Their stories are a hymn to strength, resilience, the ability to get up and start again. They are the stories of women who have overcome challenges and obstacles, faced prejudices and difficulties and who have found in work the key for a better future. “Determination and (is) the strength of women”, the new book edited by Delia Altavilla and Angela Di Marzo, collects the testimonies of ten women who participated in a creative writing workshop promoted by the Women of the CISL Palermo Trapani and presented, on July 1st, at Villa Filippina in Palermo.
Stories of life and change
Among the pages you will meet women who have overcome the violence domestic workers, women who have lovingly welcomed migrant boys arriving on the Sicilian coast, women who fight for gender equality in the world of Workforeign women who face mistrust and difficulties in integration. Each story is an example of courage, resilience and determination.
The common thread that unites the stories is work, seen not only as a source of income, but also as a tool for social emancipation and personal growth. As Federica Badami, organizational secretary of Cisl Palermo Trapani, emphasizes, “Work is a mechanism of socialization, a source of social exchange and identity individual – she continues – it is thanks to work that many women have found the strength to move forward, to rebel against prejudices and stereotypes”.
Writing as a tool for awareness
Delia Altavilla, coordinator of Donne Cisl Palermo Trapani, underlines the importance of creative writing as a tool to give voice to personal experiences, to acquire awareness of one’s own path and to find the strength to communication their needs: “creative writing helps us find the meaning of what we intend to communicate and offers us the tools to understand reality by imposing the discipline of listening. It can become an effective tool in the world of work increasingly bent by sterile competitiveness and in the isolation of the worker who no longer feels part of a community” – explains Altavilla -.
A commitment to society
The presentation of the book, which took place at Villa Filippina in Palermo, was an opportunity to reaffirm the commitment of the Cisl in the fight against gender discrimination and to promote the parity of opportunities for women. “The union must play its social role, valorizing everything that in the female world is a source of determination” declared Leonardo La Piana, general secretary of Cisl Palermo Trapani.
