2935) violenza ( v.carnale, stupro) (p.2663) stupro [stù-pro] ant. strupo s.m _ ‹ Atto sessuale imposto a qlcu. con la forza S violenza carnale: essere accusato di s.; processo per s.; subire uno s.; anche fig. <>(Dante) _ E dal lat. strùprum; metatesi conson. in strupo z sec. XIV

Summary This word was one of those taken directly from the lists in Linguaggiodonna. That rape was a crime against the person was one of the hard fought battles of the seventies and eighties80. It is interesting to note that sexual violence appears as violenza carnale in Dib and Daic and as stupro in DISC. The listings in the school dictionaries are generically formulated through the use of persona. DISC, however, either deliberately or through the use of the masculine generic places the sex of the perpetrator firmly in the males’ camp;

S violenza carnale: essere accusato di s. (my bold)

The inference being that men perpetrate acts of sexual violence against others - usually, though by no means exclusively, women.

An overview of the dictionary entries will be presented in 6.4 Concluding comments and again, in relation to the tenets of Italian feminisms and official and unofficial educational philosophies in the final chapter. The place of the singular

264 words to this thesis is in obtaining an overall picture of the way - if at all – feminist theory has influenced the dictionaries. It can be seen by the examples listed above that even in the wording of entries specifically relating to either feminisms or the major concerns of the women’s movement – the perpetuation of violence, myths about virginity and education regarding equality, sexism and similar – have not been adequately addressed and are not present from the beginnings of the educative experience.

6.4 Linking Language - Introduction

The noun pairs that were selected for definition examination have been listed here for a different type of analysis. The examination of definitions has shown that nouns for women often contained restrictive and often stereotypical descriptions. Another concerns of Italian feminists in regards to language (i.e. Sabatini 1987, Violi 1986, Marcato 1995) has been the supposition that the masculine form of the noun is representative of male and female genders – the so called unmarked generic. Given that, each of the nouns, female and male, selected is accompanied by a list of the associated nouns that have been collated from the four source dictionaries. I have labeled this original list the ‘first stem’. This ‘first stem’ will then form the basis for a comparative analysis between the genders in order to ascertain the difference in terms of quantity and quality in regards to terms. This analysis is in many ways a summary of the longer examination into definitions presented previously. The focus, however, will be on the amount of words, the categories they fall into and their meanings.

The second part of the analysis is the linking of the ‘first stem’ female nouns with their associated nouns. Where the associated noun is feminine (i.e. the noun is not listed in the masculine) further investigation has been carried out until all the final nouns for each original headword are either linked to a masculine headword or are not listed at all. Each of the subsequent ‘stems’ will be coded in order to track the

80 see Bono & Kemp (1991) Italian Feminist Thought. PP.234 -259

265 number of links. It is only the female selection of nouns that lends itself to this analysis as it is envisaged they will eventually finish in a male head word or not be listed. The male nouns would not finish in female head words and the concern, as mentioned above is the androcentric nature of language. In order to obtain the largest possible quantity of associated nouns the main dictionary DISC will be the linking reference. As mentioned previously all dictionaries will be used to compile the original ‘first stem’ list.

The aim of this part of the dictionary analysis to establish to what extent and in what semantic areas are feminine nouns represented. The final analysis will incorporate the number of feminine nouns in comparison to masculine nouns and a comparative table depicting the semantic areas found under both noun genders.

6.4a Language Trees

The flowcharts set out in this section represent the stems collated from the associated nouns. The ‘first stem’ is dark grey, the ‘second stem’ is a medium grey, the ‘third stem’ is light grey. Most of the nouns do not go beyond this level. Those that do have a ‘fourth stem’ marked by the box border broken evenly and a ‘fifth stem’ has box borders which are unevenly broken. Female nouns that become masculine are linked to the masculine noun which is set in a blue box, neutral nouns are in a yellow box (i.e. persona) and linked nouns that are other head words under analysis are in a pink box (i.e. donna). They appear in the following order;

Bambina – Bambino Donna – Uomo Femmina – Maschio Fratello – Sorella Lesbica – Omosessuale Madre – Padre

266 Mamma – Papà Marito – Moglie Nonna – Nonno Prostituta – Prostituto Ragazza – Ragazzo Signora – Signore Signorina – Signorino Strega - Stregone

267 Bambina - Bambino

Bambina Daic (p.130)

Bimba Fanciulla (p.921)

Bimbo Ragazza Fanciulletta Fanciullina Fanciullona Fanciullaccia (p.292) (see ragazza)

Fanciullone Fanciulla (this entry)

Bambino Prime Parole (p.62) Dib (p.147) Daic (p.130) DISC (p.249)

Bambinello Bimbo Essere umano Fanciullo Figlio Individuo umano Marmocchio

Bambinellone

Bambinetto

Bambinuccio

Bambinone

Bambinaccio

261 Donna Donna Prime Parole (p.174) Dib (p.451) Daic (p.409) DISC (p.792)

Donnina Moglie Gentildonna Madonna Nobildonna Primadonna Collaboratrice (p.793) (see Moglie) (p.1055) (p.1450) (p.1666) (p.2032) familiare Prostituta Prostituta (see Prostituta) Donna Attrice Cantante Collaboratore (se Prostituta) Signora Dama Donna Madonnella (se Donna) (p.380) (p.509) Signora (see Signora) (p.655) (see Donna) Donnetta (see Signora) Dama Compagna (p.793) Nobildonna Monna Madonnetta (this entry) Attore Donna (p.212) (see Donna) Gentildonna Donna di aspetto Vergine Madonnina (this entry) Compagno mis ero - idee ris trette (p.529) Gentildonna Donnicciola (this entry) Angelo Madonnona Domestica (p.793) Moglie Pettegola (see Moglie) Domestico (p.790)

Fidanzata Fidanzata Pettegolo (p.1900) 'una vecchia p.' Signora Fidanzato Donniciuola (see Signora) (p.952)

Governatrice Donnuccia Compagna

Donnezella Governatore Damina (p.1099)

Donnona Padrona

Donnaccia (p.793) Padrone (p.1767)

Prostituta Santa (see Prostituta) Donnucola (p.793) Santo (p.2334) Prostituta Persona (see Prostituta) (p.1889) Donnaccola (p.793)

Prostituta (see Prostituta) Donnacchera (p. 793)

Prostituta (see Prostituta)

262 Uomo

263 Uomo Prime Parole (p.561) Dib (p.1434) Daic (p.1314) DISC (p.2867)

Omaccio Addetto Ecclesiastico Cittadino Compagno Essere umano Homo Mafioso Maschio Persona Personaggio Qualunque Tale Tizio Uno

Ometto Atleta Sant'u.

Ominiattolo Attaccante

Omino Avvoca to

Omone Componente

Omuncolo Dipendente

Giocatore

Giurista

Incaricato

Letterato

Magistrato

Marinaio

Media planner

Operatore

Soldato

264 Femmina - Maschio

Femmina Prime Parole (p.202) Dib (p.533) Daic (p.483) DISC (p.939)

Femminella Femminetta Femminista Femminuccia Donna Essere Persona (p.939) (p.940) (p.940) (see Donna) (p.889) (p.1889)

Femmina Femminuccia Donna Prostituta Uomo timido Fautrice Sostenitrice Femmina Uomo timido,Bambino timido (see Femmina)(this entry) (see Donna) (see Prostituta) pauroso, (see Femmina) vile, effeminato timoroso

Fautore Sostenitore (p.934) (p.2555)

Maschio Prime Parole (p.311) Dib (p.825) Daic (p.749) DISC (p.1498)

Maschietto Bambino Essere umano Figlio Individuo Ragazzo Uomo

Maschione

Maschiotto

Maschiaccio

265 Fratello

Fratello Prime Parole (p.217) Dib (p.567) Daic (p.514) DISC (p.1008)

Fratellaccio Amico CompagnoCommilitoniConfratello Cristiani Cugino Figlio Frati laici Persona Prossimo Uomini

Fratellastro

Fratellino

Fratellone

Fratelluccio

266 Sorella Sorella Prime Parole (p.501) Dib (p.1274) Daic (p.1168) DISC (p.2492)

Sorellaccia Persona Suora (p.1889) (p.2676)

Sorellastra (p. 2550) Monaca Religiosa Sorella (p.1582) (see Sorella)

Sorella (see Sorella) Religiosa Monacella Monachella Monachetta Monachina Monaccia Religioso (see this entry) (p.2175) Sorellina

Donna Ragazza Monachetto Donna Giovane Donna Sorellona (see Donna) (see Ragazza) (p.1583) (see Donna) (see Donna)

267 Lesbica – Omosessuale

Lesbica DISC (p.1391)

Donna Omos es s uale (see Donna) (see Omosessuale)

Omosessuale Dib (p.918) Daic (p.834) DISC (p.1721) Persona

268

Madre

269 Madre Prime Parole (p.302) Dib (p.800) Daic (p.727) DISC (p.1451)

Donna Madrina Madonna Regina Suora (see Donna) (p.1451) (p.2676)

Mamma (see Mamma) Coma re Donna Sontola Sorella (p.520) (see Donna) Madonnella Monna Vergine Ca po Sovrana (see Sorella) Genitrice (p.291 (p.1054) Religiosa Santolo Madonnetta Donna Consorte Madrina Vicina (p.2334) (se Donna) Sovrano Madre (see this entry) Donna Divinita' (p.2565) (se Donna) pagane (see Madre) Madonnina Angelo Donna Religioso Donna (see Donna) Reginetta Madonna (see Donna) Vicino Madonna (p.2169) (see this entry) (p.2927) Madonnona (see this entry) Divinita' Signora (p.782) (see Signora) Ragazza Vincitrice Miss (see Ragazza) Monache (p.1568) (see Sorella) Giovane Sacerdotesse Vincitore Donna (p.2314) (p.2933) (see Donna) Verginetta Ragazza Donna (see Ragazza) Verginella (see Donna) (p.2910) Reginotta (p.2169)

Santarellina Ragazza (see Ragazza) Principessa (p.20340

Santerello (p.2333) Figlia Moglie Principessina Ragazza (p.954) (see Moglie) (p.2034) (see Ragazza)

Principessa Bambina Figlietta Donna (see this entry) (see Bambina) (see Donna)

