Populism in High Heels: The Feminist Façade of Giorgia Meloni

On the surface, one would expect Meloni’s election to be a victory for Italian women – upon closer scrutiny, her policies tell a different story.

By Sara Cincotti, TLR’s Italian Correspondent, Bologna

Giorgia Meloni is the first Italian female prime minister, a feat in and of itself. She was chosen, in the September 2022 elections, to lead a predominantly right-wing government. Meloni’s party, Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) gained an impressive 26% of votes (around an 8% increase with respect to the pre-Covid 2018 elections). The right-wing coalition, she was nominated to spearhead, secured 44% of the votes, mirroring a general European trend: the rise of far-right and populist parties – such as in Hungary, Sweden and, as of this February, Germany, where Alternative für Deutschland reared its head as a force to be reckoned with in the recent election to the Bundestag.

On the surface, one would expect Meloni’s election to be a victory for Italian women – upon closer scrutiny, her policies tell a different story. Right-wing populism is not exactly known for advocating women’s rights. Thus, the question becomes: Is Meloni's government truly advancing women’s rights as it claims, or is it using a feminist façade while simultaneously eroding them? Is it enough to wear heels to turn populism into feminism? Since her election, the Italian Prime Minister has been famous for wanting to be called Il Presidente (President in its Italian masculine annotation), rather than La Presidente – explicitly associating the masculine gender with power. This, somewhat oddly, is in stark contrast with her repeated remarks highlighting her identity as a woman and as a mother. In the two years she’s been in power, Meloni has acted ambiguously in the areas regarding women and their rights in Italy. Such areas include the issues of abortion, gender equality, female employment, and domestic violence.

Abortion in Italy: Law, Access, and Recent Developments

In Italy, voluntary abortion is regulated by Law 194 of May 22, 1978, which recognizes both the right to life of the embryo and fetus, as well as the woman's right to physical and mental health when pregnancy, childbirth, or motherhood poses a risk. As for the conditions laid down for legal abortion, within the first 90 days of pregnancy, a woman may undergo an abortion based on her autonomous decision if she believes that continuing the pregnancy could endanger her physical or mental health. After the 90-day threshold, abortion is permitted only under medical certification, either in cases where the pregnancy poses a serious risk to the woman’s life, or health, or when there are severe fetal abnormalities or maternal illnesses that threaten the woman's well-being. Beyond 22 weeks, if a late diagnosis of a severe fetal condition occurs when the fetus is already viable outside the womb, abortion is no longer permitted under Italian law, forcing women to travel abroad for the procedure. Regardless of the stage of pregnancy, a woman seeking an abortion must first consult a doctor. The doctor then issues a necessary certification. If the case is not considered urgent, the woman must undergo a mandatory seven-day waiting period before proceeding with her desired abortion.

Although Law 194 is designed to guarantee free access to both surgical and medical abortions, in practice, access to abortion remains severely restricted in Italy and is not officially considered a right (Law 194 does not affirm abortion as a right but rather regulates cases in which abortion is not considered a crime), as showcased by the annual report on the implementation of Law 194 published in 2024 (data from 2022) by the Ministry of Health. One of the principal barriers facing Law 194 is the high rate of conscientious objection among healthcare professionals (i.e., the rejection of performing a specific action insofar as it clashes with personal beliefs or convictions, oftentimes religious). Nationally speaking, the average rate of conscientious objection among gynaecologists is 63%, reaching a staggering 91% in the region of Molise and hovering around 80% in other Italian regions. The lowest rate in the country is in the Valle D’Aosta region, with 25% of gynaecologists objecting. Other healthcare professionals, including general practitioners and pharmacists, also contribute to de facto abortion restrictions by refusing to prescribe medical abortion pills or provide essential services. Despite these issues, registered voluntary pregnancy interruptions in 2022 numbered 65.661, a 3.2% increase compared to 2021.

Despite claiming that she does not intend to abolish or modify Law 194, Prime Minister Meloni has defended conscientious objection and underplayed problems associated with abortion access in Italy, equating the freedom of doctors to refuse to conduct an abortion, to the freedom of women to abort. On April 23, 2024, the Italian Senate approved a controversial NRRP (The National Recovery and Resilience Plan) implementation decree. The amendment, proposed by Fratelli d’Italia deputy Lorenzo Malagola, grants regional governments the authority to allow anti-abortion associations into family planning clinics (consultori). This decision undermines the role of the consultori, which are meant to provide neutral, supportive care for women considering abortion. Furthermore, Minister for Family, Natality and Equal Opportunities (a Ministry previously named the Ministry for “Equal opportunities and Family”), Eugenia Maria Roccella, has made misleading statements about abortion rights, falsely claiming that “feminists have never considered abortion a right” and that "there is no right to abortion."

