ROME -- The crack in the centre-right parties over the Rome mayorial race has widened with sexist comments made by Silvio Berlusconi and Guido Bertolaso about pregnant former minister Giorgia Meloni as she announced her candidature.  The political battle can often by harsh, with violent attacks, and with the opponent being a woman it’s no longer about her statements, policies or administrative decisions but about her gender.

 This is what has happened in Rome, where Guido Bertolaso, amongst the thousands of possible and legitimate arguments that he could have used to counter the unforeseen decision of Georgia Meloni to run for the mayoral position in Rome, chose the most inappropriate and unfair of all, gender discrimination.  “Meloni is a mother,” he said, referring to the pregnancy of the leader of ‘Fratelli di Italia’.

 A misguided attempt to push back women, in respect to their reproductive capacities, into the ghetto from which they have been breaking out over the past few decades.  It’s a joke that has backfired and offered Bertolaso’s opponents the ability to easily find fault with him, whilst giving Meloni a chance to proudly claim her motherhood and devote her choice to all women, who for the most part, combine work and children despite the many difficulties.

 Meloni announced her candidature on Wednesday, with Salvini’s support, whilst Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi replied to the comments by saying, “Of course a woman can be a mother and mayor at the same time, but I hope Giacchetti wins in Rome.”  Whilst Berlusconi reacted by saying, “Matteo [Salvini] is using her to attack me and take over leadership of the centre-right.”

 The rest of Italy, not to mention other European countries, has seen several female representatives who have carried on despite pregnancy and motherhood, combining them with institutional commitments.  The most recent is Beatrice Lorenzin, the Minister of Health, who recently had twins.

 But insults of a sexist nature are common amongst the insults received on Facebook by Patrizia Bedori, the former Milan mayoral candidate for M5S, who decided to report them to the public after retiring.  These revealed that besides unemployment and inaction, there were those, even among fellow party members, who asked her to give up her candidacy because she was “ugly, fat and obese” or because she was a “housewife.”

 In short, it shows that there are those who try to prevent women’s access to a career, be it political or otherwise, in the name of their sexual difference, of their appearance, or their motherhood.  No man is ever asked to give up a professional commitment because he’s ugly, fat, or about to become a father.

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