Italian Senate Passes Law Against Those Who “Consider Women Inferior Beings”

The Senate has voted unanimously to pass a government bill making femicide a standalone crime, punishable by life imprisonment.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni celebrated that “Italy is among the first nations to pursue this path, which we are convinced can help combat an intolerable scourge,” and thanked “all political forces, both majority and opposition, for their united support for this proposal and for contributing to its improvement.”

But Carlo Nordio, the justice minister, stressed earlier this year that “the legislature and the judiciary can only go so far as to repress these crimes,” which he said are likely

rooted in a complete lack not only of civic education but also of respect for others, especially [among] young people and adults of ethnic groups who perhaps lack our sensitivity toward women.

Reports from across the continent consistently show that (especially young) women are increasingly afraid to walk their own streets at night.

This addition to the Italian criminal code covers those who cause the death of a woman “through acts of discrimination or hatred toward the victim because she is a woman,” or with the aim of “suppressing the exercise of the woman’s rights, freedoms, or personality.”

Lega Senator Giulia Bongiorno, who was rapporteur of the bill, views the measure as “a new and strong stance against those who consider women inferior beings.”

The bill—passed in the Senate with 161 votes in favour, none against and no abstentions—now moves to the Chamber of Deputies for final approval.

Eugenia Roccella, who is minister for family, birth rates, and equal opportunities, stressed that the standalone crime

certainly doesn’t mean sociologically applying criminal law or creating a ranking of the severity of homicides based on the gender of the person killed. It means recognising the specificity of a phenomenon and therefore preventing it and creating the conditions to combat it more effectively.