«WOMEN IN REVOLT» FOR THE 21st CENTURY

Women make up only 2 percent of the country's top management positions and only 17 percent of Parliament -- a smaller percentage than in both Rwanda and Burundi -- and recent opinion polls show that the No. 1 role model for Italian girls is the showgirl. A number of Italian feminists are placing a substantial portion of the blame on the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who is also a media mogul. Apparently the dwindling amount of clothing on television's females coincides with the launch of the Berlusconi networks themselves, known for their strange mingling of politics and sex. And Berlusconi recently raised eyebrows by appointing former showgirl Mara Carfagna as minister of equal opportunity. Said veteran feminist Grazia Francescato: "We have gone from equal opportunities to equal opportunism ... You try to be very appealing to the other sex, especially to very powerful men. I am very, very disappointed by women."

-Salon
Dec 3 2008