Genoa – Councilor wanted. We’re not at the announcements yet, but for several Ligurian municipalities under three thousand inhabitants respecting gender equality in the composition of councils is proving to be a problem. Among the 125 municipalities in Liguria that went to vote in the last electoral round, most had under three thousand inhabitants. AND in around thirty cases the candidate was alone, without opponents, with the sole need to exceed the quorum of voters. Once elected, however, the mayors of the smaller municipalities had to choose the deputy and the councilor, respecting the requirement of representation of both genders. This is proving to be more difficult than expected in several municipalities.
There are seven of them, in the province of Imperia, the municipalities under three thousand inhabitants in which the mayor and councilors are exclusively men: Airole, Castellaro, Diano San Pietro, Dolceacqua, Isolabona, San Lorenzo al Mare and Mendatica. In the province of Genoa, the case of Gorreto, a small town in the Trebbia Valley, is being discussed, where the defeated candidate Domenico Morabito accuses the mayor Paolo Saredi of having created a flaw by choosing two men as deputy and councilor. The mayor claims that the only woman on the list (we are talking about a municipality of 91 inhabitants) refused the position due to her full-time job in Genoa. In Mioglia, in the Savona area, all the women on the winning list declined the invitation to join the council and the mayor Giovanni Borreani launched an appeal to assign the external councilorship to anyone who comes forward, as long as she is a woman. The legislation, we read in a section of the Ministry of the Interior’s website, «must be read in light of article 51 of the Constitution, as amended by constitutional law number 1 of 2003, which recognized constitutional dignity to the principle of the promotion of equal opportunities between women and men.”
Provision which also recalls the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, and which takes on a «preceptive nature, aimed at making the participation of both sexes effective, in conditions of equal opportunities, in the institutional life of local authorities». In the event of an appeal from a private individual or an association, could the TAR even consider the resolutions of the council appointed without respecting gender equality to be invalid? According to the ANCI, it is an extreme hypothesis which does not hold up: «There is no obligation, we are talking about a circular of recommendation, because in municipalities under 3 thousand inhabitants tolerance prevails where there is no possibility of appointing an elected representative of different sexes, for example because they refuse commitment”, explains the general director of the association of municipalities of Liguria Pierluigi Vinai. «The ANCI has fought for equal opportunities and the law says that it must be guaranteed, but in the same way we fight for the reasonableness and feasibility of things: it was already a struggle to find candidates to present the lists in small municipalities, now there is no need to add elements of obstacle to the formation of the councils”, he adds.
Yet they are also there cases in contrast with the trend such as the municipality of Montebruno, 230 inhabitants, in the province of Genoa, where the mayor Caterina Barbieri took office yesterday: «We presented ourselves a bit against the trend – he says – with a list with a high female presence and we are proud of this, we are no longer girls but many of us are having our first experience in politics. I expect good things from my team and also a different sensitivity. If they are involved, women also find themselves involved in politics.”
