She takes a few more moments before answering the phone: “Sorry, I was changing the baby, but now my husband will take care of it.” God forbid: first the creature, then the journalists who have been looking for her continuously since she made the news his decision to resign from the Monza city council – her city – where she was elected with the majority party, in the ranks of the Democratic Party. This is the reason: «I am unable to reconcile motherhood and political commitment with presence in the classroom, and since it was not possible to modify the city council regulations and follow the proceedings remotely, then I am leaving, but thus gender equality remains a mirage”. Francesca Dell’Aquila (already councilor for culture in Monza about ten years ago, still with the centre-left, and now mother of a three and a half month old baby girl) with her story has stimulated an important debate, starting from an issue that could be resolved easily.
What disappointed you the most?
«As I have already said in recent days, the lack of concreteness. They told me that the municipal regulation was the subject of a comprehensive review, but that it would take a long time. In other cities the single rule has been changed with an agenda, more quickly. We fill our mouths with issues such as gender equality, demographic decline, the protection of maternity, parenthood, childhood, and then words are not transformed into real actions.”
Have you been contacted by your party?
«Yes, I have received reassurances and confirmations from the Democratic Party at regional and provincial level. I talked about it with Silvia Roggiani (MP, metropolitan secretary of the Milanese Democratic Party, ed.). My invitation to change mentality has been accepted, there is a desire to work on changes to city council regulations, as a form of protection in favor of mothers who are involved in politics. In Italy there have been positive examples, in Turin or Genoa, for example, and they were brought by colleagues from the Democratic Party.”
Meanwhile, your council group has made it known that the revision of the regulation will be speeded up, but in a previous note (signed by the Monza PD group leader Angelo Imperatori, ed.) they maintained that she was not forced to resign, and that «for more than a year” have “made up for her absences due to maternity without problems”.
«I wasn’t asked to resign, that’s true. It was my decision. But this reply already speaks for itself. The photograph that arrives is that of the existence of objective difficulties for a pregnant councilor and new mother in carrying out her duties. I’ll put it simply: a woman who wants to become a mother, and wants to be involved in politics, must be able to participate in public life.”
Could it be that there were previous problems with colleagues on the council?
«Not at all, it’s always been an excellent group. Never had any disagreements with anyone. But when I talked about this topic, I found a substantial lack of interest. Perhaps we have not fully seen the significance of that theme.
Everyone was very helpful, it’s true but this is already a distortion: saying “we were there” makes us understand how a normal thing like motherhood is experienced as an emergency, as something atypical.”
She triggered a debate, keeping her distance from controversy and attacks. Rare commodity today.
«I expected a return of interest, even if not so high. These are issues dear to society. The media coverage confirms that there is a great desire to talk and act on certain topics. Controversy is useless.”
After the case, the Monza council group of the Democratic Party made it known that: «During 2023 Francesca had the merit of submitting the need to review for some cases, including maternity, the regulation that supervises the work of the city council sessions . Already since last March 2023, the Democratic Party council group has been working on a proposal for a general revision of the regulation of city council meetings, stuck 10 years ago, which among other indications does not provide for councilors to participate remotely in meetings . The choice to carry out shared and broader work instead of adopting a single measure – they point out – led to an increase in time, but which will allow us to adopt a more efficient tool. In the meantime, we will ask the entire city council to assume, among others, the priority of a revision of the regulation, with the aim also of avoiding the repetition of similar situations which prevented Francesca from participating in the work in the chamber”.