Figliaccia

270 Padre Padre Prime parole (p.364) Dib (p.944) Daic 9p.857) DISC (p.1767)

Antenato Cagione Abeti Guida Maestro Patrizi Senatori Uomo

Avo Capostipite Creatore

Babbo Fondatore Dio

Genitore Iniziatore Divinita' Creatrice

Padraccio Progenitore Frate

Papa' Promotore Papa (see Papa')

Religiosi

Sacerdote

Salvatore

Scrittori cristiani

Mamma - Papà

271 Mamma Prime Parole (p.306) Dib (p.810) Daic (p.736) DISC (p.1469)

Mammaccia Donna Madre Mammella Papilla Persona Poppa (see Donna) (see Madre) ( lit. reference) (lit reference)

Mammetta

Mammina

Mammotta

Mammona (p.1470)

extension Demone, Lucifero, Satana

Mammuccia

Prime Parole (p.368) Dib (p.954) Daic (p.867) DISC (p.1795) Papa'

Papalino Babbo Padre (see Padre) Paparone Paparino Papino

272 Marito - Moglie Marito Prime Parole (p.310) Dib (p.822) Daic (p.746) DISC (p.1492)

Maritino Coniuge Consorte Scaldino Sposo Uomo (regional) Marituccio

Maritone

Maritaccio

Moglie Prime Parole (p.326) Dib (p.861) Daic (p.782) DISC (p.1578)

Moglietta Coniuge Consorte Signora Sposa (see Signora) Mogliettina Sposo (p.2603)

273 Nonna - Nonno Nonna Dib (p.898) Daic (p.815) DISC (p.1675)

Nonnaccia Balia Madre Persona (p.246) (see Madre)

Nonnetta

Baliuccia Babysitter Bambinaia Donna Levatrice Nurse Nutrice Nonnettina (p.239) (p.249) (see Donna) (p.1396) (p.1692) (see this entry)

Baliozza Nonnina Persona Donna Balia Nurse Baby sitter Donna Ostetrica Donna Baby sitter Bambinaia Nutrice (see Donna) (see this entry) (se this entry) (see this entry) (see Donna) (p.1755) (see Donna) (see this entry) (see this entry) (see this entry) Baliona Nutrice (p.1693) Infermiera Levatrice Baliaccia (see this entry)

Donna (see Donna) Infermiere (p.1244) Balia (see this entry)

Nonno Prime Parole (p.341) Dib (p.898) Daic (p.815) DISC (p.1675)

Nonnetto Padre Persona Balio Antinati Avi Progenitore Soldato Prossimo (see Padre) Nonnino

Nonnuccio

Nonnaccio

274

Prostituta - Prostituto Prostituta Daic (p.964) DISC (p.2062)

Meretrice Puttana (p.1530) (p.2090)

Donna Prostituta Puttana (see Donna) (see this entry) (see this entry) Puttanella Donna Prostituta Meretrice Prostituella (p.2090) (see Donna) (see this entry) (see this entry)

Ragazza leggera (see Ragazza)

Puttanona

Puttanone

Puttanaccia

Prostituto DISC (p.2062)

Omosessuale Uomo (see Omosessuale) (see Uomo)

275 Ragazza Ragazza Daic (p.995) DISC (p.2132)

Ra ga zetta Adolescente Fanciulla Fidanzata Giovane Innamorata Pubere Nubile Prostituta Signorina (p. 48) (p.921 see bambina) (p.1076) (p.2076) (p.1687) (see Prostituta) (see Signorina)

Ragazzina Fidanzato Innamorato Adolescente Ragazza Signorina Zitella Pubere Giovinetto (p.952) Apprendista Garzone (p.1262) (see this entry) (see Ragazza) (see Signorina) (p.2980) Ragazzona (see this entry)

Ra ga zzotta Ragazzo Aiutante (p.2076) (p.74) Donna Nubile Zitellina s.m. 1. (anche f.) (see Donna) (see this entry)

Ragazzaccia

Aiuto Ausiliare Colla bora tore Assistente Zitellona (p.217) (p.198) s.m. 1. (anche f.) (s.m.e f.)

Zitellaccia Assistente Coadiutore Aiuto Collabora tore (see this entry) Colla bora tore Hostess (p.1136)

Aiutante (see this entry) Assistente Guida o Addetta femminile interprete donna Coadiutore

Addetto Diplomato (p.42)

Laureato

Medico

Steward

Appuntato

276 Ragazzo

Ragazzo Prime Parole (p.424) Dib (p.1086) Daic (p.995) DISC (p.2132)

Ragazzetto Giovane Adolescente Fidanzato Apprendista Uomo Padre celibe Adulto gli Arruola ti Figlio Innamorato Compagno

Ragazzino Garzone

Ragazzuolo Lavorante

Ragazzone Commesso

Ragazzotto Mozzo di stalla

Ragazzaccio Servitore

277 Signora - Signore Signora Prime Parole (p.492) Dib (p.944) Daic (p.1143) DISC (p.2491)

Donna Moglie Padrona Dominatrice Madonna (see Donna) (see Moglie) (see Donna)

Padrone Dominatore (p.1767) (p.791)

Signore

Prime Parole (p.492) Dib (p.1248) Daic (p.1143) DISC (p.2991)

Uomo PadroneDominatoreNostro SignoreGesu' CristoMaschi Persona GentiluomoPropretarioDio

278

Signorina - Signorino Signorina Prime Parole (p.492) DISC (p.2492)

Annuciatrice Nubile Ragazza Signorinella Signorinetta televisiva (p.1687) (see Ragazza)

Annuciatore Ragazza Signorina Zitella (p.133) (see Ragazza) (see Signorina) (p.2980)

Donna Nubile Zitellina (see Donna) (see this entry) Zitellona

Zitellaccia

Signorino DISC (p.2492)

Giovane Figlio Ragazzo (see Ragazzo)

279 Strega - Stregone Strega Prime Parole (p.520) Dib (p.1321) Daic (p.1211) DISC (p.2652)

Donna Maga Fattucchiera Diavolessa Arpia Megera Maliarda (see Donna) (p.1453) (p.713) (p.178) (p.1517)

Magaccia Fattucchiere Essere Donna Creatura Megera Strega Donna Arpia Strega Maliardo Maghetta Donna (p.933) demoniaco (see Donna) mostruosa (see this entry) (see Strega) brutissima) (see this entry) (see Strega) (p.1456) Vecchia (see Donna) (see Donna)

Maghina Fatturchiera (see this entry)

Personaggio favoloso

Maliarda (see this entry)

Stregone DISC (p.2652)

Sciamano Guaritore Santone

280 6.4b Linking Language - Analysis

The first table (Table 6.4) lists the fourteen noun pairs and the total amount of nouns listed under each headword. This quantity does not include the further nouns listed in the second, third and fourth stems of the female nouns which will be discussed further on. The nouns included here are only those that appeared in the entry directly under each headword, the totals include the derivatives of the headword (i.e. bambinello) as these can often have specific meanings (i.e. Donnaccia, Donnucola, Donnaccola, Donnacchera all mean Prostituta). The comparative totals have been complied from the entries in all four dictionaries, though, as can be seen from the earlier noun trees, not all nouns appear as a separate listing in all four dictionaries. The second and third tables in this section (Tables 6.6 and 6.7) contain the data results from the same entries which have been further dissected in order to examine the types of nouns associated with each headword. These nouns have been placed under ten categories that cover the social areas depicted by them. The categories selected are; Mother – Father, Wife/Girlfriend – Husband/Boyfriend, Prostitute, Religious, Work External, Work Domestic, Woman, Man, Neutral and Other. As described in the methodology chapter (Chapter Four Forms and Formats) each of these categories relate to certain type of noun groups that appear under each headword. In the discussion following each table examples of the types of nouns will be noted to further assist in analysis. Discrepancies in noun types could appear, for example, under the heading of Mother – Father. In some cases the nouns may merely refer to the actual familial role of parenting but in others, as will be noted, the nouns could refer to greater social roles such as Forebears or Founding Fathers. It will be interesting to note as to whether these differences occur along gender lines or whether such concepts are equally distributed. A summary of frequency results will be presented in table 6.8 Order of Frequency

The last table (Table 6.9) contains the data for all the noun stems tracked under the female head words. These stems, recorded above, are the result of tracking all the associated nouns listed under the main headword (taken from the fourteen pair sets) then each subsequent headword until the noun ended in a male noun or referred

281 back to a previous headword (see Chapter Four Forms and Formats for a detailed explanation). All the nouns were then collated into the final table under the categories used for the first stem female/male analysis (tables 6.6 and 6.7). A detailed analysis of the data will follow each table. Table 6.4 Totals of First Stem Nouns – Female and Male pairs Noun Totals Bambina 2 Bambino 12 Donna 26 Uomo 35 Femmina 7 Maschio 10 Sorella 6 Fratello 16 Lesbica 2 Omosessuale 1 Madre 7 Padre 27 Mamma 12 Papà 6 Moglie 6 Marito 9 Nonna 8 Nonno 12 Prostituta 2 Prostituto 2 Ragazza 14 Ragazzo 22 Signora 5 Signore 10 Signorina 5 Signorino 3 Strega 9 Stregone 3 Female Noun Total 111 Male Noun Total 168

In the analysis of the fourteen noun pairs some interesting results emerge. At a glance one can see that the masculine words and the nouns associated with them in the entries are more numerous than the female nouns; 168:111. Further to this, as Table 6.4 shows, of the fourteen noun pairs; males predominate in nine of the

282 categories ( Bambino, Uomo, Maschio, Fratello, Padre, Marito, Nonno, Ragazzo and Signore), females predominate in three categories (Lesbica, Mamma and Strega) and there are equal results for the remaining two (Prostituta/Prostituto and Signorina/Signorino).

These results indicate that for some of the more common social roles; father, mother, brother, sister, boy, girl and so on, more nouns referring to male roles appear in the dictionary. It is only under the noun pairs of lesbian/homosexual, mummy /daddy (NOT mother/father) and witch/warlock that females have greater numbers. The difference in results for the more formal mother/father (7:27) and the informal mummy/daddy (12:6) is intriguing. A further breakdown of the types of nouns and to what sort of roles they refer to may prove illuminating. In comparing the types of nouns listed under these two pairs observations about social expectations may be possible. Does the higher number of nouns referring specifically to a woman's role as a mother contrast with the number of nouns associated with the more general role of ‘generator/creator’? The types of nouns associated with more formal social roles could indicate the level of value or respect accorded to the female or male gender.

