page_title: Women in Italy
section_title: The Italian Republic (1945–present)
hierarchical_section_title: Women in Italy / History / The Italian Republic (1945–present)
caption_attribution_description: Servizio fotografico&#160;: Milano, 1960 / Paolo Monti, Istituto di fotografia Paolo Monti. - Stampe: 3&#160;: Positivo b/n, gelatina bromuro d'argento/ carta, 24x30. - ((Sul coperchio della scatola, manoscritto a pennarello: "Milano Navigli".
context_page_description: Women in Italy refers to females who are from Italy. The legal and social status of Italian women has undergone rapid transformations and changes during the past decades. This includes family laws, the enactment of anti-discrimination measures, and reforms to the penal code.
context_section_description: After WW2, women were given the right to vote in national elections and to be elected to government positions. The new Italian Constitution of 1948 affirmed that women had equal rights. It was not however until the 1970s that women in Italy scored some major achievements with the introduction of laws regulating divorce (1970), abortion (1978), and the approval in 1975 of the new family code.
  Famous women of the period include politicians Nilde Iotti, Tina Anselmi, and Emma Bonino; actresses Anna Magnani, Sofia Loren, and Gina Lollobrigida; soprano Renata Tebaldi; ballet dancer Carla Fracci; costume designer Milena Canonero; sportwomen Sara Simeoni, Deborah Compagnoni, Valentina Vezzali, and Federica Pellegrini; writers Natalia Ginzburg, Elsa Morante, Alda Merini, and Oriana Fallaci; architect Gae Aulenti; scientist and 1986 Nobel Prize winner Rita Levi-Montalcini; astrophysicist Margherita Hack; astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti; pharmacologist Elena Cattaneo; and CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti.
caption: Female workers employed in a big office in Milan, 1960. Photo by Paolo Monti.
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