The first female judges were hardly first women

"Magistrate finally" by Eliana Di Caro read by Tullio Fazzolari

“Judge finally…” sang Fabrizio De André narrating the story of the dwarf who takes his revenge by climbing onto the “chair of a court” and feeling himself an “umpire on earth of good and evil”. Undoubtedly a sad story with an unpleasant protagonist. “ Magistrate finally ” by Eliana Di Caro (il Mulino, 168 pages, 15 euros) echoes De André's verses in the title and is also the story of a much more important revenge. Exactly sixty years ago, in May 1963, for the first time eight women law graduates could compete to enter the judiciary . And they win it without the need for odds but for their skills and because they have finally been given the opportunity to prove that they are better than many men.

The first women to become judges are Graziana Calcagno, Emilia Capelli, Raffaella d'Antonio, Giulia De Marco, Letizia De Martino, Annunziata Izzo, Ada Lepore and Gabriella Luccioli. And it seems right to remember their names for at least two reasons. The first is that throughout their careers they have only cared about administering justice without showing off and without getting involved in controversies in the newspapers, which is enough to distinguish them from some more recent colleagues. The second reason, the most important one, is that it was they who paved the way for many others by facing the challenge of entering an environment such as the judiciary sixty years ago, still full of prejudices against the female gender. Today everything seems obvious. We have had two women as President of the Constitutional Court. And finally a woman is at the top of the Cassation. But in 1963 it took courage to decide to enter the judiciary and the eight girls had it.

More than a revenge, it was a conquest that sanctioned the end of a discrimination. A 1919 law which had also opened access to many professions to women, however, prohibited them from entering many public careers including diplomacy, the prefecture and the judiciary. In 1948, Article 51 of the Constitution established parity but the 1919 law continued to be in force. And it was only in 1960 that the Consulta declared it unconstitutional. We need a new law and, without too much haste, Parliament issues it three years later. It is February 1963 when the barriers fall. It remains to be seen who has the courage and determination to enter. For the first two women to enter the diplomatic career, a few years will have to pass. Instead, those eight determined to be judges do not waste time. There's a contest after a few months and they're ready. It is the beginning of eight important careers that “Magistrate finally” narrates with great measure. The affirmation of the first judges in Italy is undoubtedly a victory for all women. But perhaps it is the judiciary that gains most of all. Annunziata Izzo, just to give an example, issued 1,300 civil sentences in just over six years. If some male colleagues did the same, there wouldn't be much talk of slowness in justice.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/le-prime-donne-giudici-sono-state-poco-prime-donne/ on Sat, 08 Apr 2023 08:09:07 +0000.