Masculinity and Secessionism in Italy: An Assessment

Abstract

The masculinist rhetoric of the northern Italian separatist party, the Lega Nord, is an example of nationalist status affirmation. The stereotyped contrast between effeminate southerners and masculine northerners developed at the end of last century is used to affirm the superiority of the masculine North. The Lega's rhetoric parallels mainstream concerns on Italy's international status, and proposals for reforms to make Italy more 'masculine' and European. The use of a gendered language for the affirmation of national status reveals a belief in a normative hierarchy of nations, but also introduces a tension between a 'masculinist' status affirmation and a model of modernity which includes the emancipation of women as one of its principles.

‘Subaltern Victims’ or ‘Useful Resources’? Migrant Women in the Lega Nord Ideology and Politics

“…Women's paid work is explicitly supported as long as this does not jeopardise their domestic responsibilities. This is linked to the traditional predominance of owners of family-run businesses among the LN constituency: 10 women are celebrated as 'honorary men' partaking of the 'masculine' qualities of hard-working members of the nation, and contributing to the economic wellbeing of Padania (Huysseune 2000). The LN has promoted some measures to support work/family balance, such as the creation of nurseries in the workplace.…”

Caring for the elderly in the family or in the nation? Gender, women and migrant care labour in the Lega Nord

“…Yet this familistic rhetoric of the Lega Nord is ambivalent. While women are considered primarily responsible for social reproductive work within the family, their paid work outside the home is tolerated and even encouraged 5 (Avanza 2009;Huysseune 2000). Bossi has explictly acknowledged the necessity of a conciliation between women's domestic responsibilities and their jobs (Bossi and Vimercati 1993).…”

“…This discourse assigns qualities socially constructed as masculine -such as work ethic, industriousness and rationality -to all members of the nation (Huysseune 2000).…”