Not a continent for women

It’s not just Italy. It’s Europe: not a continent for women. True, Denmark has a woman as Prime Minister, and Slovenia too. In several little Nordic countries, women have (almost) all the room they deserve. Yet, the entrance of a woman into the ECB Board has meant a real parliamentary battle.

A recent selection of candidates of European parties for the presidency of the European Commission gives another evidence to the issue: no women run for the post, with the exception of the Greens were women where 3 out of 4 candidates. Yet, Greens are so favourable to gender equity that each post is covered by a woman and a man – hence primaries resulted in a “double” post. Well the post is just one, how can you decide? Asked your favourite naïve journalist to the “half president” of the European Greens, Reinhard Butikofer. I was given the silliest answer ever “That’s a real problem for us – he said ironically – we are here waiting for the phone call appointing us as new European Commission President…”

That is, Greens have no expectations for the presidency, and their woman candidate has no importance at all. Butikofer is not such a refined politician I’d say, not a great boost for voting them. The matter is, this candidate, Ska Keller, a young and prepared woman, is practically inexistent.

A story for men, thus: Christian-Democrat man candidate, check; Socialist man candidate, check; Liberal man candidate, check; Left man candidate, check. The other parties are just national; hence they do not share a common European candidate. The astonishing thing is not (only) that the final candidate is a man, but that (notwithstanding the meritorious Greens, with their man co-president, sharing the post with the Italian Monica Frassoni) there were no women running for the post, not even proposed for a candidacy. A single name was spinning around, thanks to some analysts’ poor imagination: Christine Lagarde, current managing director at the IMF – who said she has never been interested in running for the post.

This is a thing that astonishes me – and that should be embarrassing for “democratic” parties and politicians, forced to show that the only real, powerful lobby is the one of men (no gay, women or “club” lobby has been so important). The truth is, I am a man and I still feel the need of protecting myself by this group: they do not guarantee me efficiency (as seen with the economic crisis, e.g.) nor democracy (as seen in the Ukrainian crisis, e.g., second part).

Lorenzo Robustelli