From the pitch floor to the glass ceiling
Reconstruction of a female political career, among testimonies and archival sources
Keywords:
Women mayors, Political class, Document analysis, Elsa Damiani PrampoliniAbstract
Italian women made their debut in the political scene in 1946, obtaining the right to vote and be elected. Our research will focus on the 1946 elections in town halls. We wonder how these women came to take on government responsibilities in still very traditionalist realities. We decided to analyze the archives of one of the first Italian women mayors, named Elsa Damiani Prampolini, mayor of Spello (Umbria) since 1945 to 1960 for the Italian Communist Party. The study will be divided into three phases: 1) a recognition of the scientific literature on the subject; 2) an analysis of the data collected through archival research, including photographs and documents of the time highlighting the obstacles and conflicts she had to face; 3) we will finally expound the main elements of some interviews to privileged witnesses who came into contact with Elsa Damiani Prampolini or with people close to her.