Some of the more notable differences occur in the totals for the noun pairs donna and uomo; there are nine more nouns under uomo 26:35, for sorella – fratello the difference is 6:16, ragazza – ragazzo 14:22 and signora – signore 5:10. While some of the differences in regards to descriptions were discussed in the previous section; 6.2 defining details, these straightforward tabulations show more clearly the differences in simple noun associations. It is not only the use of the so called generic masculine that accounts for these differences in totals. In the pair of ragazza/ragazzo, for example, under ragazza two generic words (adolescente and giovane) appear, there are five different noun associations specific to girls and five which are derived from the headword. Under ragazzo there are four generic terms (giovane, adolescente, apprendista, lavorante), three so called generic terms, though the examples given often indicate a male subject (adulto, figlio, compagno), nine nouns specifically for males and six derivatives of the head word. Out of the

283 twenty-two nouns listed under ragazzo only three belong to the so called generic masculine.

Table 6.5 Differences in referent types for Ragazza - Ragazzo Ragazza Ragazzo Adolescente Giovane Fidanzata Adolescente Giovane Fidanzato Innamorata Apprendista Nubile Uomo Prostituta Padre celibe Signorina Adulto Ragazzetta gli Arruolati Ragazzina Figlio Ragazzona Innamorato Ragazzotta Compagno Ragazzaccia Garzone Lavorante Commesso ant. Mozzo di stalla Servitore dim ragazzetto, ragazzino, ragazzuolo accr. ragazzone, ragazzotto pegg. ragazzaccio

284 A further analysis into the types of nouns that appear under each of the twenty- eight head words is now necessary in order to create a complete picture of the way the noun pairs are presented. This more detailed comparative study will illustrate the types of nouns associated with each headword. In this way we can see what sort of imagery and associations are relevant for certain social roles and how they may or may not discriminate against one or both genders. The following two tables; Table 6.6 First stem noun categories for females and Table 6.7 First stem noun categories for males show some significant divergences in the manner of role association and description.

285 Table 6.6 First Stem Noun Categories - Female Noun Mother Wife/ Prostitute Religious Work Work Woman Man Neutral Other Total Girlfrien External Domestic d Bambina 2 2 Donna 3 6 2 2 3 7 1 2 26 Femmina 1 2 2 2 7 Sorella 1 4 1 6 Lesbica 1 1 2 Madre 2 1 3 1 7 Mamma 6 1 1 1 3 4 Moglie 4 1 1 6 Nonna 6 1 1 8 Prostituta 2 2 Ragazza 4 1 7 2 14 Signora 1 1 1 2 5 Signorina 3 1 1 5 Strega 7 2 9 Total 14 16 9 15 4 4 29 6 7 7 111

286 Table 6.7 First Stem Noun Categories - Male Noun Father Husband Prostitute Religious Work Work Woman Man Neutral Other Tota Boyfriend External Domestic l Bambino 10 2 12 Uomo 2 15 15 2 1 35 Maschio 8 2 10 Fratello 3 11 1 1 16 Omosessuale 1 1 Padre 13 10 3 1 27 Pap6à 6 Marito 6 1 2 9 Nonno 8 1 1 1 1 12 Prostituto 2 2 Ragazzo 2 1 6 9 3 1 22 Signore 3 2 2 1 2 10 Signorino 3 3 Stregone 3 3 Total 27 8 22 27 1 62 15 6 168

287 Table 6.8 Order of Frequency Woman (Donna, Ragazza, Compagna) Man (Uomo, Ragazzo, Prossimo) Wife/Girlfriend (Moglie, Fidanzata, Father (Antenati, Fondatore, Progenitore, Signora) Padre) Religious (Madonna, Suora, Santa) Work External (Avvocato, Giocatore, Impiegato) Mother (Mother, Genetrice) Religious (Dio, Creatore, Frate) Prostitute Neutral (Essere umano, Persona) Other (Nobildonna, Dama) Husband/Boyfriend (Marito, Fidanzato) Neutral (Persona, Giovane) Other (dominatore, gentiluomo) Man (Timido Uomo, Bambino) Work Domestic (Balio) Work Domestic (Domestica, Balia, Babysitter) Work External (Governatrice Annunciatrice)

The order of noun frequency in each category immediately portrays two points. The first is that there are no male nouns included in the dictionary listings for the pairs selected that fit into the categories of Prostitute and Woman. Under the headword of prostituto the dictionary lists the neutral uomo and omosessuale. As mentioned in the lexicon analysis in section 6.2 it is interesting that under the male term for prostitute the implied clients are still male – omosessuale - males paying other males, rather than females paying males, for sex. Interesting too, that while a term for a women can be used, in most cases cited pejoratively, to describe a man (i.e. a timid, vile man or male baby is a Femminuccia - DISC p.940) or a generic noun such as adolescente or giovane is used which, when tracked to the respective headword offer predominately male examples (giovanotto, ragazzo etc). There were no cases of females described as males under the male head words.

What is important about frequency is the order in which the two sets of categories appear. They both begin with the general or global category defining each respective sex of Woman and Man. The similarities do not continue. Nouns defining women totaled twenty nine, a significant number of which were

288 derivatives of head words (i.e. donnina or femminuccia) There is no one category that contains a significant number of nouns referring to women (not even donna) Only bambina, femmina and strega contained two nouns that referred to the female sex as simply a female with no other connotations. Examples of one are found throughout most of the other head words. There are no autonomous nouns referring to the female sex under moglie (wife) or prostituta (prostitute). Men are defined autonomously as men much more frequently; a total of sixty-two (62) times with approximately half being derivatives of the head words. Under uomo there are nine separate nouns and six derivatives, followed by fratello at eleven, bambino at ten, maschio at eight, with ragazzo at nine and signorino on three and prostituto and signore equal on two and padre and marito containing one. The head words that don’t refer to men autonomously are omosessuale, papà, nonno and stregone. Omosessuale uses persona, papà uses words relating to the role of daddy (i.e. babbo), nonno covers father in a formal and informal sense (i.e. antenati, avi) and other categories such as work while stregone only uses religious nouns such as santone.

In the male selection of head words the next category is Work External; Avvocato, Addetto, Giocatore and so on, with a total of twenty seven. These nouns range from the professional; lawyer, judge etc to the general; worker, employee and also include the specific such as sportsman and sailor. For females the category of Work External is placed last in the order of frequency with a total of two entries being Governatrice and Annuciatrice televisiva. The first one, governess, was discussed earlier. The second ‘job’ is a television presenter. While this may seem important and glamorous a quick view of Italian television programmes will show that, for the most part, the female television presenters are scantily clad and spend much of the time simpering over their more dignified (and more fully clothed) male counterparts.

For women their second category of noun frequency is Wife/Girlfriend, women defined according to their marital relationship with a man. This category contains a total of sixteen nouns such as wife, fiancée and Mrs. This category (Husband/Boyfriend) is the third last (out of eight rather than ten) for males with a

289 total number of eight, just above that of Other which totaled six and Work Domestic which had only one entry. The third category for women is Religious which concerns all roles with religious connotations or connections. The more orthodox regard nouns such as saint and nun, while the less direct, but nonetheless religiously defined, include the nouns for witch and enchantress. The are a total of fifteen nouns (seven of which come under the less orthodox category of strega) The majority of the nouns refer to women in their role as saint, nun or the Madonna. The category of religion is fourth for males with a total of twenty two associated nouns (only three of which refer to the less orthodox areas of stregoneria). Of the nineteen which fall within the area of orthodox religious roles three refer to Dio (God), and ten refer to men’s dominate paternal role in the church such as Abate, priest, primate and similar. The rest are divided between men’s roles as brothers or men of the cloth. The difference in nouns indicating authority is clearly defined in relation to gender; men have the more important roles (starting with God!) while women have either roles that don’t confer authority or roles that suggest intransigence. While women are not found in the higher levels of many religious hierarchies, they still fill some roles of authority such as Abbess, yet none of these roles are used to maintain a balance in representation.

The second category for masculine nouns is the fourth for feminine; the nouns denoting Father and Mother. Under Mother there are fourteen nouns. All the nouns are associated with the role of mothering children either as a parent or grandparent. For fathers the categories were the same (padre, papà and nonno) but the roles indicated by the nouns were more varied. Among the nouns referring directly to parenting there are also a number that refer to the concept of father in a larger sense; words such as antenato, patrizi, fondatore and progenitore and the like. Apart from the possible larger significance of genitrice there are no similar entries describing females in this way. These larger roles ascribed to the fathering of society are representative of a patriarchal social structure that sees the role of insemination as more important that creation.

290 Next in the order for females (fifth) is the category of Prostitute in which there are nine nouns across three different head words; donna (6), prostituta (2) and ragazza (1). None of the head words for males referred to this role. The corresponding fifth place for males was Husband/Boyfriend. There were eight entries in this category made up, for the most part, by derivatives of marito (i.e. maritino, marituccio). Men were referred to in neutral ways; e.g. persona, fifteen times across nine different head words. This was the sixth place for women with a total of seven nouns over six head words. For feminine and masculine nouns the seventh place is the category of Other which referred to men nine times in six different head words. These nouns ranged from the social title gentiluomo to the more forceful dominatore. This is in contrast to the category of Other in the female order of frequency which only contains nouns referring to social positions or titles such as nobildonna, dama and gentildonna.

As mentioned previously the last two categories for masculine nouns are Other and Work Domestic. For women, however, the eighth category is the frequency of female nouns which refer to men. In the pairs sets this occurred six times under four different head word descriptions and, for the most part, pejoratively as mentioned earlier. The final two are Work Domestic with four nouns and Work External, also noted previously, with four.

It can be seen that there are significant differences in the way nouns for females and males are selected and presented in the dictionaries under analysis. For the most part women are defined in roles pertaining to their marital status, religion and motherhood. Men, on the other hand are most commonly referred to in their roles of fatherhood in a parenting and creationist sense, work in the greater social ambience and as autonomous members of their sex. This disparity roles is further highlighted by the types of roles within each category. It appears that there are very definite social expectations for women and men contained within dictionaries that begin in earliest education and culminate in general social reference. A study done into gender representation in the general reference dictionary, Lo Zingarelli, indicates that the results from DISC could be easily replicated by a similar analysis

291 in that dictionary (see Bressan 1998). What does this mean for the way gender is perceived by the school child (or adult) in society in general. Are the dictionary representations accurate reflections of general social trends or not?

