The Cassazione, Italy’s Supreme Court, ruled on Friday that it is illegal to claim that a woman is incapable of doing a job simply because she is a woman: in other words, it is now a crime to criticise a woman on the grounds of her gender alone.
Ruling number 10164 upholds a lower court ruling concerning a case from 2002 when Carmen Campi, then Governor of Arienzo Prison [Campania] was criticised by a male trade unionist in an interview published by a Caserta newspaper. The interview’s title was “Prisons: Governing them is a man’s job”. The trade unionist gave no reason other than Campi’s gender for what he perceived as her unsuitability for the job.
Both the journalist and the trade unionist will now have to pay Campi a total of 3,500 euros for defamation of character and a further 7,000 euros for moral damages.
Ms Campi said she had brought the case in order to defend her dignity both as a woman and as a professional person, adding,
“In work it’s nothing to do with being a woman. You’re capable of doing the job or you aren’t”.
The ruling has been widely welcomed in Italy though some feminist groups think it has come rather late. Equal Opportunities Minister Maria Carfagna has called it “an important step on the road to zero tolerance of discrimination.”
Do you think there are still any “men’s jobs”?
