For women’s right to stable and skilled employment. A study day on the occasion of the eightieth anniversary of the UDI (1945-2025)

For women’s right to stable and skilled employment. A study day on the occasion of the eightieth anniversary of the UDI (1945-2025)

Thursday, December 4, 2025
Milan, Sala Affreschi at Palazzo Isimbardi
Via Vivaio 1

The study day is promoted by the Metropolitan City of Milan, the Municipality of Milan, UDI Unione Donne in Italia, and the Fondazione Elvira Badaracco.

“>The UDI, which viewed paid employment outside the home as one of the pillars of female emancipation, organized a conference in Milan in June 1965 dedicated to women’s labor, with a specific focus on the quality of women’s work: a dimension that was either absent or inferior to that of men. The 1965 conference thus provided one of the first reflections on the phenomenon of precariousness that affected, and still affects today, women’s work in particular. The conference, which saw broad and cross-sectional participation and was held in collaboration with the Società Umanitaria of Milan, was the starting point for a significant mobilization for stable and skilled employment. Italian and Milanese women of the 1960s claimed not only the right to work, but also for more stable and skilled jobs than the labor market of the time guaranteed. The streets of Milan were peacefully occupied by 4,000 women from all over Italy; female workers marched in their work coats, and their slogans highlighted the desire for better working conditions, respect for health and safety, and equal pay. Sixty years later, the documents preserved by the Fondazione Elvira Badaracco within the Milan UDI archive allow us to bring to light the value of that conference and demonstration, which was followed by a national petition.

Download the conference poster