No female directors in Italy’s theatrical institutions.

Very few female scientists, nor authors, mentioned in school books.  Almost exclusively male choreographers in the world of dance.

And further, only 19 per cent of directors in the entire audiovisual sector were female in 2021; 23 per cent of scriptwriters.

This is some of the data immortalised in the first Annual Report of the Italian Ministry of Culture’s Observatory of Gender Equality in Italy, presented this week one year after its inauguration, and just ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25.

Gender inequality in the cultural sphere is an unprecedented issue in Italy, which, as the Observatory’s coordinator Celeste Costantino recounts, “Is an imitation of the French model, the only other example in Europe.”

The report is a collection of experiences, testimonies and data that outlines the presence of women in the world of culture and the arts, indicating critical points and potential targets. The 2022 edition’s specific focus is the audiovisual world, with the overall objective of the dossier being to contribute to bridging Italy’s gender gap in the cultural sphere.

“In all, 20 hearings were held, featuring personalities such as étoile Eleonora Abbagnato, and Rai president Marinella Soldi,” Costantino continues.

“We also had some painful moments. In the mapping of statues and monuments, not only did we count very few portraits of women, but they were almost always sexualised, even where there was really no need. Like the journalists Ilaria Alpi and Maria Grazia Cutuli, portrayed younger and with bare breasts.”

The data reveals that in 2020 just 18 per cent of documentary directors were women, a figure that drops to 11 percent in narrative film production.

“From memory, I do not remember a single woman directing an Italian film with a budget of over 15 million euro,” comments the director of the Ministry of Culture's Cinema and Audiovisual Directorate, General Nicola Borrelli.

Instead, the proportions are reversed in areas such as costume (82 per cent women in 2021) or make-up (73 per cent).

 “And the categories where the percentage of women rises are those where the gender gap is reduced. So much absence is also a loss in terms of box office and audience share,” he adds.

‘Spigolatrice di Sapri,’ a bronze sculpture based on a famous Italian poem of the same name which was criticized for its over-sexualisation of the female form in a literary context. (Photo: ANSA)

It is no better on TV. Rai’s research shows that the on screen female presence in Italy reaches 40 per cent only in entertainment programs and fiction, while it’s capped at 15.8 per cent in sports programming.

In fiction, then, out of 100 central or relevant narrative roles, only 38.2 per cent are currently played by women, with a strong imbalance according to age: in the 50-64 age bracket, only 28.7 per cent of characters are women, while 71.1 per cent are men. Women are portrayed in ‘traditional’ roles (in ‘housekeeping’ the ratio is 14.8 versus 85.2) and under-represented in the more stereotypically male-dominated ones, such as engineers, or entrepreneurs.

But even in healthcare, or schooling, sector’s in which the female presence is significant in the real world, one sees almost exclusively men on screen.

“Our ministry has a strong female presence, even in top positions, and more so than in France. Our task is to ensure that women, such as scientist Laura Bassi or art historian Palma Bucarelli are mentioned, especially in school books, not only as women, but as women who have made history.” says Ministry of Culture Undersecretary Lucia Borgonzoni.

“The truth is that before, the world lacked our presence. We are starting a revolution, trying to enter as a critical mass into the entire world’s sectors; with pride in our difference. We do not want to be like men, but to count as much as men,” comments director Cristina Comencini, one of the members of the Observatory.