The final table shown contains the nouns for all female head words and their subsequent stems. This analysis has been complied in order to uncover whether the trends established under the head words of describing women in restrictive social roles continues through the noun links presented previously.

292

Table 6.9 Linked Language Stem Categories - Female Noun Mother Wife/ Prostitute Religious Work Domestic Woman Man Neutral Other Total Girlfriend External Bambina 8 8 Donna 7 11 8 4 2 11 1 11 56 Femmina 1 3 5 5 2 1 17 Sorella 10 10 1 20 Lesbica 1 1 2 Madre 3 3 22 20 8 56 Mamma 6 1 1 1 3 12 Moglie 6 6 Nonna 8 4 14 5 2 33 Prostituta 12 2 14 Ragazza 10 1 9 10 3 33 Signora 1 1 1 1 1 5 Signorina 9 1 3 13 Strega 16 5 2 23 Total 17 35 25 58 22 17 82 6 12 24 298

289 Table 6.10 Order of frequency comparison Table 6.9 Table 6.5 Woman Woman Religious Wife/Girlfrien d Wife/Girlfriend Religious Prostitute Mother Other Prostitute Mother Other Work External Neutral Work Domestic Man Neutral Work External Man Work Domestic

As can been seen from the lengthened analysis some changes occur to the way in which women are represented in dictionaries. There is certainly little change to the types of nouns used to describe them, though in some areas their range extends. For example under the category of Work External a woman can also be an Hostess ( DISC p.1136) which leads to; Assistente femminile, Guida o interprete donna and Addetta. They are also represented in a much more extensive way under the category of Religion with entries such as these under strega; Diavolessa (DISC p.713) leading to Essere demoniaco and Donna or these from the head word of madre; Santola, Divinità pagane, Sacerdotesse, Monache, Verginella, Santarellina and similar. It can been seen, therefore, that some of the expansions are not always positive. A prime example of this is under the category of Prostitute where the increase from the first stem frequency to the final result is nine (9) to twenty-five (25). Other large increases occur in the categories of Religious which goes from fifteen (15) to fifty- eight (58). Work External from four (4) to twenty-two (22) and Work Domestic from four (4) to seventeen (17).

290 Women, it seems, are repeatedly represented in roles pertaining to religion, their marital status and their sexual exploitation. While they are also represented as autonomous social members; donna, ragazza and the like, many of the nouns used are often derivatives of the head word indicating a diminutive or pejorative references (e.g. ragazzetta or donnicciola ). A change occurs in the order of frequency regarding noun categories. The first three; Woman, Wife/girlfriend and Religious stay at the top though Wife/girlfriend and Religious swap positions. Mother, originally in fourth position drops to eighth and Prostitute moves up from fifth to fourth. The category of Other also moves up one place from sixth to fifth, while Neutral and Man drop two places to ninth and tenth. Work External moves up the list, from ninth to sixth place, though it is still far below that of the male order of frequency where it is third and, while the employment categories expand beyond governess and similar, they do not expand in terms of professional examples. The majority of the work examples regard traditional and/or frivolous professions. Work in the domestic arena also moves up to seventh place in the expanded analysis. The top four nouns of frequency, therefore, categories females as women/girls (often with diminutive or pejorative suffixes), in terms of religious acceptability (Madonna to strega), in terms of their marital relationship to a male (moglie, fidanzata) or sexual availability (prostituta).

6.5 Concluding Comments

This final section will briefly summarise the results presented in this chapter. The analysis of these dictionaries and the extended word trees results in data that depicts the portrayal of women and men in quite different ways. This in itself may not necessarily been seen as negative as one of the basis for Italian feminist thought is that women and men are different and this difference should be highlighted and appreciated. The research shows, however, that the manner in which women and men are portrayed not only conforms to stereotypical notions regarding the different roles of women and men in society, but also tends to demean and belittle

291 women in ways that are no longer considered acceptable by feminists and the greater society.

Given that the earliest age group is most likely to require pictorial reference to assist language understanding, the first section discussed dictionary entries in relation to the illustrations contained therein. It was found in this section that the total amount of pictures of males, regardless of their activities, far exceeded pictures of females. The first dictionary; Prime Parole, where pictorial representation was very frequent, had 490 illustrations of males and only 75 of females. The second and third school dictionaries, while not containing as many illustrations overall, still showed a significant bias towards the pictorial representation of males; Dib with 69:29 and Daic with 99:25.

Many of the illustrations were stereotypical and depicted the few females in traditional roles. Males were presented in 216 different roles ranging from professional work to sporting activities and the armed forces. Women, in their 49 different roles, were most often represented in domestic situations as either domestic workers or mothers. This trend is reflected in the later analysis that focuses more specifically on the language used. Women in domestic situations were most prevalent in the earliest dictionary, introducing children to the idea that women, and in particular, good women, stayed home and looked after the family.

The next section of the analysis was a detailed examination of the actual entries under a series of head words compiled from a selection of basic female/male pairs and the Italian feminist publication Linguaggiodonna. While each entry has been discussed in detail it is important to note some reoccurring trends. For the most part the use of the so called generic masculine was rarely clear, leaving the reader with some level of ambiguity as to whether the entry/example referred to mixed sex groups or just males. This was further compounded by the many examples that were unambiguously marked.

292 In many of the noun pairs, where the gender difference was marked by the a-o vowel choice, the feminine form of the noun was either listed as an adjunct to the male or not listed at all (see anziana and ragazza). The masculine term of the female/male pairs often contained much more information, unmarked or otherwise, which led to a greater variety of activities and roles being ascribed to them. This was particularly noticeable in noun pairs such as donna/uomo, fratello/sorella, and madre/padre where the feminine noun was dealt with in a perfunctory and restricted manner while the entries in the masculine were expansive and detailed.

This situation was reversed with noun pairs such as prostituta/prostituto and signorina/signorino where the entries for the feminine form were larger. The reduction of women to stereotypical examples and roles was frequent in all dictionaries. They were often represented in a passive or objectified manner (e.g. see marito/moglie) or quite simply in derogatory and negative terms. Males, in these entries, were not represented in a similar way. They were presented in a variety of roles, in ragazzo there are eighteen different terms across the four entries, and rarely in pejorative terminology (see, for example, stregone; where males are spiritual leaders rather than demonic crones). It was usually difficult to ascertain the examples that referred to mixed groups which further raised their level of representation.

The other research work into dictionaries indicates that the situation remained static since the 1987 report into sexist language. Further these different research project show that regardless of one’s aim and approach similar evidence of the secondary and negative role ascribed to women and their activities is apparent. Stewart’s research into occupational titles (Stewart 1987) found that ‘the feminine is always supplied if there is one’. Though it is usually as an adjunct to the male, along with recurrent ambiguities regarding meaning and usage. He notes, as does Spina, that ‘the problem is not to create a new form to satisfy the linguistic

293 requirements of the age, but to select and employ consistently one of the (often) various forms that already exist’.81

Piano’s (1992) research presented the pejorative terms she found for women in a study of 278 headwords. As with my list she found that the feminine form was added to the masculine; e.g. anziano – Es.: Ormai è una donna anziana [by now she’s an old woman] and the superfluous use of donna. The feminine referent was often described as the wife of …., or in a manner that indicated negative attributes. Under avvocata, for example, she found 2. Fam. Scherz. Donna ciarliera e presuntuosa [ familiar or joking. A talkative or presumptuous woman]. Some of the other pejorative descriptions included this one in which the association between woman and cow are somewhat pointed; Allattare la madre allatta il bambino, la mucca allatta il vitellino [the mother feeds the baby, the cow feeds the calf] and Debole Es.:Spesso la donna è più debole dell’uomo. Il sesso debole [Weak, Eg.: often the woman is weaker than the man. The weaker sex]

Women could neither be brava or buona, good as in capable or good as in nice because both words, when linked with woman take on the connotation of prositute; and . Piano found women as prostitutes appeared under all sorts of headwords such as allegro, apollineo, farfalla, marciapiede, sacerdotessa and many more. The many descriptions of women as prostitutes also appeared under similar headwords as the ones used in this research such as donna, ragazza and strega. She found no references to women under headwords like eccellente, genio and valore.

Spina (1995) and Burr (1995) also found asymmetric usage between nouns in their research into literature and newspapers respectively. Spina’s results were slightly more positive as she found with consistent usage some female terms passed into acceptance. Burr, on the other hand found that not only were there often pejorative connotations associated with female referents overall the usage was extremely infrequent leading her to conclude that women don’t make news (le

81 Stewart 1987 ‘Forms for women in Italian’ in The Italianist n7 1987 p.188

294 donne non fanno notizia). One of the more recent reports on dictionary research came from Angela Chiantera (1998) at the conference Dialetto Oggi. She researched the neologisms recorded during the 1900s. Her aim was to ascertain whether and in what way the female experience had been noted.82 She used a number of different dictionaries and pointed out that many of the compilers stated that their role was to limited in the definitions, to the faithful recording of today’s society’s common linguistic meanings (limitandoci alla fedele registrazione, nelle definizioni, del comune sentimento linguistico della società d’oggi.) and to not assume a censorious attitude from either a linguistic or ideological-moral viewpoint (non assumere, nei confronti di questi termini, un atteggiamento censorio, né dal punto di vista strettamente linguistico (puristico), né dal punto di vista ideologico-moralistico. ).83

Chiantera feels that given these premises and the fact that the compilers used a good variety of different sources, there is the possibility that one could reconstruct a history of Italian women through these references. She selected headwords that either directly referred to women or contained references to them in the definition. Her results showed that women were included in marginal and restrictive ways:

Va subito detto che la loro collocazione in ben pochi e ristretti ambiti semantici riconferma gli stereotipi individuabili nella lingua d’uso: ne risulta un’immagine di donna caratterizzata da marginalità e subalternità, anche laddove si registri un mutamento nelle sue modalità di partecipazione sociale. In particolare, più che lacunosi sono i riconoscimenti del suo valore intellettuale, mentre il suo aspetto esteriore attira l’attenzione neolinguistica con costanza e, direi quasi, pignoleria per tutto il periodo esaminato. (Chiantera 1998, p. 277-278)

