Conference Program

Elsa Conci (Trento 1895-1965) was one of 21 women who took part in the Constituent Assembly on 2 June 1946. Elected to the Italian Parliament in 1948 as a member of the Christian Democracy party, she remained there until her death.

She was secretary of the Christian Democracy parliamentary group from 1952 to 1965 and a member of the party leadership. From 1948 to 1965, she presented 75 bills in Parliament, 24 of which became law, delivered 70 speeches, and participated in numerous parliamentary committees. All this parliamentary activity shows that her interests were mainly focused on women, regional autonomy in Trentino, refugees, schools, and teachers. From 1954 to 1964, she was the national delegate of the Christian Democratic Women's Movement. A passionate supporter of the European ideal, in 1955 Elsa Conci was one of the founders of the European Women's Union, promoting the entry of Christian Democrat women into a European body, and in 1959 she was elected President of the Union in Berlin, a position she held until 1963. She was a member of the Italian delegation to the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Immediately after 1946, the aim was to combat the negative stereotype of women in politics, "a model constructed over decades through rhetoric that had made ridicule its register and, with cartoons, caricatures and so on, had shaped an ambiguous image of uncertain gender: it was the staging of the threat posed by the reversal of roles and the consequent violation of moral norms."

Catholic women, on the other hand, as Conci herself later pointed out, had been prepared for their new political commitment through their active participation in the Resistance, which tempered their courage and led them to develop a “sense of responsibility” towards a duty that was both moral and social. Women “could no longer remain absent from the work of rebuilding the country” and therefore entered politics, according to Conci, “bringing with them everywhere the valuable contribution of their competence and generosity”.

Conci was the architect of women's political education and strenuously defended their rights. She worked to make them aware of the rights and duties associated with voting; she effectively promoted their participation in civic life; at the same time, she fought for the real inclusion of women within the Christian Democratic Party. Her commitment was therefore directed externally towards all Italian women and internally towards the life of the Party, which men mainly ran.

My presentation will examine the speeches delivered by Elsa Conci, national delegate of the Christian Democratic Women's Movement, from 1954 to 1964.