La parità di genere in Italia: la giuridificazione dell'uguaglianza sostanziale, fra tutela di diritti individuali e interesse della collettività

The progressive attention by the Italian legislators (both at the central and at the regional level) for gender equality is still a work in progress. The starting point of the evolution is in some fields of private law (such as family law and labour law, where discriminations against women were particularly evident); later on, the same sensitivity grew up in other subjects and especially in constitutional and administrative law. The evolution of a gender-sensitive legal landscape was not totally spontaneous, as it was also a consequence of the inter-action with supra-national inputs. During the 20th century and in the beginning years of the 21st, many important results have been reached in the perspective of women’s empowerment and involvement in social, political and economic life. The most relevant goal seems to be the acceptance of the idea according to which gender equality reflects an interest not only of women, but also of the whole society, because it grants real pluralism; moreover, it may also help men to reach equal rights in the fields where they are under-represented in light of surviving gender stereotypes. In recent years, further complications may be noticed in this subject; the role of public law is basic to introduce, thanks to a double approach, efficient hard law and soft law mechanisms.