The largest area of ‘professional’ or ‘occupational’ neologisms Chiantera found in the area of prostitution. Though there was not a corresponding amount of new terms for males. She also give examples of sexist inference in descriptions such as the one she found for Pechinese <

82 Chiantera 1998, p. 275 “Collocandomi sullo sfondo di queste considerazioni, ed identificando nel lessico quella parte del sistema che per prima registra i cambiamenti che avvengono nella società e nel sistema di valori che essa, attraverso la lingua, rappresenta, ho avviato una riflessione sui neologismi regostrati in questo secolo. Ragionare in questa sede sul ‘neo-lessico’ novecentesco ha dunque il senso di una ricognizione sulle forme ed i modi in cui la società italiana ha nominato e fissato, nel corso di vari decenni, l’evoluzione dell’esperienza femminile.” 83 Ibid. p.276 cited M.Cortelazzo-U.Cardinale, Dizionario di parole nuove 1964-1987, Torino, Loescher, 1989, p.VII

295 donne!>>[the small, ugly, idiotic fashionable dog. Loved by women!] or the assumption that the reader would understand exactly the sort of occupation implied in the definition of Massaggiatrice <>[a cover name for another type of work, used especially in advertisements]. Chiantera also notes that there are many terms from the women’s movement that are not included such as autocoscienza. She concludes that females are still presented in marginal and stereotypical terms whether in the quantity and quality of the headwords or the manner in which the definitions are constructed. They are not represented autonomously and Chiantera quotes Sabatini in her final sentence:

Il che non fa che riconfermare la profonda verità del principio espresso da Alma Sabatini una decina d’anni fa (Sabatini 1987:26) e che si potrebbe così riformulare: la lingua neutra occulta l’assenza delle donne, così come ne occulta la presenza.(Chiantera 1998, p. 282)

A conclusion and sentiment mirrored in the results of the analysis into dictionaries undertaken in my research.

The word trees show is that women are most often described in subordinate or narrowly defined roles that usually indicate their social and sexual status. They are legitimised as wives, girlfriends or daughters or sexually neutered as ragazzette (dear little girls) or through acceptable religious association (suore etc). If they fall outside these roles, other than the few who enjoy work related roles such as governatrice or attrice, it is more often than not due to their sexual availability and/or deviance or their active rejection of the orthodox, male dominated religion (and sometimes a combination of both!). The role of mother is mostly limited to the actual role of nurturing children rather than the greater creationist role and quickly slides down the order of frequency when the word trees are expanded. Thus the nouns associated with the status of women, as found in the dictionaries analysed, do little to change traditional views of women’s roles in society and perpetuate some of the more demeaning and pejorative ideas about women in terms of their sexual behaviour and social value.

296 Men, on the other hand, are presented as the dominant and active members of society. They are autonomous and not available for sexual exploitation. While their roles as fathers and husbands are seen as important they are not restricted to these roles and, in fact, the very interpretation of these roles expand to cover the greater social environment; encompassing historical and political arenas. They are often defined in terms of their professional work status and enjoy a far greater range of options than women. This occurs in the category of Religious nouns as well. In contrast to women they are never described as being religiously deviant and males fulfill all levels of the religious hierarchy starting with Dio – God.

The differences outlined here indicate that the ideas and theories associated with Italian feminisms and the official directives outlined by various governmental bodies such as the U.N., the E.U. and the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione, have not significantly affected the way in which women and men are described and portrayed in dictionaries currently in use in Italian schools and society.

297 Chapter Seven ALLA FINE Girls & Boys to Women & Men

7.0 Summary of Research – Focus on Results 7.1 Conclusion –Gender Representation in Italian Education

7.0 Summary of Research – Focus on Results

The purpose of this research project was to ascertain the way gender is presented to Italian school children during the compulsory years of schooling. Despite the changes to the structure of education system for these formative years that are immanent, the material used in this analysis of gender is still current and therefore pertinent to an accurate assessment of gender representation in Italian education. This thesis approached the study of Italian educational material from three major directions; Italian feminisms, Italian feminist linguistic theory and Italian education which was analysed to encompass the official directives and Italian feminist paradigms. These three main areas of study enabled me to develop a comprehensive view of the following: how Italian feminists see socio-cultural and political change; how they translate that into a language that most suited their aims and how these ideas and philosophies are manifested in both the official edicts from the Ministero della pubblica istruzione and feminist approaches to education, educare nella differenza.

The linguistic and contextual methodology used was crucial in determining a clear picture of the sort of information about genders, stereotypes and expectations presented to children during their formative years. This picture, established from the textbook analysis and the dictionary analysis, responds to the objectives initially defined by this thesis as well as permitting some conclusions regarding how the portrayal of gender may impact on the developing child. Prior to answering the questions formed by the objectives it is useful to summarise the information

297 presented in the first three chapters of this thesis which focused on Italian feminisms, linguistics and education. The specificity of Italian feminist philosophies has required this study to be intra-cultural, making the acknowledgment of the philosophies essential.

What became apparent in the early years of the Italian women’s movement was its connection to French feminism and its growing difference to the mainstream feminist theories of other, predominantly English-speaking, societies. Although somewhat simplified here, the development through the autocoscienza movement to the philosophy of difference set the Italian feminists apart. While they campaigned on many similar issues; abortion, equal pay, laws against domestic violence and so on, to other women’s movements, they also delved more fully into fundamental philosophical issues. Integral to many of their explorations was the role of language. They asked, and continue to ask, questions about what it is to be a woman, and what it is to be a woman in an androcentric and patriarchal world. It was seen as essential to maintain the links between philosophical discourse and everyday practices. Affidamento, where women went into mutually beneficial relationships with each other, was also named and the importance of female mediation was recognised. Analogous with these, is the development of a female genealogy, which has an important educational focus. This last development was born through the work of various women’s cultural centres. In many ways Italian feminists rejected the emancipation movement as they saw the dangers of being co- opted into supporting the androcentric social structures which had oppressed them for so long. The need to uncover, develop, create and value what is female – female subjectivity - is central to understanding Italian feminisms. This focus on the originary difference they feel exists between women and men has form in the concepts of dual occupancy and the philosophy of difference; where difference from men, difference from each other and difference within, are not seen as a negative states, but rather as equally valuable different perspectives. The perspective of ‘the sexed subject’ - il soggetto sessuato.

298 As this thesis has shown, linked to the concept of a sexed subject is a sexed language. A language that will enable women to truly express and explore their own worldview and not merely reflect their place within the dominant androcentric view. The development of a sexed language is clearly visible in the early theoretical writings of Italian feminists on language. The early theories, which grew out of the French feminist theories about language, have been developed and taken in many different directions. Italian feminist linguistic research objectives include topics from the use of language as a political tool to the language of the mother. The practical expression found in Il sessismo nella lingua italiana by Sabatini, Mariani, Billi and Santangelo in 1987 caused a lively debate and continue to be used as the basis for Italian feminist research into the way sexist language manifests.

It’s through the application of these guidelines that one can see the importance of an intra-cultural study into linguistic and contextual representations of gender. What becomes immediately clear is the difference between the Italian feminist call for the feminisation of the language and the more mainstream neutralisation found in the English speaking societies. The Italian feminists’ focus on difference and the need for subjectivity is linked to women’s desire to become visible in language, society, culture, history and politics. The need to have a language that allows them to express their ideas and opinions about the world, as well as explore their own identity, has moved them away from a language and social structure where gender is irrelevant. After reviewing the literature available on Italian feminist linguistics there is no doubt that Italian feminists were well aware of not only the importance of language, but also the impact language change could have on the androcentric society in which they found themselves. There is also little doubt that their detractors and critics had only a minimal understanding and knowledge about the quantity and profundity of what had been written. There is a sense that many of these critics were informed about the neutral or genderless direction of English- speaking societies that were, for the most part, uniform (at least at an official level) and applied these standards to the Italian work and, in particular, the work of Alma

299 Sabatini and her colleagues. The commentators that presented a more balanced view were better informed concerning the philosophies of Italian feminisms.

It is not to be assumed that there is complete agreement within the various Italian feminist groups with all aspects of language change. As has been shown in Chapter Two – La donna e la parola, there is often a lively debate occurring within the various feminist groups in Italy. Overall, however, there is general consensus that that the direction that language change should take is towards the recognition and visibility of women rather than their negation or absorption into so called generic, read masculine, terms. The diversity that this basic philosophy has encouraged can be seen in the diversity of areas being explored by Italian academics, scholars and other researchers.

The philosophy of difference, female genealogy, female mediation, affidamento and the importance of undertaking activities that are personally relevant – in prima persona – have also been incorporated into educational aims. At an official level the Ministero delle Pubblica Istruzione, under instruction from the European Union, has published recommendations relating to equal opportunities and equitable treatment within schools. For the most part these recommendations centre on the need for teacher, specifically female teacher, development and the importance of girls’ access to opportunities that were previously the domain of boys. This is somewhat problematic as there is little recognition of the idea that females are different to males and a greater stress on the concept of the individual. What is lacking in these papers is the identification that the socially constructed norm of the individual is based on a masculine concept. The aim of not discriminating on the basis of gender is important, but not when it requires girls to conform to masculine models. What these publications on equal opportunity do suggest, however, is that at least the gender question is officially recognised and there may be a place for incorporating more culturally specific aims in the future.

The hope for this comes from the work of teachers involved in the autoriforma and educare nella differenza movements. The theories, ideas and activities coming

300 from this work involve all aspects of education from teacher training to classroom structure. Many of the teachers and scholars working in this area have incorporated the feminist ideas of difference and the importance of female mediation into their studies and practices. With the present larger changes to the status of la scuola d’obbligo pending there is great concern among teachers that the success of the projected changes will fall on them and take away their energy and ability to focus on issues of gender and parity.

Teachers and feminists’ work on autoriforma and differenza has produced a number of books and articles. The objective is the dissemination these theories through the education system and to help teachers develop curricula that are not merely homogenous reproductions of androcentric tradition. Such approaches to curricula and educational procedures have the potential to recognise and make women and women’s achievements and activities visible in all subject areas and at all levels of education. The exploration of women in history, for example, facilitates the development of a female genealogy. The educators working within these paradigms know the resistance to their proposals is strong and the realisation of gender difference and parity in education requires continuing effort and time.

