International Women’s Day, March 8, is rapidly approaching. Celebrated worldwide, in Italy the day is often
marked with a girls’ night out and gifts of mimosa flowers. We decided to take
it one step further and dedicate an issue to the incredible women-past and
present-who have influenced our lives here in Florence and in Italy. From the
political to the personal, we sought out stories from and about strong women
role models. Hear what British Consul Moira Macfarlane, who is finishing her
tenure in April, has to say as she muses about the city and its future.
Following a news item on the first female speaker of the
U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, as she visited Italy (with a stop
in Florence), Deidre Pirro brings us a fascinating sketch of Nilde Iotti, one
of Italy’s most influential women politicians-herself Italy’s first female
speaker of the Italian Chamber of Deputies.
From politics to business, one (perhaps surprising)
sector where Tuscan women shine is agriculture. Half of the new entrepreneurial
crop of farmers is female, and our article on ‘women in the field’ includes
information on a special March 8 market featuring goods from female-owned
farms.
Safety is undoubtedly one of the key issues facing women
in Florence and the world over. Bari Hochwald and the Florence International
Theatre Company have joined the global effort to stop violence against women
and girls by organizing Florence’s very own VDay celebrations complete with a
production of The Vagina Monologues and several community outreach
projects.
In order to gauge what issues ‘everyday’ women ex-pats
in Florence hold most dear, we convened a panel of professional women from the
international community to probe their thoughts on being a woman in Florence.
Not surprisingly, they are thought-provoking and articulate, but what they had
to say may surprise you.
