Italian Women in Violent Organizations The essay, “Mafiosi and Terrorists: Italian Women in Violent Organizations,” by Alison Jamieson, discusses the role women have played in violent organizations in Italy. Despite male exclusivity and authoritarianism, women involved in such organizations have come a long way in widening the horizons of female influence in administration and commercial roles. The paper looks at, analyzes and compares two main violent organizations in Italy, the leftist terrorist Red Brigades and the Sicilian Mafia. The Italian feminist movement of the 1960s spurred a new drive toward female activity in violent organizations on the extreme left side. “For the majority of women adherents, the feminist cause was an end in itself, but within the growing militancy of the extra-parliamentary Left it was a political exercise ground for a more radical battle and more extreme methods.” (Jamieson 53) By insisting on a separate identity and a set of demands that purposely excluded men, women paved their way to higher standing in the extra-parliamentary left. Jamieson also comments that mainstream feminism involves embracing a broader set of goals that explicitly required the use of violence.The fight for female equality and ascendancy in a male dominated society took a great effort and involved a great struggle. Many women joined the armed struggle not only to bring down capitalist society, but also to fight the return of fascism. Susanna Ronconi of the Red Brigades “recalls that the choice to abandon the feminist group in which she had militated overtly in favor of clandestine armed struggle had been particularly difficult because it implied breaking off all contact with her mother, who had shared some of her non-conformist views.” (Jamieson 54-55) The choice to enter the Red Brigades not only meant sacrificing outside family ties, but choosing to occupy yourself day after day, ...