The objective of the thesis was to obtain a clear picture of how gender is represented in Italian educational material in order to facilitate the consideration of a number of factors. These factors included how representations of gender manifest in Italian education, how Italian society perceives/transmits gender through its portrayal in reference books and what the present state of gender representation in school texts and reference books suggests about the influence and effectiveness of the Italian women’s movement. Furthermore, what do children learn about their imposed gender role by way of linguistic and extra-linguistic factors and how could that impact on how they see themselves and others?

In analysing the educational materials it was important to incorporate all the aspects; feminisms, feminist linguistics and education, into the methodology selected and developed and the conclusion. For this reason the two main areas of

301 study identified were; textbooks and dictionaries and two analytically approaches were employed; linguistic and contextual. The first approach, used for the linguistic analysis of the textbooks, relied on the work undertaken by Alma Sabatini and her colleagues in 1987. A different linguistic methodology was developed to analyse dictionaries though the aims of Sabatini et al and Italian feminist linguistic theory remained central. The second methodology created for the contextual analysis incorporated the more theoretical ideas of Italian feminisms and in particular the need for visibility and recognition of females.

7.1 Conclusion – Gender Representation in Italian Education

The results from my research into the linguistic and contextual representation of gender in Italian school textbooks and dictionaries indicate that there is a significant difference in the way females and males are presented. Unfortunately this difference in presentation has little similarity with the philosophy of difference that underpins Italian feminisms. What is also apparent is that females are mostly absent from educational materials used in schools. Linguistically, as the textbook analysis in Chapter Five – I testi scolastici showed, there is a minimal identification of women. When it does occur, they are often quickly absorbed into masculine generic terminology or, when nominated, they are usually found in a secondary position to the male, semantically limited or subject to representation that highlights their sex in negative or pejorative ways. This is apparent in the persistent stereotypical representation present in the textbooks where they do appear. There is no indication that the recommendations suggested by Sabatini in her Raccomandazioni per un uso non sessista della lingua italiana. Per la scuola e per l’editoria scolastica,84 have had any impact at all on school textbooks. There is also no evidence that the objectives set out by the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione have been noted or included in the publication of textbooks and school dictionaries.

84 Sabatini 1986 – see Appendice One

302

Linguistically women are also disadvantaged in school dictionaries. Unless there was a different noun (i.e. donna – uomo or moglie – marito), the feminine of the pairs selected was usually an adjunct to the masculine headword. Yet in many cases, of one employs the strict alphabetical logic of the dictionary, the feminine often precedes the masculine (i.e. ragazza before ragazzo). In the majority of cases the feminine form, when present, was dealt with in a much briefer and more restricted manner than the masculine. This was only different for the few feminine headwords such as prostituta and strega. Many of the related terms for woman fell into the categories of wife, mother and prostitute or depicted her in a religious role. She was rarely defined as an autonomous active member of society and often even the traditional stereotypical categories were presented in a neutral if not pejorative manner. The perception of women as having a marginal and limited role in socio- cultural and political environments was evident in the layout and the language of four dictionaries analysed. Despite the recent and supposedly enlightened compilation of these works by the lexicographers, the discrimination and vilification of women continues among the pages of essential language reference texts.

The contextual analysis of both dictionaries and textbooks confirmed the negative and minimal representation of the female gender. In dictionaries and textbooks alike, males dominated illustrations. The illustrations were repeatedly sexist. Women were most commonly found in domestic settings, when found at all. The anomaly of a woman working or partaking in some interesting activity was usually highlighted and exaggerated to the point of ridicule or condemnation:

Oggi molte mamme lavorano in fabbrica o in ufficio e ogni giorno possono dedicare poco tempo alla famiglia e ai figli. ( Bersezio 1996:61)

Boys and men populated the text of all but two textbooks, and the themes were determined by topics that centered on the activities and interests of one sex – the male sex. Only men were called upon as experts, except in the few cases of specifically female biological topics. Not only were men the authorities on the

303 world, they were also predominantly the ones who wrote about it. In the textbooks they were the sex who enjoyed active, varied and extensive social roles. Women were rarely cited and certainly never called upon to give historical or geographical information. In the examples and exercises required for language learning by the grammar books male subjects exceeded female subjects in significant amounts. This asymmetric situation was further disparate given the often stereotypical, if not negative, representations of few female subjects;

Paola ha registrato con questo istogramma le caramelle mangiate in una settimana. Calcola la media..

Gianni ha lanciato 10 freccette nel tiro a segno con questi risultati: Stabilisci la moda e la media rispetto ai punti realizzati.(Balicco & Craca 1997:79)

It is also very interesting to note that children are exposed to textbooks that, as they grow older, contain more pejorative and asymmetric representations of women. During the period when they move through the physical and psychological changes of early adolescence; at time where gender relations and the development of understanding about one’s place in society and one’s identity are foremost, girls and boys are exposed to very different images and information. Within an Italian feminist paradigm this difference may not be necessarily be detrimental. Unfortunately the sort of difference experienced through the representation of gender at school opposes the idea of difference as being an appreciation and understanding of diversity, instead the traditional idea of difference prevails: where the male sex is paramount and the female is the negative and inconsequential other.

The overall result is a lack of regard for the presence of the female as an autonomous and self-determining subject in any given context. The very early school textbooks of scuola elementare, or what will now be the first two years of a scuola primaria, are not as discriminatory as the later ones. At the same time, however, they do not represent gender in ways that fulfill the recommendations of the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione let alone the recommendations of Sabatini. Furthermore, if a child turns to the dictionary for assistance, the minimal and

304 opprobrious presentation of women would do little to challenge stereotypical assumptions as this comparison between the occupations of women and men (under donna and uomo) in Dizionario italiano (Sabatini & Colletti ) clearly shows:

donna-poliziotto; donna soldato II d. di casa - con valore antifrastico, donna sessualmente disponibile, prostituta, d. di servizio (o assol.la d.), domestica - d. di strada, da marciapiede, di vita, di malaffare, prosituta - gentildonna, padrona, governatrice: (Sabatini & Colletti 1997, p. 792)

Under the entry for uomo there were:

parrucchiere per u. u. di affari, operatore economico e finanzario, u. d’arme, soldato, u. di chiesa, ecclesiastico, u. di legge, avvocato, giurista, magistrato, u. di lettere, letterato, u. di mare, marinaio, addetto: l’u. della luce, del telefono, della manutenzione, l’u. delle pulizie; l’u. del gas, giocatore, atleta, componente di un’unità militare, dell’equipaggio di una nave o di un aereo, controllore di volo, sommozzatore, u.-sandwich, u. ragno, u. gol, u. partita, u. Media. (Sabatini & Colletti 1997, p. 2867)

In the early dictionaries the images and descriptions of women are primarily of women as mothers or involved ‘happily’ in various domestic activities. The not particularly subtle indication is that good mothers stay at home and care for their family. What does that imply about women who choose to, or have to, work outside the home? Women who choose to place their own identity and development on par with others? It suggests that these women are in some ways lacking, a lack that quickly turns morally corrupt given the quantity of representations that depict them in sexual and deviant roles

Dictionary entries and the use of the masculine were often ambiguous. It was sometimes unclear as to whether the definitions and examples referred to mixed groups or single sexed – i.e. male – groups. Uses of the marked masculine were frequently put before or after phrases that could, or should, have included females and males. The effect was the further absenting of women from references and texts. For young female learners this would make it even more difficult to identify with the texts and the information contained within. It is also worth pointing out that for many male learners the absence of parallel representations of their mothers, sisters, female and girl friends not only appears unbalanced, but also deprives them of information regarding females. For both sexes, though much more significantly

305 for females than males, this asymmetric representation restricts them into very narrow and specific ideas about their role and the role of the other sex in society.

The prevailing and pernicious restriction of female subjects to domestic, religious and/or sexually defined roles and settings does not indicate that the textbooks and dictionaries available in Italian schools in the 1990s have embraced the aims of the Italian women’s movement to eradicate sexist and stereotypical representations of gender. The results of my research indicate that they do not even begin to comply with the requirements of the European Union or the Ministero della pubblica istruzione. The students of the Italian education system are not benefiting from the European and national evolution towards gender parity. The exhausting work of the feminist education movement educare nella differenza and the autoriforma movement are outside the official structures of the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione. While they are dedicated and convinced of the evolutionary nature of their ideas they find themselves hampered by isolation and what often appears to be deliberate governmental tactics to maintain the status quo. What does this signify for the educational outcomes of children in Italian schools?

It is hard to answer in any other way than state that the sexist, androcentric and patriarchal nature of Italian society will see little change with the next generation. The continuing negative and minimal representation of females from fundamental educational material such as textbooks and dictionaries results in the continuing alienation and marginalisation of women in society. As has been discussed in Chapter 3 – A Scuola, children’s psycho-social development processes are influenced by the material and experiences they are exposed to at school. They spend a significant part of their developing years in an educational environment and the information and messages – overt or otherwise – they receive during that time will have an important impact on their future, often unconscious, attitudes in later life. It seems clear that there has been official (E.U. and government) and unofficial (teacher and feminist groups) recognition of this fact yet little of the initiatives have had an effect on the representation of gender in textbooks and dictionaries.

306 The disparate representation of gender appears in the context and in the language. The role of language to these early learners is central to their ability to understand a lot of the material. Without language, the ability to read, write, and speak, they cannot access the information being presented. As their comprehension of language increases so does their ability to interpret its messages, all its messages. As we have seen from this research, many of the messages contained in language present the two genders in disparate ways. Even with the minimal application of the Sapir- Whorf hypothesis or an acceptance that language and worldview are interlinked, it is difficult to dispute that the information contained in the language of these textbooks has an effect on the developing child’s understanding of the world.

What must young girls feel to inhabit a world that does not adequately, if at all, recognise them? What hope is there of young girls and boys challenging traditional social roles that restrict them to predefined ideas about women and men in society? These types of questions would form the basis for an interesting and illuminating study where the school children themselves provide the answers. Sexist representation, such as that detailed in this thesis, must impact in different ways on girls and boys. It would be intriguing to discover their expectations of themselves and each other were and how and in what ways the asymmetric representation of gender in educational material influences their expectations and perception of the world.

All the feminist studies into education conducted in Italy since the late 1980s agree on one fundamental point: the manner in which gender is represented in school textbooks is detrimental to the development of a society which respects differences and which is equally representative of both genders. The way in which language is used to portray females and males can be further related to the language and worldview link that underlies most of the feminist studies into language. In this larger linguistic paradigm – whether we accept a strong or weak version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis – the application of a sexed language and its possibility to challenging the socio-cultural status-quo seems limited, if not non-existent.

