WORLD WORLDWIDE ITALY News Journal Update - (en) Italy, FdCA, Il Cantiere #16: Trade union, trade unionist and feminist - Giuliana Magli * (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 I believe that only in a society of free and equal can the principles of feminism

be considered fulfilled, but in the meantime, as women and trade unionists we
must commit ourselves. Commit ourselves so that the prevention and fight against
male violence against women must go through a structural rethinking of the
education and training system: violence against women is a systemic phenomenon
which is present in our society and which affects all educational and training
contexts, starting from the nursery to the university, up to the advanced
training schools. I certainly do not intend here to mention controversies that
are often sterile on the most external form of the language, but I invite each
person to concentrate on languages, therefore not only the verbal one, and on
non-violent communication, so that contents and models antithetical to the
culture of the warrior male. That is the Man of power. In order to emancipate
herself from the patriarchal role, the Woman must not seek equality in the male
model, but rather affirm otherness and become the bearer of different values. As
feminists, we practice and claim a radical pedagogical approach, founded on
anti-classist, anti-racist, anti-fascist principles. As women, trade unionists,
teachers, but I prefer the term "educators", we believe that an education to the
differences and plurality of people is necessary, an education that knows how to
speak to multiple gender identities; an education that does not force emotional
and relational destinies to follow the established norm of heterosexual couple
relationships. First of all it is necessary that teachers, or rather educators,
work on the deconstruction of the internalized stereotypes which, often
unconsciously, are brought back into the educational relationship. It is
necessary, indeed essential, that training as a whole, i.e. in the field of
gender-based violence prevention, conflict mediation and education about
differences, be organized in organic courses, adequately financed and present in
a uniform manner throughout the country. - It is also necessary that these
training courses are usable by - and recognized by all personnel, thus including
precarious workers and, above all, that they are present in teaching
qualification courses. Therefore, the mandatory and unpaid training envisaged by
the National Teacher Training Plan is in my opinion ineffective because:
1) is centered on issues rigidly established by the Ministry.
2) outsources the service to accredited training institutions.
On the other hand, the teaching staff must train themselves and also
continuously, but by: choosing training courses to use, seeing them
professionally recognised, being adequately paid for the number of hours
employed. Furthermore, as knowledge workers, we believe that the continuous
training of teachers and learners must be accompanied, supported and supported by
the practice of self-training to identify the training needs and desires of
students and teachers. A self-training which, starting from the sharing of
acquired knowledge and the socialization of previous experiences, produces a
conscious re-elaboration of knowledge, indispensable to the teaching-learning
process: therefore it is absolutely necessary to start from the needs identified,
by the subjects themselves, who network with the services available in the area.
Let's build other places and teaching tools We believe it is essential to draw
attention also to the issue of school spaces and the most widespread teaching
tools, such as textbooks for example. -The former are insufficient and hierarchical
-didactic tools-: you can still see, for example, chairs and desks "prepared" for
frontal lessons only, and I tell you this because I come from Institutes where
instead I have personally experienced didactic differentiation and innovative
methodologies. The latter, i.e. textbooks, which are inadequate in form and
content; consequently we believe that a didactic that puts the practice of the
relationship at the center must take advantage of places and means that are all
to be reinvented. Therefore, the revision of the manuals and didactic material
adopted in schools of all levels and in university courses is fundamental,
currently popularizing a stereotyped and sexist vision of genders and the power
relations between them. In the same way it is necessary to question the so-called
canons of Italianness, starting from the presumption of "whiteness", re-reading
the Italian and European colonial history and the link between racialization,
sexism and exploitation, emphasizing the role of violence against women's bodies
in the historical processes of colonization. Finally, in addition to addressing
to improve and resolve fundamental issues that were addressed both yesterday and
today, I invite us to work together also to:
* The opening of a bottom-up process of writing school and university reforms
which also provides for the remodulation of contents and indications, following
the principles already stated;
* The possibility of defining bottom-up and self-training training courses, in
contrast with the new National Teacher Training Plan, which are based on the
principles set out and which involve competent realities in the elaboration and
implementation of training projects oriented towards prevention and contrast of
gender-based violence; * The simplification of the procedures for recognizing
educational qualifications and professional qualifications obtained in the
countries of origin, both to allow access to qualified work and to facilitate
admissions to Italian universities for study or research.

*Excerpt from the intervention at the Regional Congress of the FLC CGIL Toscana

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