Serve God, Country and Family. Women in Fascist Italy (1925–1940)

The article focuses on characterizing the ideological assumptions and policies of the fascist movement toward women, and, after 1922, those of the state governed by the National Fascist Party (PNF) and, above all, by Benito Mussolini. Women’s equality, among other things, was established in the initial period of fascism when its left wing was strong. Gradually over time as the movement came to power and especially after taking it in 1922, Il Duce and the party embraced conservative, nationalist social and economic policies that referred to the great Roman past in a desire to reconstruct the empire and increase the number of Italian citizens that would be newly formed Italian fascists. To achieve this goal, especially after 1925 when the totalitarian state and society was being built, the regime pursued a policy of the total control and subordination of women to the state and the system. Divorce, abortion, and the sale of contraceptives were banned, the “excessive education” of girls and the possibility of woman undertaking professional work were limited, while the roles of women in society as mothers, wives, and guardians of the “home” were promoted.

The article focuses on characterizing the ideological assumptions and policies of the fascist movement toward women, and, after 1922, those of the state governed by the National Fascist Party (PNF) and, above all, by Benito Mussolini. Women’s equality, among other things, was established in the initial period of fascism when its left wing was strong. Gradually over time as the movement came to power and especially after taking it in 1922, Il Duce and the party embraced conservative, nationalist social and economic policies that referred to the great Roman past in a desire to reconstruct the empire and increase the number of Italian citizens that would be newly formed Italian fascists. To achieve this goal, especially after 1925 when the totalitarian state and society was being built, the regime pursued a policy of the total control and subordination of women to the state and the system. Divorce, abortion, and the sale of contraceptives were banned, the “excessive education” of girls and the possibility of woman undertaking professional work were limited, while the roles of women in society as mothers, wives, and guardians of the “home” were promoted.