307 This extensive study into the representation of gender in Italian educational material in the late 1990s supports this affirmation with statistical data that clearly shows the injurious and peripheral place of females in textbooks and dictionaries. The indications from teachers working within a feminist paradigm in schools suggest that teachers being able to rewrite the pedagogy and re-evaluate their own place in society are essential projects. My results suggest that not only is it essential, it is imperative, if girls and boys in Italian education are to have the possibility of being women and men that appreciate each other for their differences and challenge the traditional roles that continue to be assigned to them.

308 PRIME PAROLE

ILLUSTRATIONS Table 6.Ia Illustrations Female Sexist Female Non Specific Male Sexist Male Non Specific Combined Sexist Combined Non Specific Total 33 42 22 468 5 48

Illustrations

Combined Non Specific Female Sexist Combined Sexist Female Non Specific 8% 5% 1% 7% Male Sexist 4%

Male Non Specific 75%

DIZIONARIO DI BASE

ILLUSTRATIONS Table 6.Ib Illustrations Female Sexist Female Non Specific Male Sexist Male Non Specific Combined Sexist Combined Non Specific Total 1 28 1 68 1 4

Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Non Specific 1% 4% Combined Sexist 1% Female Non Specific 27%

Male Sexist 1%

Male Non Specific 66%

DIZIONARIO AVANZATO DELL'ITALIANO CORRENTE

ILLUSTRATIONS Table 6.Ic Illustrations Female Sexist Female Non Specific Male Sexist Male Non Specific Combined Sexist Combined Non Specific Total 1 24 1 98 2 10

Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Non Specific 1% 7% Female Non Specific Combined Sexist 18% 1% Male Sexist 1%

Male Non Specific 72%

Prime Parole, Dizionario di base, Dizionario avanzato dell'italiano corrente Illustrations Tables 6.Ia, 6.Ib, 6.Ic DIZIONARIO DI BASE

ILLUSTRATIONS Table 1 Illustrations Female Sexist Female Non Specific Male Sexist Male Non Specific Combined Sexist Combined Non Specific Total 1 28 1 68 1 4

Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Non Specific 1% Combined Sexist 4% 1% Female Non Specific 27%

Male Sexist 1%

Male Non Specific 66%

Dizionario di base DIZIONARIO AVANZATO DELL'ITALIANO CORRENTE

ILLUSTRATIONS Table 1 Illustrations Female Sexist Female Non Specific Male Sexist Male Non Specific Combined Sexist Combined Non Specific Total 1 24 1 98 2 10

Illustrations Female Sexist Combined Non Specific 1% 7% Female Non Specific Combined Sexist 18% 1% Male Sexist 1%

Male Non Specific 72%

Dizionario avanzato dell'italiano corrente PRIME PAROLE PEOPLE

Table 2 People Female Male Total 49 216

People

Female 18%

Male 82%

Prime parole Table 2 DIZIONARIO DI BASE

PEOPLE

Table 2 People Female Male Total 6 43

People

Female 12%

Male 88% DIZIONARIO AVANZATO DELL'ITALIANO CORRENTE PEOPLE

Table 2 People Female Male Total 9 60

People

Female 13%

Male 87%

Dizionario avanzato dell'italiano corrente Table 2 PRIME PAROLE

PEOPLE Table 6.2a People Female Male Total 48 216

Female People 18%

Male 82%

DIZIONARIO DI BASE

PEOPLE Table 6.2b People Female Male Total 6 43

People Female 12%

Male 88%

DIZIONARIO AVANZATO DELL'ITALIANO CORRENTE

PEOPLE Table 6.2c People Female Male Total 9 60

People Female 13%

Male 87%

Prime Parole, Dizionario di base, Dizionario avanzato dell'italiano corrente. People Tables 6.2a, 6.2b, 6.2c Key A - Sport D - Domestic F - Forces N - No category P - Professional R - Religious S - Skilled U - Unskilled Title Role Sex Actor P M Actor P M Actor P M Agent F M Aid worker S M Angel R M Archer A M Architect P M Architect P M Architect P M Athlete A M Athlete A M Aviatore P M Baker S F Baker S M Ballerina S F Ballerina S M Banker P M Banker P M Bar staff U M Barber S M Barracker N M Barraker N M Barrister P M Blacksmith P M Bookseller S M Bookseller S M Boxer A M Builder S M Butcher S M Captian F M Car maker U M Cavalier F M Cavalier F M Cavalier F M Chef P M Chef P M Chef P M Chemist P M Chemist P M Cleaner / Home D F Cleaner / Home D F Cleaner / Home D F Cleaner / Home D F Controller S M Cook S F Cook S F Cook S M Cook / Home D F Cook / Home D F Cook / Home D F Cook/ Home D F Cook/ Home D F Corporal P M Cyclist A M Cyclist A M Dentist P M Director P M Director P M Doctor P M Doctor P M Doctor P M Doctor P M Domestic U F Driver S M Drycleaner S M Electrician P M Electrician P M Emperor P M Emperor P M Employee S M Employee S M Engineer P M Engineer P M Farmer S F Farmer S M Farmer S M Farmer S M Farmer S M Fighter A M Fire fighter P M Fire fighter P M Fire fighter P M Fisherman S M Forest Ranger P M Fruitseller U M Furrier S M Gardener S M Goemetrist P M Green grocer S F Guide S M Gunman A M Gypsy N M Hairdresser S M Handy man S M Handy man U M Handy man U M Handy man U M Handyman U M Heir P M Hiker A M Hostess S F Hotel Owner S M House painter S M House wife D F Housewife D F Illustrator P M Inspector P M Ironworker U M Journalist P F Journalist P F Journalist P M Journalist P M Journalist P M King P M Lab. Technician S M Labourer S M Labourer U M Labourer U M Labourer U M Lawyer P M Librarian P F Librarian P F Machinist S M Magician S M Matador A M Mechanic S M Mechanic S M Mechanic S M Metal woker U M Milkman U M Monk R M Monk R M Monk R M Mother D F Mother D F Mother D F Mother D F Mother D F Motorcyclist A M Motorcyclist A M Musician S M Musician S M Nun R F Nurse P M Office manager S M Optometrist P M Optometrist P M Painter P M Painter P M Painter S F Partisan U M Pastry cook S M Photographer P M Photographer P M Pilot P M Pilot P M Pilot P M Pirate N M Plumber P M Plumber S M Police officer F M Police officer F M Police officer F M Police officer F M Police officer F M Politician P M Porter U M Porter U M Postman S M Postman S M Postman S M Priest R M Priest R M Princess N F Prisoner N M Prisoner N M Professor P M Queen P F Rebel N M Roadie U M Rock climber A M Rock climber A M Scientist P M Scientist P M Scientist P M Scientist P M Sculptor P M Sculptor P M Sculptor P M Seamstress S F Seamstress S F Seamstress S F Seamstress S F Sentry F M Shepherd U M Shepherdess U F Shop assistant U F Shop assistant U M Shopper D F Singer S M Singer S M Singer S M Sister D F Skier A M Soldier F M Soldier F M Soldier F M Soldier F M Soldier F M Soldier F M Soldier F M Soldier S M Sorceror R M Sportsperson A M Sportsperson A M Sportsperson A M Sportsperson A M Station master P M Station master P M Station master P M Station master P M Station master P M Step mother D F Surgeon P M Surgeon P M Swimmer A M Tabbaconist S M Tailor P F Tailor P F Tailor P M Tailor P M Taxi Driver U M Teacher P F Teacher P F Teacher P M Teacher P M Teacher P M Teller S M Tennis Player A F Tennis player A M Thief N M Traffic Officer F M Traffic Officer F M Traffic Officer F M Trainer A M Traveller N M Truck driver U M Unionist S M Vagabond N M Wagon master S M Waiter S M Waiter S M Waiter S M Waiter S M Watchmaker S M Wife D F Wine maker S M Witch R F Witch R F Woodsman S M Worker U M Worker U M Worker U M Worker U M Dictionary Appendice # Prime parole Title Role Sex Title Role Sex Athlete Forces Tennis Player A F Agent F M Archer A M Captian F M Athlete A M Cavalier F M Athlete A M Cavalier F M Boxer A M Cavalier F M Cyclist A M Police officer F M Cyclist A M Police officer F M Fighter A M Police officer F M Gunman A M Police officer F M Hiker A M Police officer F M Matador A M Sentry F M Motorcyclist A M Soldier F M Motorcyclist A M Soldier F M Rock climber A M Soldier F M Rock climber A M Soldier F M Skier A M Soldier F M Sportsperson A M Soldier F M Sportsperson A M Soldier F M Sportsperson A M Traffic Officer F M Sportsperson A M Traffic Officer F M Swimmer A M Traffic Officer F M Tennis player A M Total 21 Ratio 0:21 Trainer A M No category Total 22 Ratio: 1:21 Princess N F Domestic Barracker N M Cleaner / Home D F Barraker N M Cleaner / Home D F Gypsy N F Cleaner / Home D F Pirate N M Cleaner / Home D F Prisoner N M Cook / Home D F Prisoner N M Cook / Home D F Rebel N M Cook / Home D F Thief N M Cook/ Home D F Traveller N M Cook/ Home D F Vagabond N M House wife D F Total 11 Ratio 2:9 Housewife D F Mother D F Mother D F Mother D F Mother D F Mother D F Shopper D F Sister D F Step mother D F Wife D F Total 20 Ratio 20:0 Dictionary Appendice # Title Role Sex Title Role Sex Professional Heir P M Journalist P F Illustrator P M Journalist P F Inspector P M Librarian P F Journalist P M Librarian P F Journalist P M Queen P F Journalist P M Tailor P F King P M Tailor P F Lawyer P M Teacher P F Nurse P M Teacher P F Optometrist P M Actor P M Optometrist P M Actor P M Painter P M Actor P M Painter P M Architect P M Photographer P M Architect P M Photographer P M Architect P M Pilot P M Aviatore P M Pilot P M Banker P M Pilot P M Banker P M Plumber P M Barrister P M Politician P M Blacksmith P M Professor P M Chef P M Scientist P M Chef P M Scientist P M Chef P M Scientist P M Chemist P M Scientist P M Chemist P M Sculptor P M Corporal P M Sculptor P M Dentist P M Sculptor P M Director P M Station masterPM Director P M Station masterPM Doctor P M Station masterPM Doctor P M Station masterPM Doctor P M Station masterPM Doctor P M Surgeon P M Electrician P M Surgeon P M Electrician P M Tailor P M Emperor P M Tailor P M Emperor P M Teacher P M Engineer P M Teacher P M Engineer P M Teacher P M Fire fighter P M Total 83 Ratio 9:72 Fire fighter P M Fire fighter P M Forest Ranger P M Goemetrist P M Dictionary Appendice # Title Role Sex Title Role Sex Religious Furrier S M Nun R F Gardener S M Witch R F Guide S M Witch R F Hairdresser S M Angel R M Handy man S M Monk R M Hotel Owner S M Monk R M House painter S M Monk R M Lab. TechniciaSM Priest R M Labourer S M Priest R M Machinist S M Sorceror R M Magician S M Total 10 Ratio 3:7 Mechanic S M Skilled Mechanic S M Baker S F Mechanic S M Ballerina S F Musician S M Cook S F Musician S M Cook S F Office manageSM Farmer S F Pastry cook S M Green grocer S F Plumber S M Hostess S F Postman S M Painter S F Postman S M Seamstress S F Postman S M Seamstress S F Singer S M Seamstress S F Singer S M Seamstress S F Singer S M Aid worker S M Soldier S M Baker S M Tabbaconist S M Ballerina S M Teller S M Barber S M Unionist S M Bookseller S M Wagon masterSM Bookseller S M Waiter S M Builder S M Waiter S M Butcher S M Waiter S M Controller S M Waiter S M Cook S M Watchmaker S M Driver S M Wine maker S M Drycleaner S M Woodsman S M Employee S M Total 68 Ratio 12:46 Employee S M Farmer S M Farmer S M Farmer S M Farmer S M Fisherman S M Dictionary Appendice #