Fratelli d’Italia’s political program prioritizes increasing birth rates and support for families while advocating for the 'full implementation' of Law 194’s prevention measures. However, their approach seems to reinforce existing structural barriers to abortion rather than addressing them – further evidenced by proposed restrictive measures such as granting full legal rights from conception, mandatory fetal heartbeat exposure, and the inclusion of pro-life organizations in public family planning centres. Sexual education remains optional in Italian schools, despite being one of the most effective ways to prevent unwanted pregnancies and reduce the need for abortion.

In 2024, a significant development occurred. A nationwide petition promoted by pro-life associations sought to introduce mandatory ultrasound and fetal heartbeat listening as part of pre-abortion consultations. If passed, doctors would be required to show women an ultrasound of the fetus before they can proceed with an abortion, and force women to listen to the fetal heartbeat, regardless of their consent. Opponents of this measure argued that this would entail severe ethical and psychological concerns for the woman, increasing emotional distress for individuals who are already experiencing a difficult decision which is often associated with guilt and psychological distress. No comment by Prime Minister Meloni was disclosed on the matter.

Thus, even if Meloni truly will not repeal Law 194, the real challenge to abortion in Italy is not strictly legal, but rather practical. Restricting or hampering abortion in Italy does not require legal changes. In fact, to guarantee a functioning right to abortion, it would be necessary to amend the law. Access to abortion is already severely limited due to conscientious objection, what could be deemed an institutional hostility towards abortion rights and attempts to introduce coercive pre-abortion measures. As long as these barriers persist, abortion in Italy remains a restricted and stigmatized procedure, available in law but increasingly inaccessible in practice, with some women (those who can afford it) being forced to travel outside their region to access reproductive care.

Female Employment, Pay Gap, and Natality Trends in Italy

Giorgia Meloni has, in several public speeches, credited her government with the growth of female employment and a decrease in female unemployment. There is some truth to such statements – but not the whole truth. Female employment in Italy has shown a steady increase in recent years, though significant gender gaps and regional disparities persist. According to ISTAT data, by the third quarter of 2024, the increase in female employment reached 1.4% compared to the previous year, accompanied by a decline in the female unemployment rate.

Looking at the long-term trend, the overall female employment rate in Italy is now 6.4% higher than it was in 2008. Notably, much of this employment growth has been concentrated in the last four years, but seemingly starting before Meloni was elected. At the same time, female unemployment has been steadily declining since 2021. In December 2021, the female unemployment rate was 9.8%, dropping to 9.2% in 2022, then to 8.2% in 2023, and further down to 6.8% in 2024. This indicates that while Prime Minister Meloni is correct in stating that female unemployment is decreasing, this trend does predate her election and possibly reflects broader labour market dynamics rather than a direct outcome of her policies. For instance, the male unemployment rate has been consistently declining since 2013.

However, some worrying data was not reported by President Meloni. For instance, Eurostat points out severe regional disparities (among the most intense in Europe) in Italy regarding employment. Employment levels among women vary significantly across different regions of the country. In 2024, female employment rates were highest in the North (62.4%), followed by the Center (60.8%). In stark contrast, in the South, only 36.9% of women aged 15-64 were employed, highlighting a persistent North-South divide in labour market participation.

Furthermore, Italy has some of the highest gender employment gaps in the European Union. In 2023, the gender employment gap in Italy was at 19.5%, among the widest in the EU, alongside Greece (19.8%) and Romania (19.1%). The highest regional disparities in employment rates were also recorded in Italy, with Campania and Puglia both reporting a 29.5% gender employment gap – the highest in the EU. Despite some progress, Italy remains one of the worst-performing EU countries in female employment. As of 2022, Italy lagged 14% behind the EU average, with 55% of women aged 20-64 employed, compared to 69.3% of men.

The gender gap intensifies when considering maternity and employment rates. One in five women has to exit the labour market after giving birth in Italy. In 2023, the employment rate of mothers decreased significantly compared to fathers: for mothers with one child there was a 63% employment rate and for mothers with two children a significantly lower 56.1%, compared to respectively 90.4% and 90.8% for fathers. This suggests that family responsibilities in Italy disproportionately affect women's work choices, forcing many to reduce their working hours or leave the workforce. In addition, Italy's overall wage gap stands at 43%, compared to the EU average of 36.2%. The data tell a different story than Meloni’s narrative.

The Meloni government has introduced several policies aimed at supporting women and families, but these measures have resulted as narrow and insufficient in addressing the structural issues affecting female employment in Italy. One of the most notable initiatives is the "Mothers' Bonus", which provides financial support to mothers. However, the bonus is only available to mothers with at least two children and who hold permanent contracts, thereby excluding a large number of working women, especially those in precarious or temporary jobs. Receiving the bonus might increase recipients’ income enough to disqualify them from other government benefits, proving potentially counterproductive.

