Speech by Eliana Bacchini, provincial equality councilor of La Spezia
As provincial equality councilor of La Spezia, I carefully followed the composition of the council of the municipality of Riccò del Golfo, which already presented many problems at the end of the municipal council elections to guarantee the presence of women within it (as required by the regulations and as hoped for by all political parties) since no female candidate was elected in the majority group.
I took action to point out the problem and my concern as guarantor of equal opportunities to the reconfirmed mayor Loris Figoli.
I have received his assurance (as also shown in the communication to the local press) that there is a precise desire to include women on the council; this will happen as soon as the process of changing the Statute has been completed, which currently does not provide for the possibility of appointing councilors external to those elected.
I received the assurance from the mayor that the council appointed in the recent Council is to be considered temporary until the Statute is amended, a modification which will introduce the possibility of appointing external councilors to the City Council and which is entrusted to the relevant council commissions which will begin to work promptly .
At the end of the process, which will certainly take a few months, the new council will be appointed with the female representation expected in municipalities with a population above 3000 inhabitants.
I take note of the mayor’s desire to achieve equal opportunities, albeit in a deferred manner, and I will carefully follow the development of the situation, as my role requires.
However, I cannot help but express my disappointment in noting that once again the female and male voters of Riccò del Golfo (and many other municipalities in our province and beyond) have not given their trust to the women on the list, all competent, prepared and available to put themselves at the service of their community like men.
Women’s quotas are useless if the mentality and culture do not change.
It is true that women have had to overcome an enormous gap in terms of equality, but I think that in Italy too the time should be ripe for the “de facto” equality provided for by our Constitution, as happens in other European countries which fortunately do not they need “quotas” more.
Eliana Bacchini, provincial equality councilor of La Spezia