Title Role Sex Title Role Sex Unskilled Domestic U F Shepherdess U F Shop assistant U F Bar staff U M Car maker U M Fruitseller U M Handy man U M Handy man U M Handy man U M Handyman U M Ironworker U M Labourer U M Labourer U M Labourer U M Metal woker U M Milkman U M Partisan U M Porter U M Porter U M Roadie U M Shepherd U M Shop assistant U M Taxi Driver U M Truck driver U M Worker U M Worker U M Worker U M Worker U M Total 28 Ratio 3:25 Title Role Sex Tennis Player A F Total 1 Cleaner / Home D F Cleaner / Home D F Cleaner / Home D F Cleaner / Home D F Cook / Home D F Cook / Home D F Cook / Home D F Cook/ Home D F Cook/ Home D F House wife D F Housewife D F Mother D F Mother D F Mother D F Mother D F Mother D F Shopper D F Sister D F Step mother D F Wife D F Total 20 Princess N F Total 1 Journalist P F Journalist P F Librarian P F Librarian P F Queen P F Tailor P F Tailor P F Teacher P F Teacher P F Total 9 Nun R F Witch R F Witch R F Total 3 Baker S F Ballerina S F Cook S F Cook S F Farmer S F Green grocer S F Hostess S F Painter S F Seamstress S F Seamstress S F Seamstress S F Seamstress S F Total 12 Domestic U F Shepherdess U F Shop assistant U F Total 3 Archer A M Athlete A M Athlete A M Boxer A M Cyclist A M Cyclist A M Fighter A M Gunman A M Hiker A M Matador A M Motorcyclist A M Motorcyclist A M Rock climber A M Rock climber A M Skier A M Sportsperson A M Sportsperson A M Sportsperson A M Sportsperson A M Swimmer A M Tennis player A M Trainer A M Total 22 Agent F M Captian F M Cavalier F M Cavalier F M Cavalier F M Police officer F M Police officer F M Police officer F M Police officer F M Police officer F M Sentry F M Soldier F M Soldier F M Soldier F M Soldier F M Soldier F M Soldier F M Soldier F M Traffic Officer F M Traffic Officer F M Traffic Officer F M Total 21 Barracker N M Barraker N M Gypsy N M Pirate N M Prisoner N M Prisoner N M Rebel N M Thief N M Traveller N M Vagabond N M Total 10 Actor P M Actor P M Actor P M Architect P M Architect P M Architect P M Aviatore P M Banker P M Banker P M Barrister P M Blacksmith P M Chef P M Chef P M Chef P M Chemist P M Chemist P M Corporal P M Dentist P M Director P M Director P M Doctor P M Doctor P M Doctor P M Doctor P M Electrician P M Electrician P M Emperor P M Emperor P M Engineer P M Engineer P M Fire fighter P M Fire fighter P M Fire fighter P M Forest Ranger P M Goemetrist P M Heir P M Illustrator P M Inspector P M Journalist P M Journalist P M Journalist P M King P M Lawyer P M Nurse P M Optometrist P M Optometrist P M Painter P M Painter P M Photographer P M Photographer P M Pilot P M Pilot P M Pilot P M Plumber P M Politician P M Professor P M Scientist P M Scientist P M Scientist P M Scientist P M Sculptor P M Sculptor P M Sculptor P M Station master P M Station master P M Station master P M Station master P M Station master P M Surgeon P M Surgeon P M Tailor P M Tailor P M Teacher P M Teacher P M Teacher P M Total 75 Angel R M Monk R M Monk R M Monk R M Priest R M Priest R M Sorceror R M Total 7 Aid worker S M Baker S M Ballerina S M Barber S M Bookseller S M Bookseller S M Builder S M Butcher S M Controller S M Cook S M Driver S M Drycleaner S M Employee S M Employee S M Farmer S M Farmer S M Farmer S M Farmer S M Fisherman S M Furrier S M Gardener S M Guide S M Hairdresser S M Handy man S M Hotel Owner S M House painter S M Lab. Technician S M Labourer S M Machinist S M Magician S M Mechanic S M Mechanic S M Mechanic S M Musician S M Musician S M Office manager S M Pastry cook S M Plumber S M Postman S M Postman S M Postman S M Singer S M Singer S M Singer S M Soldier S M Tabbaconist S M Teller S M Unionist S M Wagon master S M Waiter S M Waiter S M Waiter S M Waiter S M Watchmaker S M Wine maker S M Woodsman S M Total 56 Bar staff U M Car maker U M Fruitseller U M Handy man U M Handy man U M Handy man U M Handyman U M Ironworker U M Labourer U M Labourer U M Labourer U M Metal woker U M Milkman U M Partisan U M Porter U M Porter U M Roadie U M Shepherd U M Shop assistant U M Taxi Driver U M Truck driver U M Worker U M Worker U M Worker U M Worker U M Total 25 Totals A DFNPRSU

F 1200193123 M 22 0 21 10 75 7 56 25 Dictionary Apendice # Dib

Title Role Sex Title Role Sex Athlete Skilled Fondista A F Employee S F Archer A M Hostess S F GoalKeeper A M Trapezee artist S F Parachutist A M Acrobat S M Referee A M Bee Keeper S M Rock climber A M Clown S M Schiermidore A M Contortionist S M Skier A M Controller S M Sportsperson A M Gardener S M Sportsperson A M Jockey S M Trainer A M Magician S M Total 11 Ratio 1:10 Operator S M No category Player S M Spectator N M Postman S M Student N M Puppeteer S M Total 2 Ratio 0:2 Ring master S M Professions Steward S M Nurse P F Tightrope walker S M Teacher P F Waiter S M Agriculuturist P M Total 19 Ratio 3:16 Astronaut P M Unskilled Astronomer P M Assistant U M Boss P M Barman U M Commander P M Labourer U M Doctor P M Labourer U M Miner P M Porter U M Pilot P M Total 4 Ratio 0:4 Pilot P M Station master P M Tailor P M Total 13 Ratio 2:11 Totals A D F N P R S U

F 10002030 M 10 0 0 2 11 0 16 4 Fondista A F Nurse P F Teacher P F Employee S F Hostess S F Trapezee artist S F Archer A M GoalKeeper A M Parachutist A M Referee A M Rock climber A M Schiermidore A M Skier A M Sportsperson A M Sportsperson A M Trainer A M Spectator N M Student N M Agriculuturist P M Astronaut P M Astronomer P M Boss P M Commander P M Doctor P M Miner P M Pilot P M Pilot P M Station master P M Tailor P M Acrobat S M Bee Keeper S M Clown S M Contortionist S M Controller S M Gardener S M Jockey S M Magician S M Operator S M Player S M Postman S M Puppeteer S M Ring master S M Steward S M Tightrope walkeSM Waiter S M Assistant U M Barman U M Labourer U M Labourer U M Total 2 Ratio 0:2 Total 4 Ratio 0:4 Total 11 Ratio 1:10 Total 13 Ratio 2:11 Total 19 Ratio 3:16 Title Role Sex Dictionary Appendice # Daic Title Role Sex Title Role Sex Athlete Archer A F Skilled Athlete A F Hostess S F Athlete A M Seamstress S F Goal Keeper A M Secretary SF Javlin Thrower A M Assistant S M Line person A M Assistant director SM Parachutist A M Assistant operator S M Pilot A M Audio technician S M Referee A M Camera operator S M Defender A M Camera operator S M Skier A M Camera operator S M Sportsperson A M Controller S M Rock climber A M Costume designer S M Total 13 Ratio 2:11 Employee S M Professional Hairdresser S M Actor P F Makeup Artist S M Doctor P F Postman S M Journalist P F Scenographer S M Pediatrician P F Steward S M Director P M Rigger S M Actor P M Audio technician S M Analyst P M Total 20 Ratio 3:17 Astronaut P M Unskilled Astronomer P M Clapper board op. U M Author P M Gardener U M Boss P M Labourer U M Commander P M Labourer U M Correspondent P M Operator U M Director P M Porter U M Director P M Total 6 Ratio 0:6 Director P M Editor P M Electrician P M GP/Doctor P M Head Electrician P M Nurse P M Painter P M Photographer P M Pilot P M Producer P M Programmer P M Sculpter P M Stationmaster P M Systems operator P M Technical Director P M Total 30 Ratio 4:26 Totals A DFNPRSU

F 20004030 M 11 0 0 0 26 0 17 6 Bibliography

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