Another key area of concern is childcare and family support policies. The government has increased subsidies for nursery school costs but, at the same time, it has decided to cut EU funds that were earmarked for expanding childcare services. As a result, the number of available nursery spots has been reduced, forcing many families to incur extra costs for childcare. This lack of accessible childcare remains a major obstacle to women's participation in the workforce. Additionally, the government has implemented a VAT increase on essential infant products, such as diapers and baby formula, reversing previous reductions. This has further increased financial pressure on families, particularly on low-income mothers. For a government that supposedly advocates for children’s lives and traditional families, such proposed measures do not enhance women’s situations, and oftentimes aggravate it.

Gender-Based Violence

Femicide is the act of murdering a woman simply because she is a woman. Although violence against women as a whole (physical, emotional, economic abuse) is an extremely salient issue in Italy, this article will only briefly tackle the latest data on femicides in Italy and the newest proposed legislation of the Meloni government regarding this worrying situation (accompanied by equally worrying data and numbers). According to the latest ISTAT data, 117 women were murdered in 2023 (-7,1% compared to the previous year). Estimates also suggest that femicides account for approximately 82% of all women killed (96 out of 117). In cases where the perpetrator was found, 88.9% of women are victims of a male killer.

Most femicides are at the hands of either partners or family members. The context in which the murders of women take place is predominantly related to the family or affective killings (about 81%). “Passionate motives" for murders, regardless of sex in Italy, affect about 12% of victims killed; in the case of female victims, this percentage goes up to 27.4% and 60% for female victims aged 35-44. In 51% of all cases, Italian women are killed by their current or previous partners (out of 63 women killed by a partner or ex-partner, 61 are men). In 2023 the rate of women killed by a former partner was equal to 0.21 per 100,000 women – for men, the same rate was 0.02 per 100,000 men. Women who were killed by other family members (31) were killed by men in 83.8% of cases. 94.3% of Italian women are victims of other Italians.

On the 7^th of March 2025, the government approved a new draft law incorporating the crime of femicide as autonomous in Italian law. It prescribes life imprisonment for any perpetrator of this type of crime and introduces aggravating factors and increases in penalties for the offences of personal abuse, stalking, sexual assault and revenge porn, according to a declaration by President Meloni on that day.

This development has arguably been a result of national pressure after the murder of Giulia Cecchettin (22 years old) by her ex-boyfriend in late 2023. Italians flooded the streets to demand justice after yet another victim of gender-based violence and murder. The draft law is certainly a big step forward for Italy. However, the opposition and public opinion are already protesting the dead-ends of this measure. The problem remains the same: the focus is entirely on punishment rather than prevention, it is an a posteriori measure instead of an a priori provision. Emotional, sexual and affective education for youth, increased funding for anti-violence centres, and structural measures to ensure women’s economic independence - key to reducing the gender gap – these are the fundamental, basic steps towards resolving a deeply-rooted issue. However, Minister Roccella herself recently declared that sexual education in schools does not prevent femicides (despite this being confirmed by international organizations such as the UN and WHO). There is another challenge – this anti-femicide law, with stronger punishment for perpetrators, risks being deemed unconstitutional by the National Constitutional Court, because of its possible clash with Article 3 of the Italian Constitution ( that all should be equal in the eyes of the law).

Feminism Behind the Façade or Merely Populism in High Heels?

Overall, Italy's current trajectory illustrates a broader discrepancy between a superficially feminist rhetoric and policies that, in practice, restrict women’s rights and reinforce traditional gender roles, or at least do not actively attempt to enhance women’s positions and rights in Italian society. Italy's abortion debate reflects a broader struggle between women’s reproductive rights and conservative policies aimed at boosting birth rates. While abortion remains legal under Law 194, the increasing institutional and procedural barriers – from high conscientious objection rates to the infiltration of anti-abortion groups in the consultori – suggest that access will continue to shrink unless structural changes are made.

It is also clear that to achieve sustainable progress in female employment, gender disparities, and natality, Italy requires deep structural interventions rather than temporary financial fixes. Many Italian women are trapped in unstable, low-income jobs or forced into part-time work due to family responsibilities, reinforcing long-term financial insecurity. Without comprehensive reforms addressing these systemic challenges – from ensuring genuine reproductive rights to enhancing support for women's economic independence and preventing structural violence – the feminist façade, or populism in high heels if you wish, will continue to obscure the systemic inequalities that hamper substantial progress.

Sara Cincotti is TLR’s Italian Correspondent, and a Master’s student at the University of Bologna, pursuing a degree in International Affairs. She has a keen interest in human rights, political science and world politics.